Re: Unexpected effect of 'Install add-ons in XXE installation director' in MacOS

On 1/1/21 11:20 PM, Leif Halvard Silli wrote:
> The 'Install add-ons' settings givs us 3 options:
> 
> 1) Install in user directory
> 2) Install in specific 'addon' directory inside the 'XXE installation 
> directory'
> 3) Installation directory depends on the addon
> 
> For the time being, I have been uisng option 2).
> 
> But depsite this setting, the XHTM5L.xsd file was place inside a child 
> 'config' folder of the 'addon' folder. I said 'despite', but I do not 
> find this any strange at all - after all, the 'config' folder is child 
> of the 'addon' folder, and thus I found this to not contradict the 
> settings.
> 
> Now, as I worked with the XHTML5.xsd file, I performed a uninstallation 
> of the XHTML addon. Then I of course reinstalled the XHTML addon again. 
> I needed to reset the XSD file.

No need to uninstall and then reinstall the XHTML add-on when you modify 
the XHTML5.xsd file found inside this add-on.

Suffice to clear the schema cache (or to disable it) using 
"Options|Preferences", "Advanced|Cached data" section, "Schema cache 
size", "Clear" button. See screenshot. See 
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_distrib/doc/help/advancedOptions.html#cacheOptions



> 
> I expected that the XHTML addon would be installed into the 'config' 
> folder. However, to my surprise, I noticed that it was placed directly 
> into the 'addon' folder. Given that  'config' folder is child of 
> 'addon', I did not link the change of location to my choice of option 2) 
> as the add-on installation location. It also did not seem to cause any 
> problems, so I did not care very much.
> 
> BUt then I switched to another MacOS user account on my computer, and 
> opemned XXE inside that other user account. And now I got an error 
> message from XXE which told that there something wrong with the XHTML 
> adon. In fact, the XHTML mode did not work, when inside other user account.

The instance of XXE run by the other MacOS user account still expected 
the XHTML add-on to be found in XXE_install_dir/addon/config/.

I mean, a lot of info, configurations, schemas, etc, are cached by XXE 
in XXE_user_preferences_dir/cache/ and XXE_user_preferences_dir/ is 
specific to the user account.

So in general, clicking all "Clear" buttons in "Options|Preferences", 
"Advanced|Cached data" section (or simpler, manually deleting 
XXE_user_preferences_dir/cache/ before restarting XXE) solves this kind 
of problem.

On the Mac:
- XXE_install_dir/ is XMLmind.app/Contents/Resources/xxe/
- XXE_user_preferences_dir/ is $HOME/Library/Application 
Support/XMLmind/XMLEditor9/


> 
> I switched back to the current MacOS user account. And in order to 
> investigate more, I chose to deinstall and reinstall the various DocBook 
> addons and the DITA addons, just to see if their instasllation location 
> was affected as well. I also deinstalled and reinstalled the 'DocBook 
> fauthoring package'. And sure enough, everything went directly inside 
> the 'addon' folder.
> 
> In addition, I got an error message from the 'DocBook fauthoring 
> package' saying that it did not find the DocBook addon(s) inside the 
> expected place, namely, inside the 'config' folder.
> 
> Conclusion: This seems to me like a bug. With regard to DocBook, then 
> either there is a bug in the DocBook fauthoring package, or there is a 
> bug in the 'Install add-ons' when it comes to option 2). Given the fact 
> that option 2) also gives problems for XHTML (ann probably for DITA as 
> well) when opening XXE in another user account on the same computer, I 
> tend to think that the bug related to option 2) of the 'Install add-ons' 
> setting.
> 
> Workaround: To solve my problem, I have switched to option 3) 
> Installation directory depends on the addon.
> 

Not sure about this workaround.

After all what you did, I would recommend to completely uninstall *all* 
your copies of XXE and manually delete *all* your 
XXE_user_preferences_dir/  (one for each user account; after backing up 
  your customizations of course) to restore a fresh, clean, state.

Yes, "Install add-ons" has known shortcomings (AKA bugs), especially 
when dealing with stock configurations like XHTML, DocBook, DITA (and 
also when dealing with user permissions on some operating systems).

Yes, XXE data caching is a source of a lot of caveats and pitfalls when 
you are trying to customize XXE.

However, we do not plan to fix these shortcomings. Rationale: not sure 
about how we could dot this, a lot of work, very few use cases like 
yours. Sorry!

(May be we'll "rehash" the whole concept of add-ons for XXE v10.)


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