Here you have the opportunity to download the latest release of the DesignComposer. Remember, it is just a prototype, so problems may occur - but not with the included examples ;-) . Just play around with it and don't forget to send us your experiences and ideas for improvements. Have fun!

Disclaimer

This software is not freeware, all rights remain at the author and DFKI. You're allowed to use this software as long as you are conforming to the rules mentioned below.

Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Alexander Kroener, DFKI. All Rights Reserved.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for NON-COMMERCIAL purposes and without fee is hereby granted provided that this copyright notice appears in all copies.

THE AUTHOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THE SOFTWARE, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. THE AUTHOR SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES SUFFERED BY LICENSEE AS A RESULT OF USING, MODIFYING OR DISTRIBUTING THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS DERIVATIVES.

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Requirements

To run the DesignComposer you need the following.

• A Java 1.1 installation (successfully tested with Sun JDK 1.2/3 and MS SDK 3.1/4.0)
• An XML Parser (successfully tested with XML4J 3.1.1)
• Internet access to run the examples included within the package
• A browser that is able to process HTML 3.0 to display the results

Package Content

This package includes:

I've extracted and added some classes from external libraries. In particular these are:

1. GK: Copyright (c) 1997-1998 Guido Krueger. All Rights Reserved.

Installation

Uncompress the software to a folder of your choice. Additionally, you might have to adapt 'run.csh' or 'run.bat' to your personal Java environment. In particular, look at the setting of the following shell variables.

DCS_NS_PREFS

is the full pathname of your Netscape preferences file. Typical names and locations of this file are C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\<Yourname>\prefs.js (Windows NT) or /home/<Yourname>/.netscape/.preferences(Unix).

Specifying this filename is optional. It is required only if you are interested in experimenting with the automated analysis of an environment that includes Netscape Communicator.

DCS_JST_HOME

Specifying this filename is optional. It is required only if you are interested in experimenting with the automated analysis of an environment that includes Microsoft Internet Explorer, and you do not use Microsoft's jview for executing Java code. Then you may install the Java System Toolkit (JST), and refer to the lib folder included in this package.

DCS_XML4J_HOME

is the directory where XML4J's .jar's are stored. These variable is required for the regular execution.

Usage

Execute 'runDCDemo.csh' (if using Unix/csh) or 'runDCDemo.bat' (if using MS Windows). The configuration GUI should open offering three buttons:

• Open: read a provider configuration file.
• Edit: edit the current provider configuration. For a description of the parameters you may edit here see the provider initialization quick reference.
• Run: create a layout based on the current provider and reader profile. This button activates the DesignComposer. Please note that multiple layout jobs may be processed at a time.

Further access is provided by a menu bar:

• File
  • Open provider profile...: load content provider profile from a file (*.ini).
  • Save provider profile as...: save the current content provider profile to a file.
  • Open reader profile...: load reader profile from a file (*.xml).
  • Save reader profile as...: save the current reader profile to a file.
  • Exit: terminates the configuration GUI and all related DC threads.
• Edit
  • Provider profile: edit the current provider profile. For a description of the parameters have a look at quick reference.
  • Reader profile: edit the current reader profile. For a description of the parameters have a look at quick reference.
• ?
  • About DesignComposer...: a few words about our project.

Example Run

A typical example run works as follows:

1. Press 'Open' and select a .ini file.
2. Press 'Run' to achieve a layout.
3. After layout has been finished (no text is scrolling, nothing moves ;-) change to the folder output and double-click a file containing the string 'DCDemo' to view the result.

Note that for using the included examples, you have to be online since the binary data referred by our examples are not included in this package.

Some Notes

The DesignComposer does not create index lists if no instruction for doing so is contained in the layout knowledge base. This means that if more than one page is created, you might not be able to access pages behind the first one. You can directly access these "hidden" pages by the file system.

Using the Preview Window

Optionally, the DC opens a preview window that provides a graphical preview of the current state of the generation process. This window also offers some possibilities to interact with the generator.

The buttons work as follows:

• Pause/Proceed: pauses and proceeds the generation process. If the generation has been finished and a valid result has been found, you may press proceed again to get the next available alternative layout.
• Start/Stop: starts and stops the generation process.
• Exit: terminates the generation thread shown in the given preview window. If the generation is still under progress, you are requested if the generation should be stopped. If the DC that manages this threads has no further active threads, you are requested if the DC should be terminated. The DCStarter is not affected by your selection.

Further interaction is offered when a result has been found. Then a left-click in the preview window forces the DC to change into the edit mode. Here you may define a new document size by resizing the preview window or by entering it (followed by pressing 'resize') into the document size dialog. To create a layout based on this new size, just press 'Start'.

Editing the reader profile

Optionally, you may edit the reader profile, which carries parameters from the presentation environment that are of interest for the layout production. What you can actually do is...

• ... specify some style sheets, which should be incorporated into the layout knowledge base.
• ... edit the operation system used by the reader. Note that only parameter values may be changed here, but not the parameter names.
• ... specify the browser used by the reader.
• ... add some general parameters. These parameters will affect layout only if the current style sheets that make use of them.
• ... analyze your own environment. The analysis' result is stored in the reader profile. This feature is an experimental offline implementation of our context retrieval component.