Christopher Hornbaker

chrishornbaker@earthlink.net

This chapter describes how to customize &quantaplus; to your particular needs and how you can help &quantaplus; become better. Document Type Editing Packages (&DTEP;s) are used in &quantaplus; to add support for markup, scripting languages, and &CSS;. They allow &quantaplus; to provide features like auto-completion and node trees. Their simplicity and flexibility are what make &quantaplus; a fast, developer friendly &IDE; for web developers. They are what make &quantaplus; an easy-to-use, productive environment. &DTEP;s come in two flavors, Family 1, which are markups, and Family 2, which are scripting and &CSS;. &DTEP;s are made up of two parts, the Tag Folder and the Toolbars. Tag Folders are composed of two types of files, the description.rc and TagXML files, which carry the extension .tag. Toolbars are the handy, icon-oriented tabs of buttons (above the editing window) which place text into a document faster than the user can type. This document describes how to make TagXML files, the description.rc, and toolbars. In short, a &DTEP;. TagXML files (.tag) define both the attributes specific to a tag and the layout and contents of the properties dialog &quantaplus; shows for the tag. The description.rc file provides rules and information on the &DTEP; itself. Toolbars provide a quick means for adding tags into a document without worry of mis-spellings and such. Tag Folders are just that, folders. They are composed only of the description.rc and TagXML files. Tag Folders carry the name of the mark-up language and version, if applicable. (For example, html-4.01-strict) The table below lists the elements defined in TagXML and declares whether they are required or not. While not all are required, it is recommended that you use as many as you can so that other users can have a better experience and more information to work with. Element Default Usage Case Usage TAGS required always tag required always label optional required to create a properties dialog attr optional required to define an attribute tooltip optional required to have the properties dialog display a tooltip whatsthis optional required to have the properties dialog display a What's This list optional required when an attr is of the type list item optional required when <list> is used textlocation optional always location optional required when label is used text optional required when label is used children optional list of tags that can appear within the tag being defined child required a children entry stoppingtags optional list of tags that tell another tag to end stoppingtag required a stoppingtags entry The following sections will describe, in detail, each element. Everything from where they can go to what goes in them is layed out in an easy-to-follow manner. This is the root element of a TagXML document. It may appear in a document only once. It can contain the definition of multiple tags. This is an element-only type element. Parent(s) Children NONE tag Wrapper for tag being defined. This is an element-only type element. Parent(s) Children TAGS label, attr, stoppingtags AttributeTypeValues DefaultUseDescription namestring requiredSpecifies the name of the tag being defined. singleboolean optionalSpecifies whether or not the tag requires a closing tag </(tagname)>. typestringxmltag optionalSpecifies the type of tag being defined. xmltag Type of tag is XML-based. (Family 1 only.) property Type of tag is &CSS; related. (Family 2 only.) function Type of tag is a script function. When used, <attr> becomes arguments of the function. (Family 2 only.) class Type of tag is a script class. (Family 2 only.) returnTypestringvoid optionalSpecifies the return type of tag being defined. (Family 2 only.) void Type of tag returns void. int Type of tag returns int. float Type of tag returns float. long Type of tag returns long. string Type of tag returns string. Place a label in the dialog. The text is specified by the <text> tag. This is an element-only type element. Parent(s) Children tag text, location Defines an attribute of the tag. This element occurs once for each attribute. It defines the name and type of attribute. It also contains additional tags that specify how this attribute should be displayed, et cetera. This is an element-only type element. Parent(s) Children tag location, list, tooltip, whatsthis, textlocation AttributeTypeValues DefaultUseDescription namestring requiredSpecifies the name of the attribute being defined. typestringinput requiredSpecifies the type of the attribute being defined. input Field supports free text entries (text field). check Field value is boolean (check box). color Field