1. What you'll learn

If you have taken the time to read:

you know that XMLmind XML Editor (XXE for short) can be customized/extended substantially without having to write a single line of code. However there are some cases where programming against the Java™ API of XXE becomes inevitable.

This guide is divided into five parts:

Commands

Custom commands are, by far, the most commonly used kind of extension[1] .

Other extensions found in configuration files
  • Extend the Attributes tool[2].

  • Add custom document validation beyond what can do the schema-driven validation engine and Schematron.

CSS stylesheet extensions

What to do when XXE CSS support is not powerful enough to style some XML elements exactly like you want?

Plug-ins

Support for remote document storage, image file formats, XSL-FO processors, spell checking engines, etc, are all implemented as plug-ins. Why not implement your own?

Extending the GUI of XXE

AppParts —application parts— are high-level building blocks used to create and extend the XMLmind XML Editor desktop application.

This guide ends with an appendix explaining how to package one or more extensions (of any kind) as an add-on for use by XXE integrated add-on manager.



[1] Though, most of the time, this can be done without without any Java™ programming. See Chapter 4, Macro commands in XMLmind XML Editor - Commands and Chapter 5, Process commands in XMLmind XML Editor - Commands.

[2] This too can be done without without any Java™ programming. See Section 1, “attributeEditor” in XMLmind XML Editor - Configuration and Deployment.