XMetaL® Author Enterprise 8.0 Install Readme

Installation Notes

These installation notes cover the following XMetaL Author Enterprise installations:

Limited User vs. Local Admin accounts

All installations of XMetaL Author are pre-configured to operate in an environment where end-users are assumed have ‘Limited User’ account privileges. Programs running under such user accounts are normally restricted from writing to Program Files and similar folders along with writing to Windows HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry hives. XMetaL Author still has some features that require operating under a Local Admin user account in order to write to the Program Files folder. A prompt will appear warning the user of this restriction.

Features requiring Local Admin privileges

For all installations, features requiring Local Admin privileges (right-click and choose ‘Run as Administrator’) warn the user before proceeding or are disabled.

Here are the features that display a warning:

Regardless of account privileges, the following processes and features are disabled:

Alternatively, you can use these features by running XMetaL Author in Administrator mode. Follow these steps:

  1. Right-click on the XMetaL Author shortcut and choose ‘Run as Administrator’ (Vista) or ‘Run as’ (XP).
  2. Provide login account info of user with administrator privileges.
  3. Run operation requiring administrator privileges.

Note: The disabled features also require you to configure XMetaL Author for Local Admin privileges.

Note: Regardless of being qualified as limited-user or local-administrators, users MUST chose ‘Run as Administrator’ on Windows Vista operating systems. Under Windows operating systems prior to Vista (and its UAC feature), users qualified as a local-administrator are not required doing the ‘Run as’ option.

Configuring XMetaL Author for Local Admin privileges

XMetaL Author Enterprise is installed with the assumption that users have Limited User account privileges under Windows. If you need to set up DITA specializations for your end users, or if you want to enable features that are otherwise disabled for Limited Users you must set the following variable in the XMetaL Author configuration file (xmetal80.ini): user_setting_mode=default Local Admin users very familiar with the product may continue to work with XMetaL Author Enterprise in this mode, however, we recommend that it only be used to accomplish tasks that cannot be done otherwise and that the default setting be restored once these tasks are accomplished. The default setting is the "per-user" mode, which is set as follows: user_setting_mode=per_user

Desktop installation

The installer includes the following components:

System requirements

Special note for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and 8 installations: If you are installing the software from a Limited User account, you must provide an Administrator ID and password in order to run the XMetaL Author installer.

Optional additional software

The following additional software is required for generating output and page previewing for DITA documents:

Before you begin

If you are installing this version on XMetaL Author for Enterprise 5.5 or earlier, you must remove all previous versions of XMetaL Author before you install this version. If you are installing this version on XMetaL Author for Enterprise 6.0 or later, you do not need to uninstall the existing version.

You can use your 7.0 or later license key to install this version. If you do not have a license key, contact support services.

If you are installing the trial version of XMetaL Author, and switch to another program using Alt+tab (for example, to copy a serial number), you cannot switch back to the XMetaL Author Activation dialog box using Alt+tab. Minimize all other applications in order to reveal the Activation dialog once again.

If you have specializations, make copies of the following files and folders:

Note: If you want to keep a previous version of the DITA Open Toolkit, rename the following folder before you install: %systemdrive%\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\DITA_OT. If you have added any plug-ins or made customization such as XSLT changes, make sure to do a backup. For more information about specifying parameters, see the XMetaL Author Enterprise User’s Guide.

To install XMetaL Author

  1. Double-click the .exe file (setup.exe if you received XMetaL Author on disk).
  2. Click Install XMetaL Author and proceed with the installation.

Re-Deployment of DITA Open Toolkit when activating XMetaL Author from a Trial version to a Full version

When you activate a trial version of XMetaL Author to a Full version, it is necessary re-deploy the DITA Open Toolkit. This upgrades your RenderX XEP Trial version to a Full version. Re-deploy as follows:

  1. Go to Tools -> Configure Output.
  2. Select the Advanced tab.
  3. Find the line "cmd_dita_ot_per_user_version = 1" and change the number to the next higher number.

    Note: The number may be a number other than "1".

  4. Click OK. The next time you generate output, the DITA open Toolkit will be redeployed.

Per-User Deployment of DITA Open Toolkit, Samples and Customizations

The DITA Open Toolkit included with XMetaL Author is required to be deployed separately for each end user. XMetaL Author automatically deploys a per-user copy of the toolkit the first time the end user generates output or does a page preview of a DITA document. Samples files installed in the Program Files folder are also deployed on a per-user basis. Customization files may also be deployed on a per-user basis if they are initially deployed in the Program Files folder.