value is a color. url Field value is a &URL;. (Local file to refer to.) list Field value is an item from a specified list. statusstringoptional requiredSpecifies whether or not the argument is required. (Family 2 only.) optional Argument is optional. required Argument is required. implied Argument is implied. Defines the tooltip for a field in the dialog. This element is text-only. Currently only plain text is supported (you cannot use any markup). Parent(s) Children attr NONE Defines the 'What's This' help for a field in the dialog. This element is text-only. Currently only plain text is supported (you cannot use any markup). Parent(s) Children attr NONE A container tag that groups together the items in a list. It may appear only once for each attribute description. This is an element-only type element. Parent(s) Children attr item Defines an item in a list. This element is text-only. Parent(s) Children list NONE Specifies the position of a tag's attribute text within a dialog. This tag can only occur once for each attribute in the dialog (&cad; one for each <attr> tag). This element is empty. Parent(s) Children attr NONE AttributeType UseDescription rownonNegativeInteger requiredSpecifies the row in the dialog layout of a field or label. colnonNegativeInteger requiredSpecifies the column in the dialog layout of a field or label. rowspannonNegativeInteger optionalSpecifies the number of rows a field should span. colspannonNegativeInteger optionalSpecifies the number of columns a field should span. Specifies the position and size of a field in the dialog. This tag should occur once for each field in the dialog (&cad; one for each <attr> and <label> tag). This element is empty. Parent(s)Children label, attrNONE AttributeType UseDescription rownonNegativeInteger requiredSpecifies the row in the dialog layout of a field or label. colnonNegativeInteger requiredSpecifies the column in the dialog layout of a field or label. rowspannonNegativeInteger optionalSpecifies the number of rows a field should span. colspannonNegativeInteger optionalSpecifies the number of columns a field should span. Define the text for a label or check box. This element is text-only. Parent(s)Children label, attrNONE Defines a list of elements that can appear within the tag being specified. This element is an element-only type element. Parent(s)Children tagchild Defines a child tag. This element is empty. Parent(s)Children childrenNONE AttributeType UseDescription namestring requiredSpecifies a tag that can appear within the a certain tag. Defines a list of elements that force a tag to end. This element is an element-only type element. Parent(s)Children tagstoppingtag Defines a stopping tag. This element is empty. Parent(s)Children stoppingtagsNONE AttributeType UseDescription namestring requiredSpecifies which tags force the ending of another tag. All TagXML files must begin with the &XML; declaration: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> and must be properly nested and closed. White space does not adversely affect anything, but watch out for & and < characters. These should likely be replaced with an &amp; and &lt;, respectively, in elements such as <tooltip>, <whatsthis>, and <text>. Not doing so will not cause a crash, but you will have chunks of your work disappear if you do not. To validate your TagXML files, simply click the Tools pop-up dialog at the top of &quantaplus; and select Validate TagXML. A dialog will present itself and you need only to follow the simple directions. This feature is currently not present. Currently validation occurs when the TagXML files are loaded into &quantaplus;. The following will show you a valid Family 1 TagXML file. This file happens to describe &W3C; &XML; Schema's <schema> element. The file name for this TagXML file would be schema.tag. Simple, eh? <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE TAGS> <TAGS> <tag name="schema"> <label> <text>id</text> <location col="0" row="0"/> </label> <attr name="id" type="input"> <tooltip>A unique ID for the element.</tooltip> <whatsthis>A unique ID for the element.</whatsthis> <location col="1" row="0"/> </attr> <label> <text>version</text> <location col="0" row="1"/> </label> <attr name="version" type="input"> <tooltip>Version of the schema.</tooltip> <whatsthis>Version of the schema.</whatsthis> <location col="1" row="1"/> </attr> <label> <text>targetNamespace</text> <location col="0" row="2"/> </label> <attr name="targetNamespace" type="input"> <tooltip>&URI; reference of the namespace of this schema.</tooltip> <whatsthis>&URI; reference of the namespace of this schema.