Connexions Markup Language 0.6 (CNXML 0.6) was unveiled on January 29, 2009. Several changes have been made to the language, including new elements, new attributes, and new behavior. The site itself has added features to make the transition to CNXML 0.6 as easy as possible.

For a comprehensive guide to these changes, check out the What's New in CNXML 0.6 module.

Who Needs To Upgrade?

If you have published content on Connexions before, you may be wondering if the new language has affected your modules. Existing modules will continue to function normally without any sort of upgrade or intervention. You do not need to change anything in your module or collection if it has already been published. Your readers will still be able to build collections with your modules, download PDF copies of your content, and enjoy all of the other features that Connexions offers.

However, you must upgrade your module to CNXML 0.6 before you can re-publish any existing content. If your module falls into one of the categories below, you must upgrade your module before publishing any changes.

• Published modules which have saved, unpublished changes
• Published modules checked out into a Workspace or Workgroup
• Unpublished modules which were created before January 29, 2009
• Any imported modules written in CNXML 0.5

How to Upgrade

When you checkout, open, or import a module written in CNXML 0.5, the first thing you will notice is a notification on the Edit Text page urging you to upgrade your module. You will not be allowed to publish the module or make changes to the module outside of the Full-Source editor until you complete this upgrade process.

Connexions has developed an easy-to-use conversion tool that takes care of this task for you without changing the module's content or presentation. For example, <cnxn> elements will be automatically converted to <link> elements that point to the link's original destination. This process is safe and completely automatic.

The upgrade tool creates a backup copy of your original module, saves the backup CNXML file in your module's file folder, and transforms the module from CNXML 0.5 to CNXML 0.6. The module is then ready to be edited using either the Edit-In-Place editor or the Full-Source editor.

Problems Upgrading to CNXML 0.6

There are a few known problems that can occur during the upgrade process. If your problem is not listed below, do not hestitate to contact Connexions and file a bug report.

Importing CNXML 0.5 With Existing Errors

The upgrade process will fail if you try to import a CNXML 0.5 file with outstanding errors. The error page will report an XMLParserError with a description of the problem. Fix these errors in Full-Source and try to upgrade again. Alternately, you can fix the errors on your local machine, re-import, and try the upgrade again.

Unrecognized Source Doctype

When upgrading modules that have not yet been published, Connexions may display a popup with the error message "Editing DISABLED due to the following error: Unrecognized Source Doctype". Your browser needs to reload the Edit Text page in order to correct this error. With the Edit Text page open, hold down the shift key on your keyboard and press the Refresh button in your browser, or hold down the Ctrl key and press the F5 button on your keyboard. This will completely refresh the page and should resolve the Doctype problem.

Conclusion

For more information on CNXML 0.6, check out the CNXML Language page.