With the launch of the MindTouch Deki 8.08 RC1, we’re also releasing updated versions of SgmlReader, the versatile .NET library written in C# for parsing HTML/SGML files. The benefit of SgmlReader is that it can cope with some fairly loosely formatted documents and convert most of the content into valid XML.

SgmlReader is being released in two versions: 1.7.5 and 1.8.0. 1.7.5 marks the last version compiled for .NET 1.1. Starting with 1.8.0, .NET 2.0 is required. Both can be downloaded from SourceForge.net and include compiled binaries, as well as the source code.

Improvements in 1.7.5 (.NET 1.1)

• Detect ending quote in attributes (e.g. <p class="para>...</p>)
• Each unknown prefix is mapped to a unique namespace, allowing duplicate local names (e.g. <p o:x="foo" m:x="bar">...</p>)

Improvements in 1.8.0 (.NET 2.0)

• Major code review & clean-up to use generics by jamesgmbutler (thanks!)
• Support XML-only entity ' in HTML/SGML documents (e.g. <p>It&apos;s ok</p>)

To parse a HTML document into valid XML:

XmlDocument FromHtml(TextReader reader) {

        // setup SgmlReader
        Sgml.SgmlReader sgmlReader = new Sgml.SgmlReader();
        sgmlReader.DocType = "HTML";
        sgmlReader.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.All;
        sgmlReader.CaseFolding = Sgml.CaseFolding.ToLower;
        sgmlReader.InputStream = reader;

        // create document
        XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
        doc.PreserveWhitespace = true;
        doc.XmlResolver = null;
        doc.Load(sgmlReader);
        return doc;
}

All in all, some good improvements. If you have any recommendations on how to make it event better, please leave a comment or join us on the forums.

categories: Community, Dream, MindTouch | No Comments »

If you use ESX 3.5 to deploy virtual appliances, you’ll be happy to know that it is now even easier to load up MindTouch Deki by going through the built in VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace. To simplify things even more we wrote up documentation on the steps needed to access MindTouch Deki through the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace.

Note: The documentation was created using the new ScreenSteps extension.

categories: Deki, MindTouch | No Comments »

the new MindTouch Deki control panel

MindTouch Deki 8.08 Release Candidate 1 is available for download from SourceForge.

This is a release candidate and should not be used on any production systems - please use this to test our new features to see if they would be beneficial to your community; let us know if there are any problems.

In short, Deki 8.08 is a feature release with a whole new control panel (make your Deki maintenance easier!), a whole new editor with a much better editing experience (FCKeditor), and support for PrinceXML (the best PDF generator today).

The release notes page has more detail about these individual features - give it a read and download the RC today!

categories: MindTouch, Updates | 1 Comment »

“That needs to be documented.”

This oft repeated phrase can cast a dark cloud over an otherwise sunny day. The process of sitting down at the computer and wrestling with multiple programs for a few hours while you create and publish documentation is not for the faint of heart.

Perhaps the only phrase to rival it is:

“This documentation needs to be updated.”

The more visual your documentation, the harder updating can be. If you created videos you may feel like crying in the corner for a while before you sit down and record again. Or if you enlisted the help of screenshots you have your work cut out for you as you replace images and reapply annotations.

I’m here to tell you that you needn’t suffer so. ScreenSteps is here to help and now it publishes directly to MindTouch Deki, the open source collaboration and integration platform.

You see, ScreenSteps is different than other documentation tools you have used. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of some documentation software, but it will allow you to create and publish documentation faster than ever before.

With ScreenSteps you naturally go through the process you are documenting, capturing still images of each step along the way. With each new image you capture a step is added to the ScreenSteps’ lesson open in the background.

Once you have all of your images you can quickly add titles, instructions and image annotations. Need to update a lesson? No problem. Just click the image replace button and capture a new screenshot. The step image is replaced and the editable annotations are left intact.

Of course writing your documentation is only part of the equation. You need to publish it as well. With the release of ScreenSteps 2.1.2 we are happy to announce MindTouch Deki support. No need to upload individual images and write markup by hand. ScreenSteps does all of the work for you so you can quickly add and update your documentation in MindTouch Deki. (see sample)

So cheer up. With ScreenSteps documentation gets done. We are offering a 20% discount to all customers who purchase ScreenSteps with “MINDTOUCH” entered as the Coupon Code active through Aug. 24th

Trevor DeVore
ScreenSteps.com |  Blue Mango Learning Systems
read full blog post

categories: Guest Blogger, MindTouch | 1 Comment »

The extension I am focusing on this week is the ImageMagick extension. ImageMagick is an open source Image manipulation software. The ImageMagick extension allows you to easily reference an image and apply various formatting from rotation to Polaroid effects. With the ImageMagick extension you will be able to play with the properties of images without having to open it in an external image editing software, make changes, save it, and then upload onto MindTouch Deki; which in turn saves you time.

To get started, install the extension. Please note on this extension: It is different than other extensions as it requires you to install the ImageMagick software. If you are not using the MindTouch Deki Virtual Machine, then you need to install the software. Installation instructions are referenced in the extension installation.

