Editing an Existing EAD Finding Aid

What is the difference between an EAD-valid finding aid and a FACT-valid finding aid?

• EAD-valid finding aids are valid against the official EAD schema and are in its namespace
• FACT-valid finding aids are in a FACT-specific namespace and have additional encoding added to make the finding aid appear a certain way in XMetaL's Normal view.
• EAD-valid files, when opened in XMetaL are automatically converted to the FACT encoding.

How do I edit an EAD-valid finding aid in FACT?

• Open the EAD-valid XML finding aid with XMetaL Author.
• A dialog box with the title "Convert to Yale Schema" will appear, asking you, "Do you wish to have visible table borders for each component of the Collection Contents?"  If you want a solid border around the components, click Yes, if you prefer either no border or a dashed border, click No.  Most people click Yes, but it is up to you.
• A second dialog box will appear to say "The file has been prepared for XMetaL editing.  Please save it under a different name."  Click OK.
• A "Save As" dialog box will appear, prompting you to save the file as filename.edit.xml.  Click Save.  The file will now close.
• In XMetaL, select File --> Open, or press Ctrl-O.  A dialog box will appear.  If necessary, navigate to the directory where you just saved filename.edit.xml.  Select filename.edit.xml and click Open or hit Enter.
• The XMetaL-friendly editing version of the file will now open in XMetaL. 

How do I edit an EAD-valid finding aid that includes the URL attribute?

• Some Yale finding aids have been revised to include the url attribute on the <eadid> element.  Though the Yale EAD Best Practices have been revised to require this attribute, FACT has yet to be revised to allow it when editing a finding aid.
• If you have a finding aid with the @url attribute present, follow the steps listed above under "How do I edit an EAD-valid finding aid in FACT?
• After opening filename.edit.xml in XMetaL, you will receive an error message that reads: "Document does not conform to DTD or XML Schema: The document contains an attribute \'url\' for element <eadid> that is not permitted.  Do you want to edit the document in plain text and correct the problem, or edit the document without a DTD or XML Schema as a well-formed document, or Cancel."
• Select "Edit as plain text".
• XMetaL will switch to the Plain Text view and show the Validation log.
• In the validation log dialog box, click Close.
• The cursor will be after "url=".  Delete the entire url attribute.
• Here is an example of what you should delete: url="http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/arts.aob.0013"
• Save the file (Ctrl-S or File>Save).  If a warning pops up that the file is not valid, click Save and proceed.
• If a Validation Log appears, confirm that any validation errors do not relate to the url attribute, then click Close.
• Switch to the Normal View (View > Normal) and proceed with editing the file.
• [Until FACT is updated, Mike Rush will ensure that @url is present before files are ingested into YFAD.]