2. Centralizing add-ons on a HTTP server

  1. Install XXE on the server. Example: /opt/xxe/ on a server called rapido.

  2. Customize XXE if needed to. Example:

    • Create directory /opt/xxe/addon/custom/. This directory will contain all the add-ons you want to deploy.

    • Unzip one or more add-on distributions in /opt/xxe/addon/custom/.

      You'll find the add-on distributions packaged by XMLmind in http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/addons.shtml.

      Tip

      This customization of the XXE distribution can be done by hand by unpacking add-on distributions anywhere inside /opt/xxe/addon/, or more simply by using the integrated add-on manager (OptionsInstall Add-ons).

      In the latter case, just make sure to check "Install add-ons in XXE installation directory" in the Preferences dialog box (OptionsPreferences, Install add-ons section) before using the add-on manager.

  3. Test your customized distribution by running /opt/xxe/bin/xxe on the server.

    Note

    If you use the RenderX XEP plug-in, make sure that you have finished its installation by converting at least a document to PDF or PostScript®.

  4. In /opt/xxe/addon/, run command "find custom > custom.list" to create text file custom.list. The following example assumes that you have unpacked xfc_foprocessor.zip in custom/.

    /opt/xxe/addon$ find custom > custom.list
    
    /opt/xxe/addon$ cat custom.list
    
    custom
    custom/xfc_foprocessor
    custom/xfc_foprocessor/xfc.LICENSE
    custom/xfc_foprocessor/xfc.README
    custom/xfc_foprocessor/xfc.jar
    custom/xfc_foprocessor/xfc_foprocessor.jar
    custom/xfc_foprocessor/xfc_foprocessor.xxe_addon
    ...
  5. Publish your customized distribution on your intranet using a HTTP server. Apache example:

    1. Add a similar snippet to /etc/httpd.conf:

      <Directory /opt/xxe/>
        AllowOverride None
        Order Deny,Allow
        Deny from All
        Allow from my_company.com
      
        Options Indexes Includes
      </Directory>
      Alias /xxe /opt/xxe/
    2. Restart apache:

      # cd /etc/rc.d
      # ./apache restart
  6. Now, the hardest part: make sure that the PCs of the all future XXE users on your intranet have the following environment variable always properly set (for example: add it to autoexec.bat).

    set XXE_ADDON_PATH="@http://rapido.my_company.com/xxe/addon/custom.list;+"

    Notice that you can update or upgrade the distribution on the server side without having to change this environment variable on the client side.

  7. Tell all your XXE users to download a copy of the XXE installer (that is, xxe-perso-NNN-setup.exe or xxe-pro-NNN-setup.exe) from your intranet and to install it on their PCs.