Once installed try the following Charcoal feature by pasting the following code

{{ image.Charcoal{image: "http://www.mindtouch.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/logo.png"} }}

This will turn this image:

Into this:

With the ImageMagick extension you can add more manipulations like blend, blur, emboss, fittosize, flip, flop, outline, paint, polaroid, raise, resize, rotate, sink, slideshow, swirl, vignette, and wave.

If you have any questions please feel free to add a comment or contact us.

categories: Deki, MindTouch, extension | No Comments »

Guest Post by Dave Cynkin

The team at BlogWorld & New Media Expo would like to invite the MindTouch community out to Vegas, and enjoy 20% off admission. Register with code MTDEKIVIP and you’ll save 20% off of every BlogWorld admission option including: Exhibits Only; Exhibits + Party; Full Access; Executive & Entrepreneur packages. And our normal discount pricing expires Aug. 22nd, so hurry and you can get the 20-off of the already discounted price and save a bundle!

BlogWorld & New Media Expo was created to nurture the fast-growing new media industry, to present an educational, enjoyable and energetic venue for connecting with talented resources, vendors and innovative developers for collaboration, and for discovering the latest advances in blogging, new media technology and social media networking. This is the place to come to supercharge both internally- and externally-facing communications for small enterprise up to the largest corporations.

Dave Cynkin
BlogWorldExpo Team

We’re proud to have MindTouch at BlogWorld, incredibly impressed with the team’s smart, user-friendly approach to enterprise collaboration tools thru Deki, and let’s face it…the electrifying spirit and energy of the MindTouch team on the tradeshow floor is contagious! If you haven’t had the opportunity to meet your MindTouch team and community members in-person, BlogWorld is the place to do it.

See you in Las Vegas, and don’t forget to register by Aug. 22nd for best savings! One last thing…our partner hotel discounts expire Aug. 18th, so book your rooms now, and you’ll have plenty of dough left over for nighttime shenanigans….like our friend Aaron here!

Visit the event site to register online and book your hotel room quickly and easily.

Dave Cynkin

categories: Conferences | 1 Comment »

The extension I am focusing on this week is the Widgetbox extension. Widgetbox is a directory of over 70,000 widgets that can be added to websites. With the MindTouch Deki Widgetbox extension you can easily add a widget to a Deki page.

To get started, install the Widgetbox extension.

After the installation is complete search for your favorite widget at Widgetbox. Once you have found the widget that you want to add to MindTouch Deki, click the Get Widget button and copy the embed code. Within the embed code there is a url for the application that looks like this:

http://widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js?appId= 
9cb5377d-ed7b-4ebc-abf4-40f2df815711

The only portion of the embed code you need to worry about is the appID provided within the url. Copy the appID (shown above in red) and paste it into the MindTouch Deki Extension dialog.

The inserted code will look like this in your Deki page:

 {{ widgetbox.Widget{id: "9baa5602-ad28-4ac8-ab94-af861d6defd8"} }}

This will then embed the widget in your Deki page and will display as follows:

If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment or contact us.

categories: Deki, MindTouch, extension | 4 Comments »

The MindTouch team is happy to announce that we’ll be exhibiting at Defrag in early November. Defrag, a conference devoted to the tools and technologies that enable software to leverage social interaction, will be held in Denver, Colorado. This will be our second time at Defrag and it has proven to be one of most popular shows.

If you also plan to attend Defrag make sure you let us know! If you’re a Deki user, contributor, developer, evangelist or just a Deki fan join the MindTouch Tribe and keep up to date with our conference giveaways, events and festivities. As part of the MindTouch Tribe you will be eligible for:

• $100 Discount Code to Defrag (must use before 08/15)
• MindTouch FREEDOM t-shirt
• Access to the MindTouch Happy Hour at Defrag
• User meetups in your area
• DekiCon schedule and locations

Learn more about Defrag and the MindTouch Tribe

categories: Conferences, MindTouch | 3 Comments »

Thank you to those who answered the survey in our July newsletter. It was a great success with a lot of valuable input. If you didn’t fill out the survey you still have a chance.

Relaunching the MindTouch website was a long process and we greatly appreciate your feedback. Our site will be constantly evolving to improve our messaging and organization of data. For those who asked for clarification on Community vs. Enterprise, Aaron went into detail in his July Letter from CEO blog post and we will be updating the website soon. If you have any further feedback or questions about the website we always appreciate hearing from you! Contact webmaster[at]mindtouch.com and I will be in touch with you right away.

And now for something completely different… Many of you commented that our Developer Center needs to be redesigned. The good news is you can expect to see the Developer Center relaunched in the near future. I will be looking for user feedback when that time comes so keep watching the newsletters and filling out our surveys!

categories: MindTouch, surveys | No Comments »

Just in time for today, I’m focusing on the Is It Friday extension. The Is It Friday Extension answers the age old question on if it is Friday or not. This extension is very handy to have around the office just in case your computer’s calendar is somehow trapped in 1968 and you don’t know what day it is.

To add the Is It Friday Extension follow the installation steps.

Once installed you can invoke the extension in any MindTouch Deki page by pasting in the following code:

 {{ isit.friday() }}   

This will display the following if it is Friday:

And the Following if it isn’t:

Is you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

categories: Deki, MindTouch, extension | 3 Comments »