XLingPaper version 2.3.0 available

[Andy Black]

(My apologies for multiple postings.)

Version 2.3.0 of the XLingPaper package is now available.  Some of the improvements include:

• The langData, gloss, and object elements now display in the XXE editor as they will appear in the output.  They used to show in a pre-canned color, using a generic font.  Now they use the appropriate font, color, size, italic, bold, etc.
• Added the ability to gloss language data using a standard set of abbreviations.  Just like one can create and maintain a master references list, now one can do the same for abbreviations.  XLingPaper also creates a hyperlink between the abbreviation in the gloss and the abbreviation where it is defined.  See section 4.6 in the user documentation.Added ability for examples to have a heading (or label or description or whatever you want to call it).  See section 5.8 in the user documentation.

The full list is given at the end of this message.

The XMLmind XML Editor (aka XXE) that this works with has come out with a major new version (4.0.0).  XLingPaper version 2.3.0 is designed to work with this new version of XXE.

The good news is that the new free personal version of XXE 4.0.0 allows you to record and play macros.  Further, the current version of XXE (4.1.0) also enables you to create multiple bookmarks in a document and jump back and forth between them.

The bad news is that XMLmind made some changes that affect existing XLingPaper documents that had files embedded within them (what XMLmind calls "modular" documents).  For example, if you had a master references file, you can still open up and edit a document using this master references file.  What you cannot do is to select the references section and go and edit the master references file.  XXE has changed the underlying technology of how they handle these "modular" documents.

I'd be happy to help you with this transition.

Please note that in order to use the new version of XLingPaper, you will need to:

• download the new version of XXE (http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/download.shtml).  Get xxe-perso-4_1_0-setup.exe.
• Uninstall your current version of XXE
• Run the xxe-perso-4_1_0-setup.exe file you just downloaded to install it.
  
• Follow the instructions at http://www.sil.org/~blacka/xlingpap/ObtainPackage.htm to obtain the XLingPaper configuration files (the new version does not remember what you had for the old version; you will also need to make any special options, too; sigh).
  

In addition, if you have been using the FieldWorks Language Explorer program to export interlinear text in XLingPaper format, you will need to do another thing. See http://www.sil.org/~blacka/xlingpap/FLExExporting.htm for more on this.

I'm very sorry that we have to do all this work, but it is hard to complain when XMLmind makes such a nice product and many of us can use it for free.

--Andy

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List of changes in this version:

• The langData, gloss, and object elements now display in the XXE editor as they will appear in the output.  They used to show in a pre-canned color, using a generic font.  Now they use the appropriate font, color, size, italic, bold, etc.
• Added the ability to gloss language data using a standard set of abbreviations.  Just like one can create and maintain a master references list, now one can do the same for abbreviations.  XLingPaper also creates a hyperlink between the abbreviation in the gloss and the abbreviation where it is defined.  See section 4.6 in the user documentation.
• Added ability for examples to have a heading (or label or description or whatever you want to call it).  See section 5.8 in the user documentation.
• Added a shorter way to insert reference elements and assign them to their value (e.g. sectionRef, exampleRef, citation, object, etc.).  See section 12.9 in the user documentation.
• Added a genericTarget element so one can use the genericRef element to create a hyperlink to almost any place in the document.  See footnote [37] in section 10.2 in the user documentation.
• Added a book volume number element (bVol) for references.  See section 4.5.2 in the user documentation.
• Removed the requirement that a collection have an editor (collEd element).  See section 4.5.3 in the user documentation.
• Added a way to control the text that occurs before a sectionRef (some publications like to use the § symbol while others do not). See section 3.3.1 in the user documentation.
• The interlinear free translation element can now be associated with a language.
• Added the ability to include ISO 639-3 codes to a refWork element to indicate which languages the work is about.  See section 4.5 in the user documentation.
• Added a way to have the ISO 639-3 code appear in an interlinear example (this is an undocumented ability: set the showiso639-3codeininterlinear attribute to 'yes' in the lingPaper element).
• Added start-up documents for languages and for types, so one can maintain a master list of these, if one so wishes.
• Improved the way section numbering shows in Appendices within the XMLmind XML Editor.
• Fixed "l_free" element templates to show up in embedded places as well as at the example level.
• Fixed the webpage transform to better handle list interlinears, especially in endnotes (where the old way would cause all following endnotes to place the endnote text on a separate line from the number).
• Added a number of improvements for publisher style sheets, including:
• Added ability to create PDF bookmarks in a styled PDF output.
• Improved appendix layout
• Better control over table of contents
• Added ability to control hyperlink color and underline for individual link elements