</whatsthis> <location col="1" row="2"/> </attr> <label> <text>xmlns</text> <location col="0" row="3"/> </label> <attr name="xmlns" type="input"> <tooltip>&URI; reference for one or more namespaces for use in this schema. If no prefix is used, then components of that namespace may be used unqualified.</tooltip> <whatsthis>&URI; reference for one or more namespaces for use in this schema. If no prefix is used, then components of that namespace may be used unqualified.</whatsthis> <location col="1" row="3"/> </attr> <label> <text>attributeFormDefault</text> <location col="0" row="4"/> </label> <attr name="attributeFormDefault" type="list"> <items> <item>qualified</item> <item>unqualified</item> </items> <tooltip>Default form for all attributes within this schema.</tooltip> <whatsthis>Default form for all attributes within this schema.</whatsthis> <location col="1" row="4"/> </attr> <label> <text>elementFormDefault</text> <location col="0" row="5"/> </label> <attr name="elementFormDefault" type="list"> <items> <item>qualified</item> <item>unqualified</item> </items> <tooltip>Default form for all elements within this schema.</tooltip> <whatsthis>Default form for all elements within this schema.</whatsthis> <location col="1" row="5"/> </attr> <label> <text>blockDefault</text> <location col="0" row="6"/> </label> <attr name="blockDefault" type="input"> <location col="1" row="6"/> </attr> <label> <text>finalDefault</text> <location col="0" row="7"/> </label> <attr name="finalDefault" type="input"> <location col="1" row="7"/> </attr> </tag> </TAGS> The following will show you a valid Family 2 TagXML file. This file happens to describe &PHP;'s overload function. The file name for this TagXML file would be overload.tag. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE tags> <tags> <tag name="overload" type="function" returnType="void"> <attr name="class_name" type="string" status="optional"/> </tag> </tags> The description.rc file is, also, quite simple. Not all of the following need be used. The basic structure of the description.rc file is as follows. [General] - Generic information. Version = Use 1 for &quantaplus; version <=3.1.2 and 2 for any version greater. Name = DTD definition string. (-//&W3C;//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN) NickName = The beautified name of the DTD. (HTML 4.01 Transitional). If not defined, Name is used as NickName. &URL; = &URL; pointing to the DTD definition. (http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd) DoctypeString = The string that should appear in the !DOCTYPE declaration. (HTML PUBLIC "-//&W3C;//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd") Inherits = The name of the DTD from where this DTD inherits its tags. (-//&W3C;//DTD HTML 4.01//EN) DefaultExtension = New files are created with this extension. (html) Groups = The list of common attribute groups, which may be present in more than one tag. (Core, I18n, Script) See below. (Group1, Group2...) NumOfPages = How many pages does a tag dialog have, aside of the page containing the attributes defined in the tag file? See below. (Page1,...) CaseSensitive = Case-sensitiveness of the DTD. (true|false) Family = 1This type of DTEP is of family 1, since it is a markup. [Toolbars] - Information about DTEP toolbars. Location = The folder name inside $TDEDIR($TDEHOME)/share/apps/quanta/toolbars where the toolbars for this DTEP are. Names = The list of toolbar file names, minus the .toolbar.tgz extension, that are loaded for this DTEP from the above folder. [Group1] - Replace with one of the Groups listed below. Attributes = The list of attributes for this group. Currently, all of the listed attributes are treated as strings. Example: [Core] Attributes = id, class, style, title [Page1] - Description of a tag editor page. Title = The title of this page in the tag editing dialog. Groups = List of groups appearing on this page. (Core, I18n) [Extra rules] - Some rules not fitted in other places. BooleanAttributes = (simple|complex) Example for simple: <tag booleanAttr>. Example for complex: <tag booleanAttr="1"> or <tag booleanAttr="true"> Single Tag Style = (html|XML) Example for html: <single_tag> Example for XML: <single_tag /> StructGroupsCount = The number of structure groups. See below. MinusAllowedInWords = If true "this-is-a-word" is treated like a word. Otherwise, it is treated like 4 words. TagAutoCompleteAfter = CHAR. The auto-completion box is brought up automatically once this CHAR is entered or SPACE is pressed after this CHAR. For DTEP family 1, it is usually "<" The text "none" instead of a CHAR specifies that the tag completion box should not be brought up automatically, only if the user requests it. AttributeSeparator = CHAR. This CHAR means that the attribute