1. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system What kind of report is a “betänkande”? – Proposals arrive from the government and the opposition – A standing committee writes a report – The Swedish Parliament votes based on this report

2. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Fig 1. To the left we see different parts of the document

3. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Fig 2. We move to some other part of the document

4. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Fig 3. Blue text is protected - it is read-only

5. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Fig 4. Protected text is edited from dialogs

6. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Fig 5. We have just selected a proposal from the list

7. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Fig 6. Now the correct text has been added

8. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system XML may be the answer... but what’s the problem?

9. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Authors of parliamentary reports don’t have it easy They have to write lots of large reports fast And reports are complicated...

10. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Reports are complicated They must have the right parts, in the right order Different parts refer to each other in complicated ways Several authors may work on the same report Reports should look good in print

11. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system IT-people have problems too... Something from a database should be put in a report How do you find the right place in the report? A small part of a report should be saved in a database Where is that part?

12. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Everybody has the same problem Somewhere in a report is some very specific information - is there a safe, quick way to find it?

13. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Yes Add XML-markup to the text! My Report Blah, blah, blah... This is important!!! Even more blah, blah, blah.

14. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system But how do you add the markup?

15. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system System Architecture

16. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Q&A When does the user add markup? –Never! We give the user an empty but correct XML-document and let him add text Does the user ever see any XML? –No, Rixbet keeps the XML-tree in memory. Invisible tags in the textbuffer connect text and the actual XML-elements

17. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Q&A (cont.) How does the user add or edit XML- elements? –Adding elements is done automatically when important parts of text are added –Complex editing is done in dialogs

18. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Q&A (cont.) How can we be sure that complicated text has correct markup? –Important text is protected – it can only be edited from special dialogs Doesn’t all these dialogs make it difficult to write? –For our kind of report it can actually be easier (this may not be true in general)

19. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Q&A (cont.) Can the user exchange text with Word? –Yes, we use a Word-compatible RTF- editor. Simple cut’n’paste works just fine What if several people want to edit the same document? –The documents must be on a server

20. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Q&A (cont.) What if requirements for import and export of data change a lot? –We define all data in a metamodel –Data is stored according to the metamodel –The user-interface adapts to the metamodel

21. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Rixbet Q&A (cont.) What if printed documents have a complex page-layout? –That is a tough problem. Stylesheets in XSL probably work best, but no one has a really good solution yet.

22. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Tips for the manager Know your long-term reasons for building this kind of system Don’t expect to get it right the first time!

23. ECPRD 1999 - Presentation of the "Rixbet" system Tips for the developer Use a proven method to get user- requirements right Architecture is important - use a modular design Buy key components - find the right suppliers Use standards but stick to the simple things