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| | | Stylesheet DesignerAltova StyleVision® 2012 is a graphical stylesheet designer for transforming XML, XBRL, and database content into HTML, RTF, PDF, Word 2007+ (OOXML), and Authentic® electronic forms. Designing stylesheets in StyleVision is a highly flexible, visual drag-and-drop process. You simply select components from your data source(s), drag them onto the design pane, and specify their presentation and layout properties using the user-friendly entry helper windows. Alternatively, you can layout your design in its entirety and then add content later - in the same manner that you would approach common desktop publishing applications. StyleVision stylesheet designs can be based on one or multiple XML, DTD, XBRL, and database source(s). This means your design can integrate data from multiple XML sources, or even combine data from an XML Schema and a relational database. In fact, you can even create designs to publish XML documents stored inside relational database columns (currently supported for IBM DB2 and SQL Server only). Each design simultaneously produces standards-conformant XSLT 1.0/2.0 and XSL:FO stylesheets, the corresponding output in HTML, RTF, PDF, Word 2007+, and an Authentic eForm. This makes StyleVision the ultimate tool for single source, multi-channel publishing of XML, XBRL, and database data.
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ViewsThe StyleVision user interface includes six synchronized tabs that allow you to save and view the stylesheets and output generated from your design directly in the design window. Each tab allows you to toggle between viewing the stylesheet and its associated output. Tabs include:
Design OverviewThe Design Overview window enables you to add schema sources, global parameters, modules, CSS files, and even apply external XSLT files to your active design. It gives you an overview of these components and enables you to manage them all conveniently in one location.
Intelligent Entry HelpersThe StyleVision interface provides five advanced entry helper windows for viewing, editing, and assigning the style and layout properties of each element in your design. The Schema Sources entry helper displays a tree view of the schema(s) and/or database on which your design will be based. This window also allows you to assign a working XML file and to specify the root element(s) of the design. From the Schema Sources window, you can drag nodes onto the design pane to specify the structure of your output. The window lists global elements as well as the reusable complex and simple types from your XML Schema (or XBRL taxonomy concepts), for which global templates can be assigned to apply styles throughout the design.
As you drag and drop components from the Schema Sources window to the design pane, you can define styling and layout rules as well as advanced stylesheet functions using the other entry helper windows described below. The Design Tree entry helper provides an editable overview of your design, including globally defined parameters, XML, XBRL, and database schema sources, JavaScript functions defined in the JavaScript editor, global templates, and layout information for RTF, PDF, and Word 2007+ printed media.
The Style Repository entry helper allows you to import external CSS stylesheets and define global CSS styles and XSL:FO page processing for the design. For more information, read about working with CSS in StyleVision.
The Properties entry helper allows you to view and modify properties assigned to individual components in the design. The properties displayed in the window are context-sensitive and depend upon which design component is currently selected. For instance, if the component selected is a template, only the properties relevant to template design will be displayed.
Properties can be set by keying them in directly or selecting them from drop down menus. Some properties, such as input format and XPath selectors, also have additional entry helper dialog boxes that pop up to provide additional support.
The Styles entry helper window allows you to define local CSS styles and XSL:FO styles for page processing for components in the design view. Any component in your design can be selected and assigned styling rules. Clicking a component in your design displays the styles for that individual component as well as its associated types. For example, if you click on a content element that is part of a table, the Styles window will display the available style settings for the content as well as the table and its components (row, column, etc.). This allows you to define multiple styling rules at once. In addition to selecting static styling rules, you can assign dynamic style values using XPath expressions. For instance, you can use XPath to display incorrect data in red, to assign different colors to every other row in a table, and so on. XPath can be used to set style values based on data in any accessible XML file or taken directly from the XPath expression itself. You can enter the XPath expression directly in the Value field of the Styles entry helper. Or, click the XPath icon to launch the XPath Builder, which provides entry helpers and syntax checking for composing XPath expressions. Each XPath expression is evaluated at runtime, and the result is entered as the value of the property.
You can also use XPath filters to cause specific components to be filtered out of your stylesheet design output based on an XPath expression. XPath filtering is accessible in the Attributes field of the Styles entry helper when a template is selected, or by right-clicking a node template in the design pane.
