Current version is 1.0b.10.

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The UBLish v1.0b.10 XPS application is downloadable at

UBLish v1.0b.10

• Installation
• How to generate XML schema (.xsd) files from spreadsheets (.xls)?
• How to generate spreadsheets (.xls) from XML schema (.xsd) files?
• Why is UBLish unable to generate schema files using some of the original spreadsheets in the UBL 1.0-beta archive?

Once you have installed XPS v3.2p (or above), you can then download and install the UBLish v1.0b.10 package by unzipping it anywhere within your PC's harddisk. The UBLish script ("UBLish-1.0b.10.xps") is ready to go inside the ./bin/ directory.

In the description that follows, we refer to the sub-directories and files with the assumption of current directory being the top-level directory of the unzipped UBLish archive, and referred to as "./".

You will find the following sub-directories:

./bin/       [Back To Page Map]
This binary directory contains the UBLish application "UBLish.xps" itself. It is an XPS application, which means that you can also look at the content using a text editor. As XPS carries a syntax similar to C or Perl, it would not be too difficult for a programmer familiar with them to read the script, even without prior knowledge of XPS. However, you are not advised to modify the script unless you are perfectly sure what you are doing.

You must have installed XPS with at least version 3.2p or above in order to run UBLish v1.0b.10 properly. If you had done that, you should see the files displayed as a little red inverted 3D prism. Once you double-click that, you launch UBLish.

If you don't see the red inverted 3D prism, check that you have installed XPS v3.2p. If you had installed earlier versions of XPS, it is a good idea to uninstall them first before installing v3.2p. To do that, go to

Why do you need to use the spreadsheets contained in UBLish v1.0b.10 package?       [Back To Page Map]
The spreadsheets contained in the "./xls/" subdirectory are properly formatted and optimized for use by UBLish. Stray columns are removed to enhanced readability and to limit unnecessary processing of empty columns. However, the contents are exactly the same as those in the UBL 1.0-beta archive.

./etc/       [Back To Page Map]
This contains the initial splash screen graphics bitmap.

./xls-dir/       [Back To Page Map]
This is the source spreadsheet input directory used by UBLish to retrieve source data models to generate document schemas. More specifically, this is used when the menu functions under "Spreadsheet-->Schema" are clicked.

You should not remove these spreadsheets, since UBLish expects them as inputs to generate schemas. However, if you did delete these spreadsheets, or rename them to some other names, UBLish would not crash either, other than displaying some error messages about spreadsheets not being found.

./xls2-dir/       [Back To Page Map]
This is the re-generated spreadsheet output directory used by UBLish to store generated spreadsheets under the "Schema-->Spreadsheet" functions.

./xls-template/       [Back To Page Map]
This sub-directory stores template files required by UBLish to perform "Schema-->Spreadsheet" functions. They should not be opened or modified.

./xsd-dir/       [Back To Page Map]
This is the schema output directory used by UBLish to store generated schema files under the "Schema-->Spreadsheet" functions.

Notice that the Reusable document type is not present. UBLish will require the file "UBL-1.0-beta-Reusable.xsd" to be stored in "./xsd-dir". If it doesn't find the file, it will prompt you for a location that points to either a given Reusable schema, or a Reusable spreadsheet.

If a Reusable schema file is given, UBLish copies that file into "./xsd-dir" for future references. Otherwise if a Reusable spreadsheet is given, UBLish will first generate a "UBL-1.0-beta-Reusable.xsd" file stored in "./xsd-dir".

Note that due to the large number of elements found within Reusable, UBLish may, on a slower PC, take a few minutes to complete the schema generation. If you are running XPS v3.2p, the UBLish main screen may freeze momentarily due to the use of same thread of window processing to perform the schema conversion. You should not be unduly worried if UBLish does not respond for a minutes or so, depending on how fast your PC runs. If you have installed XPS v3.3p, however, the UBLish screen will respond actively due to better graphics functions used.

On a 1.8GHz PC, however, it will take just about 40 seconds to just generate the Reusable schema from spreadsheet.

Select the schema file that belongs to the selected document type. UBLish should proceed quickly to generate the corresponding spreadsheet from the selected schema. The progress bar on the top right of UBLish'es window shows the amount of conversion completed at the moment.