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| | | What's New in the Altova Product Line? New in Release 2: Support for the EPUB e-book standard, sorting of data mapping results, code generation from UML sequence diagrams, and more.Version 2012 Release 2On February 23, 2012, Altova introduced Software Version 2012 Release 2 (v2012r2) with an array of features most often requested by customers.  Version 2012 Release 2 is a free upgrade for current customers with a valid Support and Maintenance Package Altova customers with an active Support & Maintenance Package (SMP) receive all major software upgrades and maintenance releases, in addition to technical support, at no additional cost during their SMP period. Customers with current SMP have received all the features below - just by downloading and installing the latest product version as soon as it’s available. Visit the Altova download page to upgrade to v2012r2 now. Select a link below to learn what's new in each Altova product:
Altova MissionKit 2012 Release 2The Altova MissionKit is an integrated suite of XML, database, and UML tools that includes XMLSpy and other Altova tools at a special price. When you choose the Altova MissionKit, you'll get up to eight products for less than the price of two!* Altova MissionKit products support all major relational databases. Now, with Release 2 of the MissionKit 2012, integration with IBM DB2® databases for iSeries® is even tighter: all database-enabled MissionKit products now support logical files. A logical file in IBM iSeries editions of the DB2 database represents one or more physical files and allows users to access data in a sequence or format that can be different from the physical file. This new functionality is detailed below along with the numerous other new features and updates that have been added to the Altova MissionKit 2012 Release 2. Update to the Altova MissionKit 2012 Release 2 or download a free, 30-day trial now. * Pricing comparison is edition-specific and based on Altova MissionKit vs. two individual licenses of XMLSpy and MapForce. New in XMLSpy
EPUB 2.x supportEPUB® (electronic publication) is an open standard from the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) for creating and distributing digital publications such as e-books. EPUB content is “reflowable,” which means it can be adapted to different devices used for consuming e-books and other digital publications. An EPUB file is comprised of OPS (Open Publication Structure), OPF (Open Packaging Format), OCF (Open Container Format), XHTML, CSS, SVG, image, and other file types in a single, interoperable file format for easy distribution and publication. The files that are encapsulated in the EPUB file are zipped, so EBUB docs open in the XMLSpy Archive View. Here, they can be validated, and the included files can be added, opened, edited, and/or deleted.
Double clicking any file will open it for editing (OPF, OPS, XHTML, CSS, etc.) or previewing (images). Clicking the Preview button shown above opens the digital publication in the XMLSpy Browser View.
EPUB files are validated directly inside XMLSpy using http://code.google.com/p/epubcheck, which checks for OCF container structure, OPF and OPS mark-up, and internal reference consistency. With built in validation and support for editing XML, XHTML, CSS, and other Web standards, XMLSpy is a great choice for creating and working with EPUB content. ZIP and OOXML support in Professional EditionStarting with v2012r2, XMLSpy Professional Edition includes the powerful Archive View for working with OOXML files and other zipped archives, functionality that was previously only available in the Enterprise Edition. This support allows users to access data in zipped files such as Microsoft® Office documents, which, in versions 2007 and higher, is saved in Open Office XML (OOXML) format. Using the powerful XMLSpy Archive View, you can view, create, open, and edit OOXML documents with the same entry helpers and intelligent editing features available for working with XML files in Text View and Grid View. What’s more, you can develop XSLT 1.0/2.0 or XQuery files to transform and process data in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files. This unique functionality allows developers to unleash all the power of XSLT 2.0 and XQuery on the ever-increasing amount of data stored in Microsoft Office 2007+ documents. Support for logical files in IBM iSeries databasesTo enhance database integration even further, XMLSpy now includes support for logical files, which are specific to IBM iSeries databases. Please see the MapForce section below for more details. Ability to escape/unescape XML charactersSometimes it’s necessary to escape characters normally parsed as part of XML code to include them as text in an XML document. Now, it’s very simple to do this by highlighting the XML in Text View and using the right-click context menu to escape the characters.  For example, the code below...  ...would be escaped as:  Of course, it’s just as easy to convert escaped characters back to XML. Faster start-upNow, XMLSpy users can get to work even faster – the software launches in almost half the time previously required! Download a free trial of XMLSpy 2012 Release 2 now. Or, if you’re already an XMLSpy user, learn more about all the new features that have been added since your last upgrade. New in MapForce
Sort data by various criteriaMapForce 2012r2 includes two powerful new sorting features that users can apply in a variety of ways. In many data mapping applications, the input component is a stream of structured data containing multiple rows, such as a database table, an XML document, or a CSV file. Very often, the final output format needs to be sorted in a particular order that does not match the input. New v2012r2 sorting functionality lets users accomplish this task as part of the data mapping. Sorting database input componentsMapForce users have long been able to sort database data through ORDER BY statements in SQL queries. However, SQL queries that operate inside the database are not always sufficient for complex data mapping tasks. MapForce 2012r2 adds additional database sorting functionality to the existing MapForce SQL-WHERE component to become SQL-WHERE/ORDER. SQL-WHERE/ORDER is especially useful when database input requires additional processing that cannot be accomplished in a SQL query, or other data or conditions can impact the sorted order of data rows. The screen shot below shows a data mapping using SQL-WHERE/ORDER to extract data from the Customers table of a database and populate an XML data file.
