Assignment 1 - due on 01/20 [xhtml]

I have updated the compliance test zip file as of 10am 1/19/2005 with several fixes for bugs on Windows machines. Please download a new version if yours is older.

Download and install Netbeans 4.0 or setup your environment as specified in this syllabus. Then download and run the compliance test that I have developed. You'll need to look at the 'readme.xhtml' file and follow the instructions within.

This assignment is not graded but you must e-mail me indicating that you've run the compliance test successfully.

Important notes about installing Java and Netbeans and getting the assignment to work:

According to the Netbeans website, you shouldn't install Java or Netbeans into a folder with spaces in the directory name. That is, you shouldn't install it into 'Program Files'. If you have done so, you may encounter problems. Your first attempt to fix these problems should be to install Netbeans elsewhere in some directory path that does not contain spaces.

Further, I just discovered a bug in the catalog system that doesn't handle spaces in directory names. Do not unzip the assignment into a directory path that has spaces. The URL it generates is not correct and it won't find the schemas.

By default, Netbeans does not ship with the ability to recognize XHTML files as HTML. This means the 'view' menu option of the conformance test won't work quite as I've specified. Fortunately, it is very easy to make Netbeans recognize xhtml extensions as HTML:

  1. Select 'Options' from the 'Tools' menu. A configuration dialog should appear.

  2. Expand the 'System' item under the 'IDE Configuration' item in the tree view.

  3. You should find 'Object Types' there. Expand that and locate 'HTML Objects'.

  4. Click on 'HTML Objects'. A list of properties should display.

  5. There is a property called 'Extensions and MIME Types'. There should be a '...' button on the far right. Click on that.

  6. You should have a dialog with a list of extensions. Type in 'xhtml' into the 'Item' field and click the 'Add' button.

  7. Click the 'OK' button and then 'Close' button to close the options dialog.

In the project view, the .xhtml files should change to the same icon as other .html files. There should now be the 'View' menu in the contextual menu for the file.

[syllabus]