name has ended. It is " for XML DTEPs. TagSeparator = CHAR. Similar to the above. [StructGroup_1] - Definition of structure group 1. Name = The text that appears if there are tags matching this group settings. No_Name = The text that appears if there are NO tags matching this group settings. Icon = The name of the icon appearing before the above texts. Tag = tagname(attribute1, attribute2, ...). Tags with name tagname will appear under this group. The item text will be "attribute1_value | attribute2_value | ..." Currently only one tag may be listed here. HasFileName = (true|false) True, if the item text (above attribute values) contains a file name. FileNameRx = Regular expression used to remove the unnecessary chars from the item text. [Parsing rules] - Rules used when parsing the document. SpecialAreas = The beginning and ending string of special areas, separatted by a comma. Special areas are not parsed according to this DTEP's rules, but as their own rules. A special area can be a DTEP of another family, a comment, or something to that effect. Eg. <!-- --> SpecialAreaNames = Comma separated list of the above special area names. Eg. comment SpecialTags = tagname(attributename) - Specifies a tag which defines the start of a special area. MayContain = Comma separated list of family 2 DTEPs that can be present in the document. (php, css) [General] - Generic information. Version = Use 1 for &quantaplus; version <=3.1.2 and 2 for any version greater. Name = Proper name NickName = What every calls it. If not defined, Name is used as NickName. Inherits = The name of the DTEP from where this DTEP inherits tags. (The Name, not NickName) DefaultExtension = New files are created with this extension. (php) NumOfPages = 0 Always zero because there is not a tag editing dialog for Family 2 DTEPs. CaseSensitive = Case-sensitiveness of the DTEP. (true|false) Family = 2This type of DTEP is of family 2, since it is not markup. [Toolbars] - Information about DTEP toolbars. Location = The folder name inside $TDEDIR($TDEHOME)/share/apps/quanta/toolbars where the toolbars for this DTEP are. Names = The list of toolbar file names, minus the .toolbar.tgz extension, that are loaded for this DTEP from the above folder. [Extra rules] - Some rules not fitted in other places. BooleanAttributes = (simple|complex) Example for simple: <tag booleanAttr>. Example for complex: <tag booleanAttr="1"> or <tag booleanAttr="true"> StructGroupsCount = The number of structure groups. See below. MinusAllowedInWords = If true "this-is-a-word" is treated like a word. Otherwise, it is treated like 4 words. TagAutoCompleteAfter = CHAR. The auto-completion box is brought up automatically once this CHAR is entered or SPACE is pressed after this CHAR. For DTEP family 1, it is usually "<" The text "none" instead of a CHAR specifies that the tag completion box should not be brought up automatically, only if the user requests it. AttributeSeparator = CHAR. This CHAR means that the attribute name has ended. It is " for XML DTEPs. TagSeparator = CHAR. Similar to the above. AttributeAutoCompletionAfter = CHAR. Similar to the TagAutoCompletionAfter, but for tag attributes. It is "(" by default and ":" for CSS. [StructGroup_1] - Definition of structure group 1. Name = The text that appears if there are tags matching this group settings. No_Name = The text that appears if there are NO tags matching this group settings. Icon = The name of the icon appearing before the above texts. Tag = tagname(attribute1, attribute2, ...). Tags with name tagname will appear under this group. The item text will be "attribute1_value | attribute2_value | ..." Currently only one tag may be listed here. HasFileName = (true|false) True, if the item text (above attribute values) contains a file name. FileNameRx = Regular expression used to remove the unnecessary chars from the item text. SearchRx = regular expression used to find text areas in the Family 2 DTEP, which will belong to this group ClearRx = regular expression used to clear unwanted text/chars from the above search result. The cleaned string will appear in the structure tree. [Parsing rules] - Rules used when parsing the document. SpecialAreas = The beginning and ending string of special areas, separated by a comma. Special areas are not parsed according to this DTEP's rules, but as their own rules. A special area can be a DTEP of another family, a comment, or something to that effect. Eg. <!-- --> SpecialAreaNames = Comma separated list of the above special area names. Eg. comment SpecialTags = tagname(attributename) - Specifies a tag which defines the start of a special area. AreaBorders = Comma separated list of the area borders encapsulating this Family 2 DTEP. In the case of PHP, it is: <? ?