The properties dialog for SQL-WHERE/ORDER adds a new optional ORDER BY field to sort the result.
In this mapping, SQL-WHERE/ORDER applies the TempValue parameter to select only a portion of the Customers table from the database, then sorts the by the LastName column. TempValue was an integer constant, but it could also be a calculated result or a conditional value treated as a string, Boolean, dateTime, or other numeric data type. The data is sorted in ascending order by default, and descending order may be specified. The ORDER BY field also supports multi-level sorting. The screen shot below shows the Output window for the mapping, where the selected Customers appear in order by LastName.
Developers with existing data mappings that use SQL-WHERE can immediately apply the sorting functionality in v2012r2. When a mapping file created with an earlier version of MapForce is opened in MapForce v2012r2, SQL-WHERE components are automatically updated to SQL-WHERE/ORDER. Sorting structured dataMapForce 2012r2 adds a new Sort component for general-purpose sorting of structured data. The new Sort component is at the center of the mapping shown below.
In this mapping, data stored in one XML file is extracted, then a multi-level sort is performed before writing a new output file based on a different XML Schema. The nodes/rows input connection defines the data to be sorted, and key1, key2 and key3 define the sort fields. The button next to each key name selects ascending or descending sort order. For this example, the developer was asked to create a list of employees from the original OrgChart XML file based on the number of shares granted – key1 – in descending order, then alphabetized by first and last name. The screen shot below shows a partial view of the output.
Support for logical files in IBM iSeries databasesA logical file in IBM iSeries editions of the DB2 database represents one or more physical files. A logical file allows users to access data in a sequence or format that can be different from the physical file. Users who connect to IBM iSeries computers may encounter existing databases constructed with logical files. These were previously not accessible by Altova MissionKit tools, but are now supported in Version 2012 Release 2. Support for IBM iSeries logical database files has been a frequent user request. For MapForce 2012r2, support for logical files means users can map data both to and from logical files in IBM iSeries databases. Download a free trial of MapForce 2012r2 now. Or, if you’re already a MapForce user, learn more about all the new features that have been added since your last upgrade. New in StyleVision
RichEdit functionality for Authentic formsRichEdit functionality is highly desirable to end users – the ability to control formatting within a document is typically a requirement. However this functionality can prove a headache for developers tasked with implementing it. Now designers can leverage StyleVision 2012r2’s RichEdit functionality to provide Authentic end users with dynamic formatting control at all levels of the document – with ease. The XML Schema contains formatting elements and attributes that the end user populates to the XML instance document via a RichEdit toolbar in Authentic. (Please see Authentic below for more information on RichEdit functionality in Authentic.) Global templates created in the StyleVision design determine at how granular a level the formatting will apply in Authentic. Formatting via the RichEdit toolbar in Authentic can either be applied to the entire element by using the (content) placeholder or to individual characters or groups of characters by using the (richedit) placeholder in the global template. An example of each type of global template is shown below.
Once end users make formatting changes in Authentic using the RichEdit toolbar, the associated XML file is updated and the changes can be rendered in HTML, RTF, PDF, and Word 2007+ output formats. In the example below the end user has used the RichEdit toolbar in Authentic to change the formatting of the first two paragraphs – notice that in the resulting instance document, each paragraph now has its own <Style> element and =CSS attribute, which contains multiple formatting commands.
The <Style> element from our example performs a function similar to the <span> tag in HTML. Our example would look like this in HTML:
Please note that the <Style> element and =CSS attribute in our example file were defined in the XML Schema and for the purposes of this example were named to reflect similar HTML functionality. You can name elements and attributes as you wish in your schema. In addition to providing end users with Microsoft Word-like formatting capabilities via the RichEdit toolbar, you can continue to use a single attribute to contain multiple formatting instructions (i.e., composite styles) or define elements in your XML Schema and translate them to styles (i.e., text state icons). StyleVision’s new RichEdit functionality makes putting formatting control in the hands of Authentic end users easy. Enabling end users to dynamically populate formatting instructions to the XML instance file has the added benefit of making schemas more adaptable – end users with different formatting requirements can use the same schema to create new XML files. Support for logical files in IBM iSeries databasesLogical files are similar to data views and identify which data records are available for viewing and processing. StyleVision now supports logical files in DB2 databases for IBM iSeries®. Download a free trial of StyleVision 2012 release 2 now. Or, if you’re already a StyleVision user, learn more about all the new features that have been added since your last upgrade. New in Authentic
RichEdit toolbarAuthentic now includes a RichEdit toolbar (below) so that users can make formatting changes on the fly.
