The GNOME xml library [libxml, gnome-xml] is being developed within the framework of the GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) project. GNOME, part of the GNU project, "is free software compliant with the OpenSource definition. The GNOME project intends to build a complete, easy-to-use desktop environment for the user, and a powerful application framework for the software developer. . . The GNOME Project's application development framework also includes a DOM-inspired document model, printing/font framework, XML library, file metadata (including MIME types), and extension language support."
Libxml, according to the documentation provided by Daniel Veillard, is an XML library in "the Gnome framework. The internal document repesentation is as close as possible to the DOM interfaces. Libxml also has a SAX interface; James Henstridge made a nice documentation expaining how to use it. The interface is as compatible as possible with Expat one. There is also a mailing-list xml@rufus.w3.org for libxml, with an on-line archive. To subscribe to this majordomo based list, send a mail to majordomo@rufus.w3.org with "subscribe xml" in the content of the message. This library is released both under the W3C Copyright and the GNU LGP, basically everybody should be happy, if not, drop me a mail. People are invited to use the gdome Gnome module to get a full DOM interface, thanks to Raph Levien, check his DOMination paper. He uses it for his implementation of SVG called gill. The code is commented in a way which allows extensive documentation to be automatically extracted.
Dia. The Gnome Office drawing application 'Dia' is one of several office suite programs which uses XML as the native file format. "Dia is a drawing program, designed to be much like the commercial Windows program 'Visio'. It can be used to draw various different kinds of diagrams. In the first version there is support for UML static structure diagrams (class diagrams), databases, electric circuit objects, flowcharts, network diagrams, Sybase sheets, and more. Dia is easy to extend with new object collectionsm since the various objects are defined using an XML-based file format (example: horizontal Led). Dia has quickly become the tool of choice for GNOME developer to do diagrams with and communicating graphical information with other developers. The Dia team consists of seven programmers, it was originally written by Alexander Larsson and it is now being maintained by James Henstridge."
References:
"XML File Formats for Office Documents" references other XML formats for office applications.
The XML library for Gnome ["libxml, a.k.a. gnome-xml"] By Daniel Veillard]
Gnome Workshop - "a kind of meta-project. Our mission is to coordinate productivity applications for the Gnome desktop. We intend to produce a productivity suite composed entirely of free software." GWP, GO, and AbiWord are a full-featured word processing packages.
gnome-xml - Information from gDEV, gtk/GNOME Developer
Glade - "a free user interface builder for GTK+ and Gnome. It is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). converts Glade output to C++ for use with the Gtk-- bindings. Glade can produce C source code itself. C++, Ada95, Python & Perl support is also available, via external tools which process the XML interface description files output by Glade. libglade loads the XML files and creates the user interfaces dynamically."
[September 25, 1999] Libglade - "Libglade is a library that performs a similar job to the C source output routines in the GLADE user interface builder. Whereas GLADE's output routines create C code that can then be compiled, libglade builds the interface from an XML file (GLADE's save format) at runtime. This way you can change the look of a program without needing to recompile. Currently it supports all the widgets in current releases, together with support for keyboard accelerators and automatic signal connection. It is available from: ftp.gnome.org:/pub/GNOME/sources/libglade.
"Open Source Interfaces Revisited." By Charles Babcock. In Inter@ctive Week Online May 31, 1999. "When it comes to Linux applications, you have to consider their features and functionality, just as under Windows. Unlike Windows, however, you also have to ask whether the applications run with their own graphical user interface or one of the two popular ones on the Linux desktop, the K Desktop Environment (KDE) or the Gnu Object Modeling Environment (Gnome). . .