>, <* *>, <% %> Tags = tagname(attribute). If the parent(real) DTD has a tag with tagname and the attribute value of this tag is equal with the DTD name, the tag area is parsed according to the rules of this DTD. Comments = comma separated list of area borders for comments. EOL means end-of-line. Eg: // EOL, /* */ StructKeywords = Semicolon separated list of structure keywords. Structures are treated as new nodes in the structure tree. StructBeginStr = A string specifying the beginning of a structure (like {) StructEndStr = A string specifying the beginning of a structure (like }) StructRx = Regular expression containing the beginning or the end of the structure area. Eg. \\{ | \\} (structure area border can be { or }) The following will show you how to create toolbars for a &DTEP;. Toolbars are graphical elements that are assigned to actions. Actions, in &quantaplus;, are the basis for nearly all the extensions that &quantaplus; has and will acquire in the future. The same mechanism that defines an action in &quantaplus; also enables auto-completion and tag dialogs. With actions, the limit of what you can do is virtually limitless. For means of an example, we will use &HTML; tidy on our web pages. To begin, you will need to create a user toolbar. Select Toolbars Add User Toolbar . If there are many tags for the markup language, it is recommended that you split up the tags into logical groups. You will need to create a new user toolbar for each group. In this case, there are not many, so we will be making one toolbar and naming it with the name of the markup. Once all your toolbars are created, you must add and configure the actions. To do this, select Settings Configure Actions . The parts of this window are pretty straight forward. Press the New action button at the bottom of the window to enter the editing mode. Fill in all of the necessary fields and add the tag to the appropriate toolbar(s). Complete the rest and, if the tag has attributes and you always plan to use them, check the Run "Edit tag" dialog if available box so that you will be prompted every time the action is used. You should now have something much like the following. Press the Apply button and you will see the action added to the toolbar(s) you have selected. Egad! That's an awful icon. How will yourself and others remember that icon goes with that action? Let's replace it before trouble arises. To create an icon that more accurately describes that action, we will be using &tdeiconedit;. Select it from the &menuk;, Graphics More Programs (or where ever your distribution placed it). &tdeiconedit; defaults to the size 32x32 pixels, but we need 22x22. To change this, select Edit Resize . Keep in mind that you are creating an icon that will assist in helping not only yourself to remember which action does what, but also other users of the &DTEP;. Since the tag I am creating the icon for is called start, I have decided to create a Start sign. Using the color green (green often interpreted as go, start, or proceed) will, or, at least, should, convey a message to the user that clicking this action will place the <start> tag in the current document. Now that I am finished with the creation of the icon, I will save it. Once you are done with creating the icon(s), you must associate the icon with the action. To do this, open Settings Configure Actions again (in &quantaplus;) and select the action you made the icon for. Beside the Text field, you will see a button, click it. Select Other Icons and then click the Browse button. Goto the folder in which you saved the icon, select the icon, and click OK. Press the Apply button and either continue to do the same with the other tags, if any, or click OK to finish. Let us say you would like to add some common &quantaplus; functions to your toolbar or maybe you think the toolbar would be better off organized in a different manner with some separators to group the actions. Open the Configure Toolbars dialog by going Settings Configure Toolbars . Make sure your toolbar is selected. I will be choosing the separator (top of the left column) for my toolbar. Once you have selected the item you wish to add to your toolbar, press the right arrow button. This will add it to your toolbar. I think I would like a quick way to access the Konqueror Preview. I will select it and add it to the toolbar. Note how the separator helps in grouping. Someone new to my toolbar might have thought that the &konqueror; button was like or the opposite of the start button. Apply your changes and, when you are done, press OK to finish. Ah, look at the fantastic new toolbar! Much more handy now. Remember to test your toolbar, by clicking all the buttons, so that you know the output is correct. Now to save the toolbar, we will select Toolbars Save Toolbars Save as Local Toolbar . Save it to the correct folder. Since NeXML does not exist, I will just have it to the top-level folder, but your toolbar(s) should be saved to the correct folder. Make sure to adjust your description.rc to have it load your toolbar(s) when a new file of that type is created. Robert Nickel

