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Vex Reference

This document is the technical reference for the Vex XML Editor.

Configuration Files

Upon startup, Vex loads it configuration from the .vex subdirectory in the user's home directory. If this directory does not exist, Vex creates it and populates it with a default configuration containing several common document types. The configuration directory contains the following files and subdirectories.

vex.properties

This file is a Java properties file containing the user preferences. It is maintained via the Vex user interface and is normally not manipulated directly.

doctypes/

This directory contains document type files ( .doctype extension) that dictate the structure of documents and related DTD files.

styles/

This directory contains style files ( .style extension) that affect the presentation of documents during editing and related CSS style sheets.

templates/

This directory contains template files ( .template extension) that describe templates for new documents, and their related skeletal document files.

These configuration items are described below.

Document Types

A document type registers a DTD and the public ID by which it is known with Vex. The document type file must be an XML file with a doctype root element and a .doctype extension. The following sub-elements are required.

publicId

The public ID by which the DTD is known. Vex uses the public ID of a loaded document to determine the DTD that dictates its structure.

url

A URL or relative URI of the DTD. Relative URIs are resolved relative to the document type file.

Vex will not load a document unless it can resolve the document's public ID to a document type. It will not fall back to the document's system ID to access the DTD.

The following listing is an example of a doctype file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE doctype PUBLIC "-//Vex//Vex Configuration 1.0//EN" "http://vex.sourceforge.net/dtd/doctype.dtd">
<doctype>
  <publicId>-//OASIS//DTD Simplified DocBook XML V1.0//EN</publicId>
  <url>sdocbook.dtd</url>
</doctype>

Styles

A style file registers a style sheet with Vex. The style file must be an XML file with a style root element and a .style extension. The following sub-elements are required.

name

Human-readable name by which the style sheet is known. The user is shown a list of these names when selecting which style sheet to use for a document.

url

URL or relative URI of the style sheet. Relative URIs are resolved relative to the style file.

publicId

Public ID of the document type to which the style sheet applies. This element may be repeated multiple times, since a style sheet may apply to multiple document types (e.g. multiple versions of DocBook).

The following listing is an example of a style file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE style PUBLIC "-//Vex//Vex Configuration 1.0//EN" "http://vex.sourceforge.net/dtd/vex-config-1.0.dtd">
<style>
  <name>DocBook Plain</name>
  <url>docbook-plain.css</url>
  <publicId>-//OASIS//DTD Simplified DocBook XML V1.0//EN</publicId>
</style>

Templates

A template file registers a document template with Vex. When creating a new document, the user selects from the list of available templates. A template file must be an XML file with a template root element and a .template extension. The following sub-elements are supported.

name

Human-readable name for the template.

url

URL or relative URI of the template. Relative URIs are resolved relative to the template file.

The following listing is an example of a template file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE template PUBLIC "-//Vex//Vex Configuration 1.0//EN" "http://vex.sourceforge.net/dtd/vex-config-1.0.dtd">
<template>
  <name>Article</name>
  <url>article.xml</url>
</template>

CSS Support

This appendix describes the level of CSS support currently implemented in Vex.

Properties

This following properties are supported in Vex.

The following properties will be supported in a future version of Vex.

There are no plans to support the following properties.

Selectors

The following selectors are supported in Vex.


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