Finally, you can use XPath to assign classes to XML elements or database fields dynamically. The class assignment will be reflected in all output formats – HTML, Word, RTF, PDF, and Authentic electronic form.
Multiple Page LayoutsStyleVision also lets you create truly modular stylesheet designs through support for multiple page layouts in the same document. This is especially useful for printed media - where it is often necessary to combine portrait and landscape modes, have different headers and footers, variable page sizes, etc. - but it also comes in handy for more complex Web-based publishing, giving designers more control over their individual content components. To create a new document section, simple select a location in the current document and choose Insert Page/Column/Section from the Insert menu. You will then be able easily define style and property settings for the entire section.
Multiple Output FilesStyleVision also enables you to generate multiple output files from a single template design. For example, you can easily export and render individual files for each contact record in a CRM database.
This feature can be implemented by choosing Insert New Document from the Insert menu or Enclose with… from the right click context menu.
TemplatesStyleVision includes support for a variety of user-defined templates for defining formatting, layout, and processing rules to be reused throughout your design or applied when certain conditions exist in your source data. Global Templates are invoked by the main template and are used to define reusable document fragments in situations where an element (or type) occurs within various elements or in various locations. For example, if you have a <para> element that needs to have the same formatting rules no matter where it occurs in your documentation, it may make sense to use a Global Template to maintain a uniform appearance in HTML, RTF, PDF, or Word 2007+ output. You can also use arbitrary XPath statements to select document locations for applying Global Templates. StyleVision allows users to create global templates for any element, not just global elements in XML Schema. This enables you to easily create modular designs and manage large documentation efforts with ease.
Design FragmentsDesign fragments are reusable artifacts that help you create modular templates using elements with similar structural or formatting requirements. For example, when designing a report you may find it useful to create an 'Address' design fragment that specifies the common elements present in all addresses so you do not have to recreate this information every time it is required.
Design fragments are added to the Design Tree window and can be created from scratch or based on a pre-existing template design.
You create your design fragment in the same manner as you would any other template - using static and/or dynamic content - and then insert it into your main template by dragging it onto your design from the Schema Tree or Design Tree windows. Design fragments can be further customized using the Define Parameters... option, which lets you use XPath to specify additional information to be passed onto your design fragments wherever they are used in your templates. In the example below, a parameter is defined that will add prefix text (in this case "Ship To" or "Bill To") to the output.
Conditional TemplatesStyleVision also enables you to apply advanced dynamic functionality to your design through the use of conditional templates. Conditional templates are based on XPath expressions and allow you to design forms with layout and presentation that changes based on source data in the XML file(s) or database. Charts & GraphsStyleVision also supports creating detailed reports with visual representations such as charts and graphs. As with all StyleVision designs, charts can be rendered for multi-channel output in HTML, RTF, PDF, Word 2007+, and as electronic forms.
For more information, see the Charts & Graphs feature page. Tables of ContentsWhen your design requires a table of contents, you can create it at any location in your design, and you can even create multiple TOCs in the same document. ( Simply create TOC bookmarks to identify the items that will be included in the table and specify formatting using a handy TOC wizard.
Configurable options allow you to create conditional templates, flat or hierarchical TOCs, display TOC items as plain text or hyperlinks, include page numbers, and so on. TOC support in StyleVision allows you to easily deploy single source publishing solutions for documents of all sizes, even those that contain multiple sections and chapters. CSS and JavaScriptFor HTML Web page design, StyleVision supports all the design elements found on today’s advanced Web pages, including hyperlinks, CSS styles, JavaScript functions, etc. It even includes a JavaScript editor for defining functions that add dynamic, event-based functionality to your HTML pages. Learn more about support for CSS and support for JavaScript in StyleVision. Stylesheet FunctionsStylesheets designed in StyleVision support advanced functionality such as auto-calculations, business logic validation, and much more. Read more about advanced stylesheet functions. Project Management SupportStyleVision includes comprehensive project management support, allowing you to easily store and manage related stylesheets and their components in a project.
See for yourself how the StyleVision® 2012 visual stylesheet design approach will increase your productivity by removing the need to manually code multiple stylesheets to render content in HTML, RTF, PDF, Word 2007+ (OOXML), and Authentic electronic forms. Download a free 30-day trial of StyleVision. | |
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TOC support is only enabled when you have selected XSLT 2.0 on the StyleVision toolbar.)
