ProductsAuthenticBrowser Edition

Altova Authentic® 2008 Browser Edition is a FREE plug-in that allows software developers to build Web-based electronic forms that enable end users to easily enter, query, and edit content in centralized XML and database-oriented applications, without being exposed to the underlying technologies. Developers simply embed the Authentic plug-in in HTML pages to implement forms that create, access, and/or modify XML document or database-structured content behind the scenes.

Authentic Browser Edition lets you easily distribute information that is centrally stored over an in-house intranet or even across the Internet, since administrators don’t need to install or maintain any special software on client workstations.

The Browser Edition works with both Microsoft IIS and Apache servers. Installation consists of placing Authentic Browser Edition CAB file on your server, where it is automatically downloaded and installed by clients who use Internet Explorer to connect to Web pages you create.

Authentic Browser Edition provides the same powerful editing functions and document look and feel as the Authentic View in XMLSpy and StyleVision.

Documents displayed in Authentic Browser Edition are viewed and edited as e-Forms inside a Web page. Building HTML pages with rich formatting, special layout features, and editing functionality is greatly simplified, since the Authentic e-Forms are defined by files created in StyleVision then inserted as objects in Web pages.

Authentic Browser Edition is especially useful in scenarios where the content format or the document structure may evolve over time. Changes to the XML Schema, database table architecture, and layout alterations implemented in Authentic forms are simply updated at the server, making them immediately available to end users without any complicated deployment and without requiring revisions to existing HTML pages.

All features of the Authentic Browser Edition can be programmatically controlled to fit project requirements. The Authentic window size can be changed and toolbar buttons can be hidden or reassigned. The Save button, for instance, can be set to save over an existing file on the server, to save a new file on the server, or to prompt for a filename to save the file on the user’s local computer. The Authentic toolbar can even be completely removed and replaced by buttons that execute custom scripts. The Authentic Browser Edition window can appear alone on a Web page, or it can be implemented as only one of the elements in a complex Web design.

Information stored in databases and XML files containing tabular data can be formatted for easily-comprehensible display, and special toolbar buttons let end users access powerful one-click editing features such as insert new row, delete row, and append row. Users can directly edit data anywhere in the table (within the parameters defined by the schema and enabled within the form), and unlimited Undo/Redo makes errors easily correctible.

The Authentic Print and Print Preview buttons let end users create paper copies of the documents they work on in the Authentic window, free of intrusive elements that appear elsewhere in the HTML page.

Authentic e-Forms are based on an XML Schema, DTD, or database, and Authentic Browser Edition formats user input to ensure content is valid according to the rules of the schema or database. Authentic Browser Edition features an incremental validating parser that automatically highlights any errors on the screen as the user is typing and also provides error messages. Document validation is done on the client side prior to posting the document back to a server, simplifying server-side validation scripts.

Authentic Browser Edition offers an integrated spelling checker with several dictionary options, allowing server administrators to tailor it for optimal performance.

For intranet environments and very fast Internet connections, you can configure a full multi-language spelling checker with support for English (British, US, Canadian), German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, and other languages. Additional English language medical and legal dictionaries are also included.

To optimize performance for users with slower Internet access, administrators may choose to install a much smaller English only dictionary, either with or without medical and legal dictionaries.

To ease deployment of Authentic Browser Edition, you may use an ASP.NET Server Control that completely integrates with Visual Studio and allows you to simply drag and drop Authentic Browser Edition on to your ASP.NET Web forms.

To facilitate editing and management of XML-based content in Microsoft Content Management Server (CMS), Altova provides a CMS Placeholder Control that completely integrates with CMS and allows you to simply drag and drop Authentic Browser Edition on to your templates.

You can review the complete developer documentation in our online help section to learn more about developing solutions that employ the Authentic Browser Edition in an information management framework.

A joint Microsoft and Accenture whitepaper entitled "Accenture Portal Deployment Guide" discusses Accenture's real-world example of a XML content management solution based on Microsoft's CMS and Altova's Authentic Browser Edition XML document editor.

Get started today with your own Web-based XML and database information management applications:

• Click here to download the Authentic® 2008 Browser Edition components for your Web server.

Authentic® 2008 is also available in a free standalone Desktop Edition.