Serna Free is an Open Source XML editor now

Transition Notes for Serna V2.3 XML Editor

In the Serna V2.3 the XML metadata placement was reorganized. That is why your custom templates developed for the previous versions of Serna should be corrected.

Say, we have two document types docType1 and docType2, each of which has its own DTD, schema, stylesheet and templates.

Serna versions younger than 2.3 had the following directory structure: 

sernaInstallationPath
   xml
      dtds
         docType1.dtd
         docType2.dtd
      schemas
         docType1.xsd
         docType2.xsd
      stylesheets
         docType1.xsl
         docType2.xsl
      templates
         docType1.xml
         docType2.xml

This directory structure is now deprecated. Use the following approach: 

sernaInstallationPath
   plugins
      docType1
         docType1.dtd
         docType1.xsd
         docType1.xsl
         docType1.sdt (Note: docType1.sdt instead of docType1.xml)
      docType2
         docType2.dtd
         docType2.xsd
         docType2.xsl
         docType2.sdt (Note: docType2.sdt instead of docType2.xml)

Now all the data relevant to the document type or package may be placed in the single directory under the sernaInstallationPath/plugins. Please follow the guidelines below:


  • Do not put DTD, schema, stylesheet into xml directory. Put all files related to one document type in a single directory in plugins subdirectory. You can give arbitrary name to your directory, e.g plugins/docType1.

  • Do not put document templates to xml/templates directory. Put it to (in our example) plugins/docType1 directory, and give it suffix .sdt instead of .xml. Serna will find your template in your subdirectory by the .sdt suffix.

  • Do not use variables $SERNA_XML, $SERNA_STYLESHEETS, $SERNA_DTDS, $SERNA_SCHEMAS in your templates. Use variable $SERNA_TEMPLATE_DIR, which points to the directory where the template file is located. In our example it is plugins/docType1. You may also use $SERNA_DATA_DIR that points to the Serna installation directory.

  • You may also keep your packages and plugins outside the Serna installation. Please go to the Preferences->Search Paths and specify additional directory where packages and plugins will be searched.