Altova Introduces Release 3 of Its v2006 XML Tools Product Line

contents

software

Altova has announced the general availability of version 2006 release 3 (v2006r3) of its XML tools product line, which includes the totally revised Altova StyleVision 2006 visual stylesheet designer. In addition to numerous usability enhancements, StyleVision now includes cascading stylesheet (CSS) and JavaScript support. V2006r3 also delivers many valuable new features to its other top-selling XML products, including powerful new XML validation and error tracking capabilities for XMLSpy 2006, the industry-standard XML development environment, and seamless integration with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and Eclipse for MapForce, its graphical data integration and Web services implementation tool.

Altova StyleVision features a unique visual design interface for creating stylesheets to transform XML and database data into multiple output formats, such as HTML pages, PDF reports, RTF documents, and Altova Authentic electronic forms. What's more, it can create all of these output types from a single design. StyleVision 2006 represents a significant upgrade from its previous 2005 version. The complete set of new features includes:

- User Interface Enhancements – Offers numerous usability improvements including windows that can be customized, floated, and docked as required; support for working with multiple designs at one time; and a new Design Tree window for viewing and expanding all the specifics of a design in one place. Also includes a new Style Repository window that makes it easy to organize and apply styles including those from external CSS files, and a Local Properties window for viewing and editing the properties for each element and output format as a design is created.
- CSS Support – Provides support for cascading stylesheets, enabling users to specify more precise visual styling rules to transform XML and database content into HTML pages. Users can import existing CSS files into the new Style Repository Entry Helper and apply the CSS styles easily using drag-and-drop functionality.
- Multiple Source Stylesheet Design – Enables the design of stylesheets that use multiple sources, such as two or more XML files, an XML file and a database, etc. Allows users to combine data from multiple sources and output it simultaneously in HTML, RTF, and PDF formats.
- JavaScript Support – Adds interactivity to HTML pages with a built-in JavaScript editor for composing JavaScript code that StyleVision can automatically insert into the corresponding XSLT 1.0 or 2.0 stylesheet.

Altova Authentic 2006 is a free XML and database content editor that allows business users to directly access and edit XML documents and databases through a WYSIWYG interface. Available in Desktop and Browser editions, Authentic presents non-technical users with electronic forms that enable them to enter and view valid XML and/or database data without being exposed to the underlying technology. These Authentic forms are created by designers using Altova StyleVision 2006, and all of the usability enhancements to StyleVision, described above, will result in easier electronic forms design and richer Authentic forms for end users.

Altova XMLSpy is the world's best-selling XML editor and integrated development environment (IDE) for modeling, editing, transforming, and debugging XML-related technologies. In addition to its advanced XML, XML Schema, DTD, XSLT 1.0/2.0, XPath 1.0/2.0, XQuery, WSDL, SOAP, and code generation capabilities, new features included within XMLSpy 2006 release 3 include:

- New XSLT 2.0 and XQuery Profilers – Monitor XSLT 2.0 or XQuery code as it runs and records how long each process takes. Developers can promptly see which parts of the code take the longest time to process and optimize it more easily by focusing on problem areas. Helps create more efficient and robust code quickly.
- Enhanced Error Handling – Presents detailed messages about each error in a new validation window, including hyperlinks to errors and relevant troubleshooting information. Makes project management and problem resolution considerably faster and more effective.
- Tracepoints in XSLT debugger – Allows you to trace the output of any instruction node to verify that your XSLT code is producing the desired output. This feature helps developers perfect their XSLT code more efficiently than ever before.
- Improved Restriction Handling for XML Schema Development – Simplifies the process of deriving by restriction to create new complex types. The XMLSpy graphical schema editor makes the process easier and prevents users from creating illegal or invalid restrictions.

Altova MapForce 2006 is a data integration and Web services implementation tool that can convert between XML, database, flat file, and EDI formats and to map data to WSDL operations. It converts data on-the-fly and also auto-generates data integration code in XSLT 1.0/2.0, XQuery, Java, C++, and C# for royalty-free use in custom data management and Web services applications. With release 3, MapForce 2006 has been enhanced even further with the following new features:

- Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and Eclipse – Integrates seamlessly with the popular multi-purpose IDEs, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and Eclipse, allowing developers to directly harness all the data mapping, content conversion, Web services implementation, and code generation capabilities of MapForce from within their favorite platforms.
- Enhanced EDI Transaction Set Editing – Allows users to easily modify and extend existing standard EDI transaction sets (i.e. EDIFACT and ANSI X12 messages) to meet business requirements.
- More Versatile Visual Function Builder – Enables visual creation of data processing functions that can operate on entire XML tree fragments, allowing for better modularization and scalability of mapping projects.
- Options for Handling Empty Flat File Values – Provides ability for developers to choose whether empty fields in flat files are rendered as empty elements or not rendered at all in the data results of the mapping target.

AltovaXML 2006 is an XML standards processor that includes the same engines that drive Altova's award-winning XMLSpy, MapForce, and StyleVision development tools. Developers can use the very engines that have helped make Altova software the industry's leading XML development toolset in their own applications royalty-free. AltovaXML 2006 includes the Altova XML validating parser, XSLT 1.0 engine, schema-aware XSLT 2.0 engine, and schema-aware XQuery 1.0 engine, as well as COM, Java, and .NET interfaces so that it can be used within a variety of different applications.

V2006r3 brings significant performance and memory optimizations to the AltovaXML engines, including an average speed increase of 75% in XSLT 2.0 processing. This increase was determined in Altova's internal tests where a large number of XML files of various sizes and levels of complexity were processed. User results may vary depending on these and other factors.

write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Computing News :: home page