Reply To: Split window functionality in xmetal

[Derek Read]

If you are asking if one document can be displayed in two different windows and edited in both windows at the same time we do not really have such a feature (I don't believe Epic has either).

However, XMetaL Author does have a Structure View. Perhaps that is what you are looking for. The Structure View can be used for navigation, or with the correct CSS settings in place it can also be used for editing documents (though that is not the main purpose as editing is really best done in the main editing view).

With the correct Structure View CSS in place for your customization you can render your document in a virtually identical way (with some limitations) to the Tags On or Normal views, or you might design a CSS file that hides everything but the titles of sections (allowing you to quickly navigate long documents).

You can also customize the product to switch between as many different Structure View CSS files as you care to design (this requires some scripting). The Journalist demo has an example of this on a toolbar called “Structure View Samples”. To see that in action do the following:

1. Launch XMetaL Author Essential or Enterprise.
2. On the Help menu select Samples > Cameras in Focus (Journalist).
3. On the View menu select Structure View to open the Structure View.
4. From the View menu select Toolbars… then make sure the checkbox labeled “Stucture View Samples” is selected and dismiss the dialog.
5. A toolbar with 6 (ugly – this is an old customization after all) coloured balls for buttons on it numbered 0 to 5 should appear (see screen captures). Clicking on each of these buttons will switch between the 6 sample CSS files provided with the Journalist demo for Structure View, giving you some idea of what could be done for your own schema.

The product also supports the standard Windows MDI concept, so you can open multiple different documents and tile and cascade them, showing them side by side if you like, or one above the other (these functions are on the Window menu). I mention this just in case I misunderstand what you are asking.

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