If you need to re-deploy the DITA Open Toolkit, remove the following folder for each user:

If you need to re-deploy samples, remove the following folder for each user:

If you need to re-deploy customization files deployed in the Program Files folder, remove the corresponding sub-folder for each customization for each user. Note that the folder structure within the following folder mimics the folder structure of the customization files:

Re-integrate DITA specializations

If you have specializations, you need to re-integrate them after installing. Follow these steps:

  1. Start XMetaL Author.
  2. Select Tools>Select Specialized DITA DTD and add your specialized DTD.
  3. Using a text editor, copy your specialized typemod entities from the backup copy of dcspecialized-typemods.ent and add them to ..\Author\DITA\DITA_OT_DTD\dcspecialized-typemods.ent.
  4. Using a text editor, make any CSS, MCR, or CTM specialization changes using your backup copies.

Note: On Vista with UAC enabled, you must log-in as Administrator or run XMetaL as Administrator.

Update DocApp

Note for XMetaL Author Enterprise for Documentum Webtop users: To see all the enhancements and changes for DITA, please ensure that the DocApp is updated accordingly. Updated DocApps are made available with the XMetaL Author 6.0-compatible release of XMetaL Author Enterprise for Documentum Webtop.

Re-integrate DITA-OT plug-ins

If you have DITA Open Toolkit plug-ins, you must re-integrate them after installing. Follow these steps:

  1. Open a command window at C:\Program Files\Common Files\XMetaL Shared\DITA_OT.
  2. On the command line type ant -f integrator.xml and press Enter.
  3. Copy DTDs as needed.

Notes:

Reinstalling or uninstalling XMetaL Author

You can re-run the installer from the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel.

If you have already installed XMetaL Author, the installer gives you options to Remove or Repair XMetaL Author (see below).

To access the Maintenance installer

  1. Choose Settings from the Start menu, and then Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
  3. Select XMetaL Author.
  4. Click Change/Remove.

    If you have already successfully installed this version of XMetaL Author, a dialog box appears with two options: Repair, and Remove.

  5. Enable an option and click Next.

Repair

Select Repair if you suspect that the currently installed product has become corrupted in some way. Repair reinstalls the same set of components installed in the previous installation.

Note: The files that the original installer unpacked must still be available if you choose this option.

In some cases there may be two or more choices that the installer can make when installing certain components. In this situation a dialog box appears asking for your preference.

Remove

Select Remove if you want to uninstall the complete product.

Other types of user data, such as files that were created directly by the user or that contain preferences that a user might want to re-use in a later version installation, are not removed at uninstallation time. If you want to remove them, you must delete them manually after uninstallation has completed. Such files may exist here:

Silent installer

You can install XMetaL Author silently from the command line. If you obtained a single EXE file (sometimes referred to as the "web installer") you need to unpack it to obtain the "real" installer as follows: (Note: If you obtained XMetaL Author on CD you can skip this section. )

  1. Run the installer's EXE.
  2. When you are prompted for a location to unpack the installer to, specify a location you can easily locate and interact with at a command prompt.
  3. The EXE will unpack the installer to the location you specified and the dialog box should say "Extracting Files" (or something similar). You will know all files have been unpacked when the "real" installer has launched itself and is displaying a splash screen with the XMetaL logo and options similar to the following:
  4. Terminate this process once all files have been unpacked by selecting the Exit option.
  5. Confirm the location you specified in step 2 contains a number of folders and files, including a file called setup.exe and possibly a file called autorun.inf among others. These files and folders are what you would obtain if you obtained the product on CD.
To run the silent installer, you need to supply the product serial number as a parameter value. Optionally, the ALLUSERS parameter should be provided, as shown below, if the software will be used from multiple login accounts.  Without the ALLUSERS=1 parameter, the software is only usable from the account active during installation.  The syntax is as follows: 

setup.exe /s /v"/qn SERIALNUMBER={serial number} ALLUSERS=1"

Use the following syntax to silently uninstall: 

setup.exe /s /x /v"qn"

or 

setup.exe /s /v"qn REMOVE=ALL"

Note: The "setup.exe" referred to above is the file within the 'xmetal' folder from the redistributable, not the setup.exe beside the 'xmetal' folder.

Supported spell checking languages

This release of XMetaL Author automatically installs all supported languages for spell checking and the thesaurus including the following:

Spell Checker:

Thesaurus:

Configuring the spell checker to use Hunspell compatible dictionaries

This release can be configured to use Hunspell compatible dictionaries for spell checking. These can be used to extend or replace the languages included with the spell checker. They are the same standard Hunspell spell checking dictionary files supported by OpenOffice™ and some other applications.

