User guide

Prerequisite

• Sun or Apple Java[tm] runtime 1.4.1 or above.
• At least 256Mb of memory and a 600MHz CPU.
• 100Mb of free disk space.
• On Windows NT/2000/XP or on Linux.

Installation on Windows

1. Make sure that you have a Java™ 1.4.1+ runtime installed on your machine. To check this, open a command window and type "java -version" followed by Enter. You should get something looking like this:

   C:\> java -version
   java version "1.5.0_04"
   Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition 
   (build 1.5.0_04-b05)
   Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM 
   (build 1.5.0_04-b05, mixed mode, sharing)

2. Use a tool like WinZip, 7-Zip or Info-Zip [1] to unzip the XXE distribution inside any directory you want:

   C:\> unzip xxe-std-3_1_0.zip
   C:\> dir xxe-std-3_1_0
   ... <DIR> addon
   ... <DIR> bin
   ... <DIR> demo
   ... <DIR> doc

3. XXE is intended to be used directly from the xxe-std-3_1_0 directory. That is, you can start XXE by simply executing:

   C:\XMLmind> xxe-std-3_1_0\bin\xxe.bat

Installation on Linux

1. Make sure that the Java[tm] bin/ directory is referenced in the $PATH and, at the same time, check that the Java[tm] runtime in the $PATH has the right version:

   $ java -version
   java version "1.5.0_04"
   Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition 
   (build 1.5.0_04-b05)
   Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM 
   (build 1.5.0_04-b05, mixed mode, sharing)

2. Unpack the XXE distribution inside any directory you want:

   $ cd 
   $ unzip xxe-std-3_1_0.zip
   $ ls xxe-std-3_1_0
   addon/
   bin/
   demo/

3. XXE is intended to be used directly from the xxe-std-3_1_0/ directory. That is, you can start XXE by simply executing:

   $ xxe-std-3_1_0/bin/xxe &

   After that, you may want to add xxe-std-3_1_0/bin/ to your $PATH.

Here is how to describe a bracelet in XML format.

• A bracelet is contained into an element <Bracelet>
• A bracelet <Bracelet> is composed of a first row <HeadRow>, followed by one or several other rows <Row>, as many as necessary.
• The first row<HeadRow> is used to define the number of threads necessary to make the bracelet, and their colour. Each thread is represented by an element <Thread> whose attribute colour defines its colour. The possible values for the colours are availablehere .
• The following rows <Row> are use to describe the nodes. The various possibilities are: the right-node <RightNode>, the left-node <LeftNode>, the half-knots to the left then to the right <RightHalfNode>, the half-knots to the right then to the left <LeftHalfNode>, a simple continuation of the thread down to the next row <Thread>. Note than a node always occupy the width of two threads, and that finally each row should have the same width.
• For technical reason only, the <HeadRow> element always contains an <HeadCell> element, which itself contains the threads. The same way, the <Row> element always contains a <Cell> element , which itself contains the nodes.

1. Start XXE (see above)
2. In the main menu, choose File --> New
3. Double-click on the word "Bracelet". A bracelet is shown with 10 green threads on the first row, and 10 others on a second row.
4. Save immediately the bracelet under the filename of your choice (keep preferably the .xml extension) using the main menu File --> Save As...
5. Click on one thread of the first row in order to select it. A red frame indicates the selected element.
6. Let's start by defining the colour of each thread of the bracelet. When a <Thread> element is selected, the attribute tabs which appears in the right down part of the screen should show an attribute named "colour". In the value column, you can activate by a mouse click a pop-up menu allowing to choose the colour you wish. The thread drawing in the editor immediately appears with the chosen colour.
7. Now let's define how many threads you need for your bracelet. To delete one thread, just select it and type Ctrl-K. To add one thread, you can for instance select another thread of the same colour and copy it using Ctrl-C. Then you can paste it at the required position: select another thread, then Ctrl-V to replace the selected thread by the one previously copied, or Ctrl-U to add it before the selected thread, or Ctrl-W to add it after the selected thread.
8. Now you can start making the first row of nodes. Click on one thread to select it. While pressing continuously Ctrl-Shift keys, click on the next thread. You have now selected two contiguous threads. To make a right-node for instance, click on Replace icon, in the right top part of the screen, and then click on the required node RightNode, just under the icon. The two selected threads are now replaced by the chosen node. Note that the colour of the node drawing is automatically calculated according to the previous rows of the bracelet.
9. To add a new row, click on one of the thread or node of the previous row. It is now selected and you can see on the top left part of the screen, under the icon bar, the hierarchy of each of its father element.Bracelet - Row - Cell - Thread. When clicking on the word Row, you'll select the whole row. You can the add a new row under this one by clicking on the icon Insert After then choosing Row, or simply by typing Ctrl-Ins (a sequence of keys which usually add after the selected element another element of the same type).
10. Now you are ready to build the whole bracelet, using the functions Replace, Insert Before, Insert, Insert After that you may have seen above. They are available either in the Edit menu, either by clicking on icons at the top of the screen, either by typing on the required Ctrl keys.
11. Finally don't forget that bracelets are usually repetitive, and consequently to copy/paste several rows (use again Ctrl-Shift) is likely to make you save a lot of time to obtain quickly the whole bracelet.
12. Personally, I always finish the bracelet by a row of simple threads, as we started it.

1. We can obtain a SVG drawing of the bracelet, in order to have a nicer view of the bracelet. In the main menu, choose Bracelet --> dessin (SVG)... Then choose the filename *.svg.
2. We can also obtain the dimensions of the designed bracelet, especially an estimation of the length for each thread. In the main menu, choose Bracelet --> dimensions (SVG)... Then choose the filename *.svg.

In the directory addon/bracelet/samples of the distribution you'll find some samples allowing to better understand how to design bracelets using this tool.

Open them with XXE, and practise. You can for instance modify the colours on the first row to test different effects.