Announce: Mr. XML Publisher for DocBook

[Steve Whitlatch]

This announcement might be of interest to structured FrameMaker users who use 
DocBook XML. The Mr. XML Publisher for DocBook website can produce 
documentation in many formats, but for PDF you probably want to use your 
local Acrobat software. That's what I do when using FrameMaker.

Announcing Mr. XML Publisher for DocBook, a free DocBook XML publishing 
service at http://swhitlat.com/XML_Publisher/

The Mr. XML Publisher for DocBook website accepts uploaded DocBook XML 
projects and returns output formatted with DocBook XSL. 
  * Returns HTML, PDF, HTML Help, Java Help, Man Pages, Eclipse Help, etc. 
  * Can use uploaded XSL customization layers
  * Uses a project's graphics 
  * Can include content from relational databases and/or native XML databases

Browser
  * IE6, IE7, or FireFox 2.0.x. Untested with other browsers.
  * Allow JavaScript, Cookies, and XMLHTTPRequests. 
  * Enable a Java plugin compatible with Sun's JRE 1.6.0 (or higher) 
    and accept the signed applet. The applet reads your DocBook project's 
    XML and creates a zip archive of the project for uploading.

Project
  * Must be a DocBook XML project containing valid DocBook XML.
  * All project files must reside in a single directory, or a 
    subdirectory thereof. 
  * To use an XSL customization layer, it must be in a file named the 
    same as the project's main XML file, but with a ".xsl" extension. 
  * To import DocBook XSL located on the server, use the paths listed in 
    the "Use these paths" link available from the online Help.
  * To include XML pulled from a database, follow the instructions listed 
    in the "additional instructions" link available from the online Help.

Mr. XML Publisher for DocBook is an implementation-specific version of my 
commercial application, Mr. XML Publisher, which is a more generalized web 
app for publishing XML. Detailed information on Mr. XML Publisher is at:
http://swhitlat.com/XML_Publisher.html 

The Mr. XML Publisher for DocBook website is new. It works great on a gigabit 
LAN, but it has not been tested under heavy-load conditions that might occur 
on the Internet. Specifically, although pulling content from relational 
databases and/or native XML databases works great on a LAN, I'm not yet sure 
how that will turn out over the Internet. You will need to be cautious with 
respect to security and pre-solve firewall issues at your local site.

Steve Whitlatch