File

In the menu File you will find all functions concerning the file and the settings for the entire layout.

Open a new file with the command New. XSLfast will ask you whether you want to open an empty sheet, an existing layout or one of those layouts that have recently been used:

If you choose the new layout and click "OK", an empty sheet is opened. If you choose to open an existing layout and click "OK", the file browser is opened:

Please select the desired layout file and click "Open".

If you select to open one of the recently used layouts, XSLfast offers you a list:

Please select the desired file and click "OK".

If you do not want to start the wizard every time you open another layout, deactivate the check box Show this dialog at startup.

You can reactivate the wizard in the menu File->Preferences; this will be explained a little later.

If you chose to open a new empty layout, you will be asked to select an XML data source to work with by default. Most of the time you will work with XML data that is combined with your XSLfast layout.

The automatic question for an XML source can also be switched off in the menu File->Preferences. This is described a little later as well.

If you do not need XML data for the layout file you are about to create because it will be a static document, click "Cancel". But if you are going to create a dynamic document containing XML data, you need to select the XML data source here:

Select the correct XML file and click "Open".

With the command Open you select and open an existing file.

Save the active file in a folder of your choice with the command Save.

Save as gives you the chance to save the file with a different name in a specified folder.

If you want to save all currently opened layouts, click Save all. You will be asked for the saving destination for every layout and to enter file names if you did not save all layouts or all modifications before.

The currently displayed layout can be closed with the command Close.

If all layouts should be closed, but the application should still be active, use Close all.

XSLfast offers you to import XSL templates as layouts. This feature is very useful when you want to use several templates from one layout but do not want to import them one by one. In that case you can import the entire layout with all templates in it.

On Import XSL templates, the file dialog will be displayed:

Choose the XSL file you want to import and click the "Open" button.

All templates which were contained in the selected XSL file will appear outside the working sheet on the right. These templates are now embedded in the current layout.

To use the imported templates in your layout, place a Call template element by clicking the icon and placing the frame on the page. Double clicking the frame opens the Call template editor:

In the Call select box you select one of the templates to be called:

Note: In the select box all templates used in the layout, both external and internal will be displayed.

Export offers you to export your file as *.pdf, *.xsl, *.html or *.fo files.

The export as PDF creates the regular PDF file (that you can also generate manually) and saves it under the name you enter in the selected folder. To produce a complete XSL style sheet, export the file as XSL. It is also possible to export your file in the XSL-FO format. These two formats can be reprocessed by other XSL or XSL-FO applications. The HTML export produces a HTML page with the basic information of the layout.

As mentioned above, most of your documents will need a data source to be imported into the placeholder frames. The command Get grouping structure (XML/DTD) opens a file browser where you select the XML data source file, when you need to change the selected XML file or if you deactivated the automatic question for the XML file.

After selecting a data source, the structure of the XML file is visible in the top left frame. It makes it very easy to create assignments of nodes to frames by drag and drop on the sheet. This process is described later in this manual.

The function Preferences is described in detail in the next chapter.

The next command in the menu Files is Recently used files. It offers you shortcuts to recently modified files.

Select one and click on it or open the desired file with the corresponding key combination.

Exit the application with the command Exit or click the cross in the right upper corner of the window.