Contribute an Add-on

XMLmind offers a ``lifetime'' XMLmind XML Editor Professional Edition license to any person who contributes an add-on of any kind (translation, spell checker dictionary, configuration for a given document type, commands and/or macros enhancing user productivity, etc).

However there are a few conditions, dictated by common sense, if you wish to contribute an add-on:

1. You'll have to package your add-on as a .zip archive (see below). The add-on descriptor, a .xxe_addon XML file contained in the archive, must have a a:author element in case your users wish to contact you.
2. If your add-on is a translation or a dictionary, the language of this translation or this dictionary must be your mother tongue.
3. If your add-on contains commands written in the Java^TM language, you must be an experienced Java^TM developer.
4. In all cases, you must be a reasonably experienced XXE user.
5. You'll have to upload your add-on to our Web site using this form . The basic idea is simply to centralize all add-ons, whether user-contributed or developed by XMLmind, to make it easy for users to install them.

   For obvious reasons, the access to the upload form has been restricted. You need to contact us, , to obtain a username/password allowing to access the page containing the upload form .

How to package an add-on as a .zip archive

1. Create the directory which will contain all the files needed by your add-on. Example:

   ~$ mkdir foo_config

2. Copy all the files needed by your add-on to this directory. Example:

   ~/foo_config$ cd foo_config
   ~/foo_config$ cp ~/src/foo/* .
   ~/foo_config$ ls
   foo.xxe
   foo.dtd
   foo.css
   foo.xml
   foo_catalog.xml
   foo_commands.jar

3. Download and install the add-on called "A configuration for specifying XMLmind XML Editor add-ons". Use XXE to create an add-on descriptor in the above directory. Example:

   ~/foo_config$ cat foo_config.xxe_addon
   <a:addon xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
            xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
            xmlns:a="http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/schema/addon">
     <a:category>
       <a:configuration />
     </a:category>
   
     <a:name>Foo configuration</a:name>
   
     <a:version>1.0.0</a:version>
   
     <a:author><a href="mailto:john.doe@acme.com">John Doe</a></a:author>
   
     <a:abstract>This configuration allows to use XMLmind XML Editor
     to edit <a href="http://www.acme.com/foo/index.html">Foo</a>
     documents.</a:abstract>
   </a:addon>

   As you can see it, an add-on descriptor is an XML file, having a .xxe_addon extension, conforming to the RELAX NG schema contained in "A configuration for specifying XMLmind XML Editor add-ons".

4. Zip the directory (using 7-Zip or Info-Zip for example). Example:

   ~/foo_config$ cd ..
   ~$ zip -r foo_config.zip foo_config

   Make sure that the add-on directory is itself included in the .zip archive. Example:

   ~$ unzip -v foo_config.zip
   foo_config/
   foo_config/foo_config.xxe_addon
   foo_config/foo.xxe
   foo_config/foo.dtd
       ...

More information in XMLmind XML Editor - Developer's Guide, Packaging an add-on for XMLmind XML Editor integrated add-on manager.

Note that translatexxe, the command-line tool used to translate the GUI of XXE, has an option which can be used to automatically create an add-on containing the translation.