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Getting started

The middleware itself is a server which sits between its own server and the Xeditor client. The server itself takes care of the more demanding tasks that should not be performed on the client / browser.

The middleware replaces the old blackbox. The configuration can be migrated for this purpose.

Setup​

Prereqiurements​

  • NodeJS 18.16.0 (latest LTS)
  • NPM 9.5.1 (Usually comes along automatically with NodeJS.)
  • Java JRE >= 11
  • XSLT Processor

XSLT Processor​

The middleware needs an XSLT processor to work correctly. This must always be installed additionally.

XSLTProc​

XSLTProc is a popular xslt tool for linux. This can usually be easily installed via the package manager of the system:

# i.e. for Ubuntu
sudo apt install xsltproc

With the following configuration:

export var configuration = {
    general: {
        // ...
        schema: {
            // ...
            "demo@0.0": {
                transformer: 'xsltproc' // Default value
            }
        }
    }
}

Saxon​

Saxon is one of the best known programs for XSLT. It usually runs in Java and therefore also under Windows, Linux and MacOS.

# i.e. for Ubuntu
curl -o /tmp/saxon.zip -LO https://github.com/Saxonica/Saxon-HE/releases/download/SaxonHE12-3/SaxonHE12-3J.zip
unzip -o /tmp/saxon.zip /opt/saxon

With the following configuration:

export var configuration = {
    general: {
        // ...
        schema: {
            // ...
            "demo@0.0": {
                transformer: {
                    type: 'saxon',
                    config: {
                        location: '/opt/saxon/Saxon.jar'
                        //,config: 'path/to/config/file.xml'
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Installation​

The middleware can be easily installed via the NPM repository.

The package can either be installed globally on the system:

npm install @xeditor/middleware --global

Or via a package.json file. This offers the additional advantage that the version can be easily managed:

{
  "name": "xeditor-middleware-configuration",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "xemiddleware --config ./xemiddleware.config.mjs"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@xeditor/middleware": "3.0.0"
  }
}

Running the middleware​

The middleware can be executed via the xemiddleware command. The parameter --help can be used to display the corresponding help detail.

$ xemiddleware --help
xemiddleware.js 3.0.0
Usage: xemiddleware.js [args]

Config options:
  -c, --config  Path to the config file                                 [string]

Developer options:
      --debug  Switch to debug mode                                    [boolean]

Options:
  -h, --help     Show help                                             [boolean]
  -v, --version  Show version number                                   [boolean]

The next step is to configure the middleware.