Split window functionality in xmetal

[chandan7891]

hi

one more thing that i have notice is that in epic editior they provide one functionality called split window …But i am not able to see the particuller functionality in xmetal5.5….just wanted to know
is any thing can be done means integrating with any other product of xmetal so that i can have this functionality …..

Any suggestion over this will be great help….

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[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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[chandan7891]

We do not want the MDI concept here. All we need is that same(our main window) window should split into two windows like we have the split feature in MS Word where we can have the two views of same document at same time. Also we want this feature with our main view not with Structure view or any other view.

I would appreciate if you can help us out to achive this in XMetal.

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[Derek Read]

We do not have any plans at the current time to try to duplicate the MS Word feature. Looks like things were confused by the mention of Arbortext Epic, and the suggestion that that product has this feature. I have not seen a version that has it, have you?

The closest you can get with any version of XMetaL Author up to and include 6.0.1 (and something I would really suggest you try in case it comes close to meeting your needs) is to implement an empty CSS file for the Structure View, or to not include a CSS file for Structure view in your customization. The Structure View will then inherit the CSS you are using for Tags On and Normal view. It will not be exactly the same but for most of your document it should be very similar. This might not be good enough, I cannot say. If you do a lot of table editing then that is one limitation you will run into as the Structure View does not render tables “graphically” as the product does in Tags On and Normal views. Moving things around can be fiddly but it can be done as can typing, deleting, inserting elements, etc. But, I will admit in advance, the experience will not be the same as if you had two renderings of the same document sitting side by side providing you the exact equivalent of Tags On or Normal view. For some documents types however the experience can be close.

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