robert@artnickel.com

Probably the most notable additions to &quantaplus; for the general user will be the addition of documentation for the markup or scripting language that you like best. To that end, this chapter will explain how I create the &PHP; documentation tree for my personal use. Before starting on creating your own documentation, you may wish to check out the &quantaplus; repository to see if someone else has already done this set. There are two parts to this process. First, you must obtain the existing documentation for the markup/scripting/&etc; language that you are after. Second, you have to create the docrc file. The first is up to you, the second is what we will cover here. The general form of the docrc file is as follows: #KDE Config File [Tree] Doc dir=path, relative to this file, of the documentation html files &pex; php42/ #top level elements Top Element=Your description for these documentation &pex; &PHP; 4.2 documentation Section 1=Section1.html Section 2=#Sec2.1,#Sec2.2,#Sec2.3 Sec2.1=Sec2.1.html Sec2.2=Sec2.2.html Sec2.3=Sec2.3.html ... [Context] ContextList=func1,func2,tag1,tag2,tag3 func1=func1.html func2=func2.html tag1=tag1.html tag2=tag2.html tag3=tag3.html The docrc is broken down into two sections: Tree and Context. The Tree section defines the presentation aspect of the documentation in the documentation tab. For example, you will see that in the &PHP; documentation you have something akin to this: Relating this to the above, my &PHP; docrc looks like this: #KDE Config File [Tree] Doc dir=php42/ #top level elements Top Element=PHP 4.2 documentation PHP 4.2 documentation=Table of Contents,#Getting Started,#Language Reference Table of Contents=index.html Getting Started=Introduction, ... Introduction=introduction.html ... Language Reference=Basic syntax, ... Basic syntax=language.basic-syntax.html ... Notice the # in front of Getting Started and Language Reference. This indicates that these are sub containers in the tree and have content of their own. I do not believe that there is a set limit to the depth here (other than that driven by sanity) — use your judgment. For the Table of Contents, you will notice that it is referenced directly to a file (and consequently shows up at the bottom of the tree view — folders first!). Spaces do not adversely affect anything, but watch out for & and < characters. These should likely be replaced by &amp; and &lt; respectively in all of the &XML; based &quantaplus; resource files. The Context section is the section of the docrc file that is used to facilitate context sensitive help. For example, you are writing a &PHP; script and you would like to see the documentation for the mysql_fetch_array function. You simply highlight the function and then press &Ctrl;H for context help. The documentation on mysql_fetch_array will immediately display. There are only two entry types here: the ContextList and the file association lines. ContextList Really simple, this is just a comma separated list of the context items you wish to have available (for &PHP;, these are the functions for &PHP;). File association lines These are of the form context item=html doc page. &pex; acos=function.acos.html A pared down version of my docrc Context section is as follows: #Keywords for context help [Context] ContextList=abs,acos,acosh,addcslashes,addslashes,... abs=function.abs.html acos=function.acos.html acosh=function.acosh.html addcslashes=function.addcslashes.html addslashes=function.addslashes.html ... Now you can just save your docrc file, save it in $HOME/.trinity/share/apps/quanta/doc or $TDEDIR/share/apps/quatna/doc for local or global use respectively. Then create a folder (the one specified in your docrc file) in the same folder as your docrc file and copy your &HTML; pages in there. You will need to restart &quantaplus; to see your documentation. Once you are sure that they are good and worth sharing, send the docrc file along with a description of any pertinent information on what documentation you used to the &quantaplus; repository for use by the &quantaplus; community. You will not get rich, but you will feel great knowing that you contributed to the best web development platform around.