Programming the IBM MathML Expression Editor for Interactive Mathematical Applications

1
Programming the IBM MathML Expression Editor for
Interactive Mathematical Applications

• Samuel S. Dooley
• IBM Research
• 19 August 2002

2
IBM MathML Expression Editor

• Natural mathematical expression input
• Standard mathematical expression markup
• Mathematical user-interface component
• Mathematical application development
• High-quality mathematical formatting

3
Mathematical Applications

• Interactive web documents
• Generic computer algebra interfaces
• Multimedia presentations
• Pervasive mathematical data

4
Requirements

• Windows platform e.g. Win2K
• Internet Explorer e.g. IE5.5
• techexplorer 3.1 Pro www.software.ibm.com/techexp
  lorer
• Zed 1.1.0 on a floppy

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Component Architecture
Container
Desktop
File read/write Drag and drop Cut and paste
Scripts Applets CASs
Zed.exe
Zed.ocx
Zed Doc
Zed View
Zed App
Zed Core
techexplorer
6
Expression Framework
Presentation
Content
MathML Content
MathML Presentation
External
Zed Presentation
Zed Content
Internal
7
Editing Framework

• Editing using template transformations
• Editing maintains well-formed expressions
• Both content and presentation are available
• Placeholders allow incremental structure
  elaboration

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Mathematical Applications

• Embeddable component supports math editing within
  other containers
• Programming interfaces allow access to editing
  behavior by other components
• Configuration framework extends support for math
  operators

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Programming Interfaces

• Allow application access to math markup
• Synchronize editing and application actions
• Configure editor behavior for particular
  applications

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Interface Methods

• Initialization
• Synchronization
• Configuration
• Document markup
• Document labels
• User interface

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Interface Examples

• Customized multiplication
• Computer algebra interfaces
• Symbolic spreadsheets

12
Additional Interfaces

• DOM interfaces
• Editing transformations
• Expression cursor movement
• Custom event handling

13
Configuration Framework

• Adapt the editor for particular math applications
• Customize the behavior of standard math operators
• Extend the collection of supported math operators

14
Operator Properties

• Layout formats
• Named templates
• Dynamic menus
• Palettes
• Traversal order
• Other properties

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Configuration Customization

• Dialogs
• Files
• Methods

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Configuration Files

• Operator properties saved in binary configuration
  files
• API methods support creating and using
  configuration files
• Binary files are loaded and expanded in memory as
  needed

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Conclusions

• Zed is a full-featured application for MathML
  expression editing
• Zed is an extensible and customizable component
  for math applications
• Zed demonstrates the flexibility of content and
  presentation markup

18
References

• Users Guide for the IBM MathML Expression Editor,
  Version 1.1.0. IBM, 25 March 2002.
• Bringing MathML Content and Presentation Markup
  to the Web with the IBM MathML Expression Editor.
  MathML 2002, 29 June 2002.
• Editing Mathematical Content and Presentation
  Markup in Interactive Mathematical Documents.
  ISSAC 2002, 8 July 2002.
• Programming the IBM MathML Expression Editor for
  Interactive Mathematical Applications. ICMS
  2002, 19 August 2002.