Upgrading to EditLive! for Java 4.0

November 2004

Upgrading the EditLive! for Java Source

In order to update to EditLive! for Java 4.0 the new EditLive! for Java redistributables must be placed on the relevant Web server. These files can be found in the INSTALL_HOME/webfolder/redistributables directory of the EditLive! for Java 4.0 SDK, where INSTALL_HOME represents the location of the EditLive! for Java 4.0 SDK install.

These files can be used to replace the existing EditLive! for Java 3.5 files.

Note: EditLive! for Java 4.0 is not compatible with the spell checker dictionaries used with previous versions of EditLive! for Java . The next section of this document details how to upgrade the spell checker dictionaries for EditLive! for Java.

Updating the Spell Checker Dictionaries

The spell checker dictionaries used with EditLive! for Java can be found in the INSTALL_HOME/webfolder/redistributables/editlivejava/dictionaries folder of the EditLive! for Java install, where INSTALL_HOME represents the location of the EditLive! for Java SDK install. The spell checker dictionaries for EditLive! for Java contain the relevant version number within their file name. Thus the US English spell checker dictionary for EditLive! for Java 4.0 is named en_us_4_0.jar whereas the equivalent EditLive! for Java 3.5 spell checker dictionary is named en_us_3_5.jar.

In order to update the spell checkers for use with EditLive! for Java 4.0 the relevant files from the INSTALL_HOME/webfolder/redistributables/editlivejava/dictionaries must be placed in the same location as those for use on the live Web site with EditLive! for Java. Also, the EditLive! for Java configuration file must be changed to reflect the change in file name which has occurred. This is done by changing the jar attribute of the <spellCheck> element to reflect the new file name. The example below shows the <spellCheck> element from an EditLive! for Java 3.5 configuration file and then an EditLive! for Java 4.0 configuration file:

EditLive! for Java 3.5:

<spellCheck jar="../../editlivejava/dictionaries/en_us_3_5.jar" />

EditLive! for Java 4.0:

<spellCheck jar="../../editlivejava/dictionaries/en_us_4_0.jar">

Registered Custom Tags

EditLive! for java 4.0 allows developers to register custom tags with specific rendering and parser behavior in EditLive! for Java. This is achieved through Ephox CSS extensions and can be used with any XML-style custom markup.

For more information please see the Using Ephox CSS Extensions with Custom Tags section in the EditLive! for Java SDK.

Using the New Selection Model

EditLive! for Java 4.0 includes a new selection model for the WYSIWYG view enabling end users to position the cursor and make selections within the HTML more easily and with greater flexibility than ever before. In particular two interface elements have been added to EditLive! for Java to reflect this; the Show/Hide Paragraph Markers and the Document Navigator.

The Show/Hide Paragraph Markers command allows end users to toggle visual formatting aides on and off. The visual formatting aides appear as dashed border lines (similar to table gridlines) within EditLive! for Java. These lines clearly show the positioning of non-visual elements such as DIVs and other HTML block elements.

The Document Navigator is a specialized, dynamic toolbar which can be added to EditLive! for Java's interface. The Document Navigator displays the current "location" of the cursor within the HTML document structure. For example, when within a table cell the Document Navigator may display "html body table tr td". By default the Document Navigator is turned off, however, it can be turned on via the showDocumentNavigator setting within the <wysiwygEditor> element of the configuration file as follows:

<wysiwygEditor showDocumentNavigator="true" />

New Menu and Toolbar Commands

EditLive! for Java 4.0 includes a significant amount of new end user functionality. Much of the new end user functionality is enabled through a collection of new menu and toolbar commands. New menu and toolbar commands for EditLive! for Java 4.0 are as follows:

