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Frequently Asked Questions

Installation and Licensing

  1. Are there any client requirements beyond the Java VM?

    Oracle Java version 11 or 17. At least 200 MB disk space and 200MB free memory is necessary for the Oxygen XML Author Component.

  2. Does the Oxygen XML Author Component support multiple documents being open simultaneously? What are the licensing ramifications?

    A single AuthorComponentFactory instance can create multiple EditorComponentProvider editors that can then be added and managed by the developer who customizes the component in a Swing JTabbedPane. A single license (floating or user-based) is enough for this.

    If you need to run multiple distinct Java processes using the Oxygen XML Author Component, the current floating license model allows for only two concurrent components from the same computer when using the HTTP floating license server. An additional started component will take an extra license seat.

Functionality

  1. What graphic formats can be directly rendered in the Oxygen XML Author Component?

    GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP and SVG.

  2. Can links be embedded to retrieve (from the server) and "play" other types of digital assets, such as audio or video files?

    You could add listeners to intercept clicks and open the clicked links. This would require a good knowledge of the Oxygen SDK. The Oxygen XML Author Component can only render static images (no GIF animations).

  3. Does the Oxygen XML Author Component provide methods for uploading ancillary files (new graphics, for instance) to the hosting server?

    No.

  4. Does the Oxygen XML Author Component provide any type of autosave functionality?

    By default no, but you could customize it to save its content periodically to a file on disk.

  5. Assuming multiple documents can be edited simultaneously, can content be copied, cut, and pasted from one Oxygen XML Author Component "instance" to another?

    Yes.

  6. Does the Oxygen XML Author Component support pasting content from external sources (such as a web page or a Microsoft Word document and, if so, to what extent?

    If no customizations are available, the content is pasted as simple text. Customizations are provided for the major frameworks (DITA, DocBook, TEI, etc.) that use a conversion XSLT stylesheet to convert HTML content from clipboard to the target XML.

  7. Can UTF-8 characters (such as Greeks, mathematical symbols, etc.) be inserted and rendered?

    Any UTF-8 character can be inserted and rendered, provided that the font used for editing supports rendering the characters. The font can be changed by developers but not by the users. When using a logical font (by default, Serif for the Oxygen XML Author Component), the JVM will know how to map all characters to glyphs. There is no character map available but you could implement one.

Customization

  1. Describe, in general terms, the menus, toolbars, contextual menu options, helper panes, and so on, that are available for the Oxygen XML Author Component out-of-the box.

    You can mount all actions available in the standalone Oxygen XML Author application on your custom toolbar. This includes custom actions defined in the framework customized for each XML type.

    The Oxygen XML Author Component also can provide the Outline, Model, Elements, and Attributes views that can be added to your own panels.

  2. Describe, in general terms, the actions, project resources (for example, DTD/Schema for validation purposes, CSS/XSL for styling, etc.) and typical level of effort that would be required to deploy a Oxygen XML Author Component solution for a customer with a proprietary DTD.

    The Author mode internal engine uses CSS to render XML.

    For a special type of XML, you can create a custom framework (which also works in an Oxygen XML Author standalone version) that would also contain default schemas and custom actions. A simple framework would probably need 2-3 weeks development time. For a complex framework with many custom actions, it could take a long time. Oxygen XML Author has built-in frameworks for editing (DocBook, DITA, TEI, etc.) and sources for them are available in the Oxygen SDK.

    Multiple frameworks can co-exist in the same Oxygen XML Author instance and can be used at the same time for editing XML documents.

  3. Many customers desire a very simplistic interface for contributors (with little or no XML expertise) but a more robust XML editing environment for editors (or other users with more advanced XML expertise). How well does the Oxygen XML Author Component support varying degrees of user interface complexity and capability?

    • Showing/hiding menus, toolbars, helpers, etc.

      You assemble all the UI parts from the Oxygen XML Author Component. For example, you could provide two implementations: one for advanced users and one for content authors.

    • Forcing behaviors (for example, ensuring change tracking is on and preventing it from being shut down).

      You could avoid placing the change tracking toolbar actions in the UI. You could also use the API to turn change tracking ON when the content has been loaded.

    • Preventing access to "privileged" editor processes (for example, accept/reject changes).

      You can remove the change tracking actions completely in a custom implementation, including the ones from the contextual menu.

    • Presenting and/or describing XML constructs (for example, tags) in "plain-English".

      Using our API, you can customize what the Outline view or Breadcrumb displays for each XML tag. You can also customize the in-place content completion list.

    • Presenting a small subset of the overall XML tag set (rather than the full tag set) for use by contributors (for example, allowing an author to only insert Heading, Para, and inline emphasis).

      The API allows for a content completion filter that also affects the Elements view.

  4. Does the Oxygen XML Author Component API provide access to the XML document, for manipulation purposes, using common XML syntax (such as DOM, XPath, etc.)?

    Yes, using the Oxygen XML Author Component API.

  5. Can custom dialog boxes be developed and launched to collect information in a "form" (with scripting behind to tag the collection information and embed it in the XML document)?

    Yes.

  6. Can project resources and customizations be readily shared between the desktop and component versions of your Oxygen XML Author Component product line?

    A framework developed for the standalone version of the Oxygen XML Author application can then be bundled with the Oxygen XML Author Component. For example, you could use the same framework that you use in the Oxygen XML Author standalone distribution.

    A custom editing solution can deploy one or more frameworks that can be used at the same time.