PTC ALD in Arbortext Styler > Components of Documents and Templates > XML > XML Document Preferences
  
XML Document Preferences
Introduction
Document preferences instruct PTC Arbortext Layout Developer how strict to be when processing XML and how to handle some optional functionality which may affect performance. Preference settings also make it easier to create and use XML dynamically without unnecessary overheads.
* 
When creating an PTC Arbortext Layout Developer template from scratch, the default settings for handling XML in a document do not support the most common usage. You may need to configure your own settings.
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer XML Document Preferences
There are two methods for setting XML document preferences:
Access the preferences.xml property set of the fTemplate object with JavaScript
Make changes manually in the document preferences menu in PTC Arbortext Layout Developer— Desktop product
The following preferences are available. Refer to Best Practices for a list of recommended settings:
Preference: Save parser errors with document
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.saveXMLErrors boolean property
Ensures any parser errors generated in the xerror namespace when trying to parse an XML content stream are kept with the document
This preference only needs to be activated if you want to provide specific information about a problem in parsing, for example to PTC Support.
Preference: Ignore missing <?xml...?> declaration
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.ignoreMissingXMLDecl boolean property
Instructs PTC Arbortext Layout Developer to build a DOM using the fStream.isXML property, even if the text stream it encounters does not include the XML declaration
Preference: Ignore undefined entity references
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.ignoreUndefinedEntities boolean property
Allows PTC Arbortext Layout Developer to ignore the presence of undeclared entities in content so the DOM tree can be built
When PTC Arbortext Layout Developer receives XML content it does not always have a DTD available. It also uses &...; delimited markers in content to apply styling. A lack of entity reference declaration can cause a problem with some parsers.
Preference: Replace undefined entity references
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.replaceUndefinedEntities boolean property
Instructs PTC Arbortext Layout Developer to leave an entity reference in output, rather than replacing it with its text equivalent
When parsing and/or processing XML using XSLT, if an entity reference is not defined, an attempt to replace it with its text equivalent would insert nothing.
Preference: Validate against internal DTD
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.validateXML boolean property
Instructs PTC Arbortext Layout Developer to validate XML content when a DTD is referenced from the XML instance
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer’s libXML library can validate against DTDs (not schemas), but by default it is not necessary. It is assumed that validation occurred during content creation. However, it can be helpful to validate when allowing content editing in a saved document.
Preference: Expand XInclude elements
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.processXInclude boolean property
Allows the resolution of XInclude elements
Preference: Load external files
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.loadExternalFiles boolean property.
Instructs PTC Arbortext Layout Developer to use external files referenced from an XML instance, for example in entities, when parsing
Preference: Create links to external files
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.createLinksToFiles boolean property
Instructs PTC Arbortext Layout Developer to create a PTC Arbortext Layout Developer tag that links to an external content file, if Load external files specifies that they should be used
Preference: Strip whitespace nodes
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.stripWhitespaceNodes boolean property
Strips nodes that only contain whitespace from the resulting tree during parsing
Preference: Add default attributes from DTD
FOM: fTemplate.preferences.xml.addDefaultAttributes boolean property
Ensures that attribute processing is aware of all attributes that should appear on an element
When parsing and validating against a DTD, PTC Arbortext Layout Developer can add default attributes to the resulting DOM tree if they are specified in the DTD.
Some other document preferences govern XPath behavior particular to PTC Arbortext Layout Developer:
Allow PTC ALD variables — before JavaScript, PTC Arbortext Layout Developer accessed XPath using show strings. Accessing variables in XPath in show strings was complex before this setting was provided.
Allow PTC ALD node tests — activates/deactivatesPTC Arbortext Layout Developer’s node test extensions to XPath
Add ALD functions to global namespace and Add ALD functions to x3b2 namespacePTC Arbortext Layout Developer provides a number of extension functions to standard XPath 1.0. These preferences are used to make the extensions available without using a namespace prefix before the function name.
In Arbortext Styler, the x3b2 namespace prefix is required for PTC Arbortext Layout Developer XPath extension functions.
Refer to XPath in PTC Arbortext Layout Developer for information on PTC Arbortext Layout Developer’s XPath support.
Best Practices
The following XML document preference settings are recommended when setting up a native PTC Arbortext Layout Developer template:
Save parser errors with document / fTemplate.preferences.xml.saveXMLErrors — false
Ignore missing XML <?xml...?> declaration / fTemplate.preferences.xml.ignoreMissingXMLDecl — true
Ignore undefined entity references / fTemplate.preferences.xml.ignoreUndefinedEntities — true
Replace undefined entity references / fTemplate.preferences.xml.replaceUndefinedEntities — false
Validate against DTD / fTemplate.preferences.xml.validateXML — false
Expand XInclude elements / fTemplate.preferences.xml.processXInclude — false
Load external files / fTemplate.preferences.xml.loadExternalFiles — false
Create links to external files / fTemplate.preferences.xml.createLinksToFiles — false
Strip whitespace nodes / fTemplate.preferences.xml.stripWhitespaceNodes — false
Add default attributes from DTD / fTemplate.preferences.xml.addDefaultAttributes — false
Allow PTC ALD variables — true
Allow PTC ALD node tests — true
Add PTC ALD functions to global namespace and Add PTC ALD functions to x3b2 namespace — true