PasteSpecial - This command provides access to the Paste Special dialog. The dialog allows the end user to specify the format text from the clipboard should be pasted as.
PropHR - This command provides access to the properties dialog for a horizontal rule.
ParagraphMarker - This is a toggle command enabling paragraph markers and other visual formatting guides to be turned on and off.
FormatPainter - This command provides access to the Format Painter functionality.
InsertObject - This command provides access to the Insert Object dialog through which multimedia can be inserted into the content.
PropObject - This command provides access to the Object Properties dialog.
BackgroundSpellChecking - This is a toggle command enabling background spell checking (also known as spell-check-as-you-type) to be turned on and off. By default background spell checking is enabled.
InsTableWizard - This is a toolbar button enabling users to click on the button and easily select the number of rows and columns within the table that is inserted. It is recommended that this command is used as a toolbar button.
Select - Selection submenu enabling the user to choose which element in the current DOM structure is to be selected. It is recommended that this item is used either in the menu or right click menu of EditLive! for Java.
ShowDocumentNavigator - This is a toggle command enabling the Document Navigator to be turned on and off.

These menu and toolbar items can be added to any EditLive! menu (including the right click menu) or toolbar within a <menuItem>, <shrtMenuItem> or <toolbarButton> configuration element. It should be noted that the right-click menu for this release is context sensitive, so if a menu item is not relevant it will not appear in the right-click menu. The following example demonstrates how to specify the BackgroundSpellChecking item as either a menu item or toolbar button:

Menu Item:

<menuItem name="BackgroundSpellChecking" />

Toolbar Button:

<toolbarButton name="BackgroundSpellChecking" />

The following example demonstrates how to specify the PropObject (Object Properties) item within the right-click menu of EditLive! for Java. This item will only appear when the right-click occurs on a multimedia object:

Right-Click Menu:

<shrtMenuItem name="PropObject" />

For more information on how to configure the EditLive! for Java interface please see the section in the EditLive! for Java SDK on Customizing the EditLive! for Java Interface.

New Copy and Paste Configuration Options

The new copy and paste support of EditLive! for Java gives developers greater flexibility and control over of how styles are imported from rich text sources such as HTML documents or Microsoft Word.

For both Microsoft Word and HTML import the following behaviors can be configured:

clean - Only formatting achieved through structural elements (e.g. <h1>, <b>, <i>) is preserved. All other formatting (i.e. CSS formatting) is removed.
merge_embedded_styles - Styles present within the imported document are preserved and inserted into the embedded style sheet within the <head> of the document in EditLive! for Java and referenced via class attributes.. Where a conflict is encountered between the styles of the existing document and the imported document the styles in the existing document will take precedence. This setting is only recommended if an entire HTML document is being edited in EditLive! for Java.
merge_inline_styles - Styles present within the imported document are preserved and inserted inline into the document in EditLive! for Java. This setting is useful when editing document fragments within EditLive! for Java.
user_prompt - When a rich text import is detected by EditLive! for Java the user will be prompted as to how they wish to import the styled content. The dialog that the user is prompted with is similar to the Paste Special dialog.

This functionality is configured via the styleOption attribute within the <wordImport> and <htmlImport> elements of the EditLive! for Java configuration file.

Multimedia Support Configuration

EditLive! for Java 4.0 includes support for multimedia files which can be embedded via <object> tags in the HTML source. In order to use the multimedia settings within EditLive! for Java they should be configured according to which object types are to be used with EditLive! for Java. This configuration is performed via the <multimedia> element of the EditLive! for Java configuration file.

In addition to configuring EditLive! for Java to work with a specified list of object file types the upload acceptor script which accepts EditLive! for Java's image uploads must also be adjusted to accept files for the configured objects.

For more information on how to configure EditLive! for Java's object support see the information on Embedded Object (Multimedia) Support in the EditLive! for Java SDK.

Double Click Custom Actions

Custom double click actions can now be specified for empty tags i.e. tags which have no closing element such as <img>, <hr> and registered custom empty tags. This configuration is performed via the <customTags> element of the EditLive! for Java configuration file. For more information see the configuration reference of EditLive! for Java for the <customTags> element and its <doubleClickActions> and <action> child elements.

Upgrading from Versions Prior to 3.5

If you are upgrading from a version of EditLive! for Java prior to EditLive! for Java 3.5 you should also consult the Upgrading to EditLive! for Java 3.5 documentation.