Schema design determines at how granular a level formatting can be applied in Authentic (e.g., by element or by character). The following options are available via the RichEdit toolbar:
Of course end users can continue to apply formatting by selecting elements that contain the desired style and formatting – elements can contain multiple style instructions to make the design process in StyleVision even easier. Authentic’s support for RichEdit functionality offers users dynamic formatting control based on the underlying schema and StyleVision design, bringing even more flexibility to XML and database content creation. Download a free trial of Authentic 2012 release 2 now. Or, if you’re already an Authentic user, learn more about all the new features that have been added since your last upgrade. New in UModel
Support for code generation from UML sequence diagramsPrevious releases of UModel supported sequence diagram generation from reverse-engineered source code and even round-trip engineering by updating existing code for class properties from modified sequence diagrams. Now UModel v2012r2 extends this functionality by allowing developers to generate code from sequence diagrams for methods that describe class operations. This functionality greatly enhances UModel as a visual design and code generation tool, since the developer can insert entire code bodies in sequence diagrams and create a complete executable application, rather than a starting point that requires further hand-written code. Source code for methods from sequence diagrams is available for forward engineering new designs, reverse-engineered models from existing code, and even round-trip engineering to synchronize changes in either the source code or UML model. In the class diagram below, the developer has created a new class and defined a single operation called max.
Next, the right-click context menu to offers an option to generate a new empty sequence diagram for the max operation.
The developer adds a UML alt block to define an if-then-else method for the class operation. This is a very simple example – in real-life applications the method body is likely to be much more complex. Additional UML sequence diagram elements are available for other control and message structures.
During forward engineering code generation, a complete method body is written to the source code file. The example below shows the code for the developer’s new Class1 in Java.
Code generation from sequence diagrams in UModel 2012r2 is supported for Java, C#, and Visual Basic languages. Support for logical files in IBM iSeries databasesUModel support for logical files in IBM iSeries databases allows users to map them as database views, along with iSeries tables and relationships in UML style database diagrams, and include them in documentation of UML software modeling projects. Download a free trial of UModel 2012r2 now! Or, if you’re already a UModel user, learn more about all the new features that have been added since you last upgraded. UML®, OMG®, Object Management Group™, and Unified Modeling Language™ are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Object Management Group, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. New in DatabaseSpy
Support for creation and editing of Oracle® PL/SQL packagesA PL/SQL package is a database schema object that can group logically related SQL types, variables, and subprograms. A PL/SQL package is visible to, and can be used by, stored procedures and other code outside the package. The concept of a PL/SQL package is unique to Oracle databases. DatabaseSpy users who connect to existing Oracle databases may encounter PL/SQL packages and stored procedures that depend on them. Support for logical files in IBM iSeries databasesSupport of logical files in IBM iSeries databases gives DatabaseSpy users complete database query, design, charting, and database comparison functionality for iSeries databases from a Windows platform. Download a free trial of DatabaseSpy 2012r2 now! Or, if you’re already a DatabaseSpy user, learn more about all the new features that have been added since you last upgraded. New in DiffDog
Save and reload parameters for file and folder comparisonsPrevious releases of DiffDog include a feature to save and re-open settings files for database schema and content comparisons. These database comparison files are also compatible with and shared by DatabaseSpy. Now version 2012r2 enhances this functionality by allowing users to save and reload comparison settings for file and folder comparisons. For local comparisons, users can save the file or folder name and path for each window. For comparisons across HTTP and FTP Servers, DiffDog v2012r2 records the URL. The image below shows a portion of the open dialog for comparison files with new file extensions listed for file and folder comparisons.
File and folder comparison settings files in DiffDog v2012r2 allow users to efficiently repeat diff/merge tasks in complex system and network configurations. Hide or display empty foldersDiffDog 2012r2 adds a new preference setting to hide or display empty folders during directory comparisons. This functionality applies to folders where all files are hidden due to file extension filtering as well as folders that are truly empty. Hiding empty folders can make large, complex directory trees easier to manage. Support for logical files in IBM iSeries databasesSupport for logical files in IBM iSeries lets DiffDog users perform database structure comparisons, and generate change scripts for IBM iSeries databases. Download a free trial of DiffDog 2012r2 now! Or, if you’re already a DiffDog user, learn more about all the new features that have been added since you last upgraded.
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