Re[2]: XML+XSL Workflow Advice?

[Dylan Parker <dylan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, September 29, 2000, 4:34:44 AM, you wrote:

> I hope this thread gets some play - very interested in hearing how others do
> it.

> In addition to XSL, I use Macromedia's Director and Flash (both of which we
> use to style XML content).  I work for the Design Studio in our (500 person)
> company. I work closely with server-side java developers, Oracle consultants
> and Interwoven consultants (all from differnet departments). We manage our
> content workflow through Interwoven (content entry through deployment).  We
> manage code with CVS (invaluable).

So are you currently making use of Flash 5's XML capabilities to read in XML?
Passing parameters from XSL stylesheet to a Flash SWF?

> I genrally work from a spec'd out Photoshop file, html storyboards (just
> simple, basic html walk through of the site - so styling or graphics), and
> possibly some kind of html demo (styled, with graphics, but not really
> functional).

We are currently doing something very similar. It's not as meticulous as I would
like, but we do initially start with a photoshop file with design... some html
non-functional pages (with design) and then some Vanilla HTML sans design that
is being worked on to become functional.

> I usually create a "siteconfig.xml" file that lays out the site
> hierarchically down to the page level. At each hierarchical level are things
> like global elements such as page navigation. At the page level I mark-up
> page specific information like pointers to any XML that makes up the page
> and the XSL that will style it.  This is either precompiled at server
> startup for dynamic sites or used later with a Perl script or java app to
> generate offline.

How exactly do you make use of this xml file? How might I make use of something
like that in a JSP->XML->XSLT environment?

> A useful thing is a "globaldefinitions.ent" file that holds global
> variables. For example:
> <!ENTITY srv_uri "http://www.myserver.com>
> <!ENTITY img_uri "&srv_uri;/images">
> etc....
> Then you just need to reference the entity: <img
> src="&img_uri;/myimage.gif"/>

We are doing something similar with jsp properties files... of course with the
properties you have to come up with some meaningful way to pass all of this on
to the XSLT files... a bit of a pain.. but it does keep everything in one spot.

> We are only doing 4th generation-browser-compatible sites. We make use of
> CSS. We check with JavaScript whether the client machine is MacIE5,
> (otherwise) Mac, or Win32 and give an appropriate stylesheet (unix/linux
> gets basic, default everything).

We'll likely get into that... we've got our prototype now that is using some
basic CSS to stay usable on 4+ browsers... we'll likely get into some
browser-specific XSL sheets soon though.

> thanks for starting the thread,
> Rob

No problem at all. I am very curious as to what other people are doing since I
am sure a lot of the headaches we are feeling right now have already been ironed
out and solutions found. Then again... maybe it is all so very new that we're
the pioneers =)

Thanks for your reply.

Dylan Parker



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