1. INTRODUCTION [TOC] This file contains some notes about the first testing and usage of Alexis which is an XML editor. 2. NOTES [TOC] These notes were begun on the 3 june 2003, when Alexis went roughly into Alpha phase of developement. Alexis will should run on any 'Java capable' operating system, such as Microsoft Windows, Unix, Linux, and Apple Macintosh. However the notes which follow are extremely Microsoft centric, since this is the only system, so far, which I have used Alexis on. 3. INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTALLING ALEXIS [TOC] To install Alexis, Download the installer file from the Internet (I am not sure where yet) There is currently one at
\\Lap\e\ouiji\Desktop\alexis_0_2.exe
But this wont be much good to anybody who doesn't have access to the Ametlla Laptops, which is everybody Often when you download a file from the Internet using a Web Browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, when the download is complete the Browser will give you a chance to execute the file using a button labelled 'launch file' or something similar. Open a program like 'Windows Explorer' (if your operation system is a version of Microsoft Windows) and double click on the file which you just downloaded, in whatever location which you saved it to on your hard disk. When you first click on the file which you just downloaded, there will be a short delay of a few seconds while the Installer program gets going. The 'Setup' or 'Installer' program will begin and will ask you a series of questions about the installation of the Alexis program. However you should not worry about the questions too much since most of the 'default setting' will be adecuate to make the program work. The first screen of the Set-up program will advise you to close all currently open programs before proceeding. If you are feeling pedantic you can follow this advice by clicking cancel in the Set-up program, then closing all currently open programs, and then double clicking on the down-loaded file again. However if you are feeling lazy, you dont really have to close all currently open programs. 4. USING ALEXIS [TOC] To edit a file using Alexis: Start Alexis by clicking on start --> Program --> Alexis XML Editor or by clicking on the Alexis icon which is on the Microsoft Windows Desktop Click on File --> Login on the Alexis menus. A box will appear which allows you to enter your username, password, and the Server to connect to. These details are necessary because Alexis (almost always) is designed to be used as a 'distributed xml editor'. This means that the files which you are editing are not located on your computer, but on some remote computer which is somewhere on the Internet. At the moment, in order to connect to a testing Server which contains files to edit, you can use the details
username = root
password = root
Server = http://ella-associates.org:8080/slide/
If all goes well the Login Box, which you have just filled in, will disappear and on the left-hand side of the screen an icon and URL will appear which should look approximately like this
WebDAV: http://ella-associates.org:8080/slide/
At the very left-hand-most side of this line is a small circle with a dot in it and a short line pointing to the right-hand-side. Click on this small circle and the short line will point downward. There may now be a short delay, but a line containing the text 'files' or something similar will appear. Each time that you click on the circle icon described above there may be a short delay before anything happens. This is because the program has to load the files from a Server on the Internet. To be brief: at the moment (3 june 2003) to edit some test documents, click on the circle icons for (in this order), 'files', 'documents', 'alexis-docs' and then choose which ever file you would like to edit. Click on the name of the file, then right click and choose 'open' from the menu which appears. In the right hand side of the window the tagged text should appear. 5. SOME PERFORMANCE OBSERVATIONS [TOC] Start up time 18 seconds on 'my' computer. This is roughly 2000 vintage Toshiba laptop. If the Alexis program is currently installed, the installer does not work (3 june 2003) 6. QUESTIONS [TOC] How do I insert tags into existing text? Do the 'source view' and the 'tag view' coincide? What I mean is, do they synchronize when a change in made to one? |