Jumbo9801a1

1998-02-01: Second alpha release with file access bugs fixed and also runnable as an applet.
 

Jumbo9801a

This document describes the alpha "snapshot" (i.e. release) of JUMBO in Jan 1998.

Description

JUMBO is an element-oriented system for processing XML documents. It can read and parse (with/without additional parsers, with/without the SAX interface). It creates a tree or elements and attributes with various types of content. It also supports processing instructions (PIs) in a generic manner. There is support for namespaces and XSL stylesheets, though JUMBO does not have sophisticated rendering. It has a browsing model based on a tree/TOC model, event streams or customised element display. It supports (SIMPLE) XLL navigation including NEW and REPLACE and most Xpointer syntax. It extends the latter to provide sophisticated search and navigation tools for the document. JUMBO also provides authoring and editing facilities, driven by DTD information where possible. These can be customised to provide novel types of data input other than text.

JUMBO is designed to be extended, especially through subclassing or elements, and I hope that a collaborative community (cf. tcl/tk, LaTeX, Linux) will develop for its future support. Offers are very welcome here.

Main Features

Installation

JUMBO9801a is available at http://www.vsms.nottingham.ac.uk/vsms/java/jumbo/jan9801. Details of installation are available; it will be useful to install one or more SAX-compliant (http://www.microstar.com/xml/sax) parsers.

Copyright, Collaboration, Source, Warranty

JUMBO is copyright Peter Murray-Rust. It is available without fee, but may not be redistributed or used for commercial purposes or teaching without permission. It is my intention that JUMBO is freely available for personal use by individuals and for personal use within organisations at present. Class libraries will be available on the WWW. I hope to develop a LaTeX/tcl-like club of collaborators and the precise nature of future copyright will depend on that; I would like to wrelax the restrictions above. I am reluctant at present to make source freely available except to collaborators since (through experience) I fear the distribution of mutants and the misappropriation of authorship. Constructive suggestions would be welcomed here. If a stable core can be communally developed (like tcl) I would feel more relaxed. So, if you are seriously interested in helping give me a mail with details.

No guarantee is made of JUMBO's fitness for any purpose and the author is not responsible for any damage caused by whatever means.

Copyright Peter Murray-Rust, 1996, 1997, 1998