Most of these files come with their own EULA and so it is up to you to obtain and deploy compatible .DIC and associated .AFF files for each language you want XMetaL Author to use. For additional and updated information on this subject please see Obtaining and Using Hunspell Compatible Dictionaries with XMetaL Author 8.0

Configuration:

Once you have a compatible .DIC file (and optional .AFF file) use the following the procedure to configure XMetaL Author to use them.

  1. Copy the Hunspell compatible dictionary file(s) to a computer with XMetaL Author installed. You may place these files in any folder you like. Note: For XMetaL Author to locate and use an .AFF file it must have the same name and be in the same folder as the .DIC file. In some cases this may mean you will need to rename the .AFF file to match the .DIC file.
  2. Launch XMetaL Author.
  3. Open any XML or SGML document in Tags On or Normal view (a document must be open to enable the Spell Checker).
  4. Open the spell checker dialog (labelled "Writing Tools") by selecting Tools > Spell Checker. If you are prompted to close the spell checker click the "No" button.
  5. Perform the following substeps only if the language is NOT in the list of default supported spell checking languages:
    1. Open the "Select Language" dialog by clicking Options > Language.
    2. Click the "Add..." button.
    3. Type a new "Language Code" and "Description" and click OK. You may invent these yourself. The only requirement is that the Language Code is not already used by a default language.
    4. From the "Language" list, select the new entry for the "Language Code" you just created.
    5. Enable (check) the "Save as default Writing Tools language" checkbox.
    6. Click OK.
    7. A dialog titled "Unsupported Language..." should appear.
    8. Click the "Find File..." button then browse to and select your Hunspell compatible .DIC file.
    9. Close the Writing Tools window.
  6. Perform the following substeps only if the language is ALREADY in the list of default supported spell checking languages:
    1. Open the "Main Word Lists" dialog by clicking Options > Main Word Lists.
    2. Click the "Add List..." button then browse to and select your Hunspell compatible .DIC file.
    3. (optional) Disable (deselect the checkbox) any files you do not wish to use for spell checking for this language. XMetaL Author will use all enabled files when looking for a match.
    4. Close the Main Word Lists dialog.
    5. Close the Writing Tools dialog.

Restart XMetaL Author to start spell checking with the newly added Hunspell dictionary.

If the language you have added a Hunspell dictionary for is not set as the "default Writing Tools" language you may wish to set it. There are other ways to spell check (using xml:lang and APIs) so this is not necessarily the case. Please refer to Help for information on spell checker functionality.

Installing XMetaL Author without Administrative Privileges

The XMetaL Author Installer Setup program warns you if you do not have permission to install XMetaL Author (for example, if you are logged in as a normal or restricted user). The solution is to install XMetaL Author on Windows by logging in as a user who has administrator privileges.

Citrix-compatible installations

XMetaL Author is now certified on Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server 4.0. The Citrix-compatible version of XMetaL uses the MSI-type installer and has specific installation prerequisites. There are also some minor functional differences in the software. These and other differences are detailed below.

The Citrix Installation Manager will install the MSI installer silently, so there is no user interaction.

The MSI installer cannot be modified or repaired through Add/Remove programs. It should be removed only from the Citrix Installation Manager.

MSI installer prerequisites

The following components must be installed on your server before XMetaL Author will operate correctly:

Note: Version numbers noted above are minium versions.

Silent installer

You can create a silent installer packages for Citrix installations. To create a silent installer from Installation Manager, add the product serial number as a command line parameter.

  1. In the Citrix management console, select the XMetaL MSI installer.
  2. Click Yes to add command line parameters.
  3. In the MSI Attributes dialog, specify the serial number and all-users option using the following command line option: 
    SERIALNUMBER={serial number}

    ALLUSERS=1

No command line parameters are required to un-install.

Drive remap support

XMetaL Author has been tested and operates properly when the Citrix drive remap feature is configured. Please ensure XMetaL Author is installed only after drive remap has been applied.

Optional additional software

The following additional software is required for the generating output and page previewing:

Citrix ‘Publish Application’ recommended settings

In Citrix environments, it is expected that the administrator will setup XMetaL Author prior to publishing the application to the Citrix users. If specializations or some pre-configuration is required using these features, the Citrix admin needs to toggle the 'user_setting_mode' variable (see Configuring XMetaL Author).

The Citrix Presentation Server requires you to do a ‘publish application’ in order to make XMetaL Author visible to your end users. The following settings are recommended or suggested minimum settings: 

Application Limits: Check 'Allow only one instance of application for each user'

Application Appearance: Session Window Size: 1024x768

Application Appearance: Colors: High Color (16-bit) or better

If you encounter problems, it is possible that the XMetaL document customization you are using is not Citrix-aware. In addition to the above ‘Publish Application’ settings, adjust the following setting: 

Application Location : Check 'Isolate Application'