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| Below are answers to the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Altova XMLSpy® 2008, the industry-standard XML development environment for modeling, editing, transforming, and debugging all XML technologies.
- What is XMLSpy® 2008, and what does it do?
Altova XMLSpy® 2008 is an integrated development environment (IDE) for XML that is used to create and edit XML-based applications. With XMLSpy® 2008 developers can easily define XML Schemas and construct XML documents, then automatically generate runtime code in multiple programming languages for use in XML-based applications. XMLSpy® 2008 includes powerful features for all XML-related development tasks, including editing, troubleshooting and debugging, validating, transforming, and more.
XMLSpy® 2008 remains the leading, industry-standard XML development tool thanks to its easy-to-use, intuitive interface and powerful utilities, which simplify and accelerate the XML development process. Below is a list of just some of the robust features available in XMLSpy® 2008:
- XML design, editing, validation, and well-formedness checking
- Schema-aware XSLT 1.0/2.0 editing, debugging, and profiling
- Instant transformation of XML documents
- Grahical XML Schema and DTD design, editing, and documentation
- Modeling and management of schemas and their components across workgroups
- XPath 1.0/2.0 Analyzer window and builder
- Schema-aware XQuery editing, debugging, and profiling
- SOAP client and debugger
- Support for all major relational databases
- Graphical WSDL editor
- Java, C++, C# code generation based on XML Schema
- Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio.NET and Eclipse
- XML-aware file and directory differencing/merging
- Project management capabilities
- WebDAV client interface support
For a complete list of features supported by the Enterprise and Professional Editions of XMLSpy® 2008, visit the Feature Comparison page.
Back to Top - Who is XMLSpy® 2008 used by?
Altova XMLSpy® 2008 is used by Web developers, .NET developers, Eclipse developers, Java developers, database developers, and a variety of other software architects to work with XML technologies. In addition to powerful XML design and editing features, XMLSpy® 2008 includes optional integration with Visual Studio.NET and Eclipse, advanced support for editing J2EE files, and generation of Java, C++, and C# class files, making it the ultimate productivity enhancer for developers creating today’s advanced applications.
Back to Top - What are the benefits of using XMLSpy® 2008?
Altova XMLSpy® 2008 saves time and accelerates development projects. Traditional software development environments are poorly equipped to handle the sophisticated tree-like structure of an XML document. In contrast, XMLSpy® 2008 has an intuitive user interface that allows developers to work with XML using a variety of views and editing options.
XMLSpy® 2008 brings this simplicity and ease-of-use to the most robust XML development feature set available today. With its proven capabilities and competitive pricing, XMLSpy® 2008 delivers the power and productivity you need without breaking your budget.
The benefits of using XMLSpy® 2008 are many, but overall, XMLSpy® 2008 speeds XML development, lowers costs, and enables the creation of the highest quality software, delivering exceptional value to any organization.
XMLSpy® 2008 is used by millions of users worldwide and is the trusted choice of a majority of the companies listed on the Fortune 500 list and the NASDAQ 100 index. To read about how some of our customers have benefited from using XMLSpy® 2008, visit our Customer Comments and Customer Stories pages.
Back to Top - I’ve heard that your products support XPath 2.0 and XSLT 2.0. Why is that important?
The Altova XML product line includes complete implementations of the new XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 specifications from the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 are considerably more powerful than XSLT 1.0 and XPath 1.0 and allow developers to manipulate XML documents in a more concise, efficient manner. The new features in version 2.0 are designed to make development simpler, more efficient, and therefore more productive, allowing your team to produce higher-quality applications in less time.
Altova’s commercial-grade implementation of these new standards allows developers to use industry’s most trusted XML product line to work with XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 in a standards-based way to truly harness the power of the XML set of standards.
In addition, XMLSpy now supports schema-awareness in XSLT 2.0, which provides several advantages, including isolating errors, simplifying stylesheet debugging, and enhancing the performance of stylesheet code.
For a more in depth discussion of the business benefits of XSLT/XPath 2.0, please read the InfoTrends/CAP Ventures report, " XSLT 2.0: Understanding the Development and Business Benefits."
Back to Top - There’s a lot of talk in the industry about XQuery. Does XMLSpy® 2008 support XQuery?
Yes. XMLSpy® 2008 includes native support for XQuery 1.0, an important new language for finding and extracting information in XML documents and databases. Developers create and edit XQuery documents using the same intelligent editing features provided for XML editing, including syntax coloring, context sensitive entry helpers, etc., and can even execute those XQuery expressions within XMLSpy® 2008. XMLSpy® 2008 also includes a handy XQuery debugger for testing and perfecting XQuery expressions.
In addition, XMLSpy® 2008 now supports schema-awareness in XQuery. The ability to access schema information provides significant XQuery performance advantages.
Back to Top - Does XMLSpy® 2008 integrate with other development platforms?
Yes. Altova XMLSpy® 2008 supports complete integration with both Microsoft® Visual Studio.NET® and Eclipse. The respective integration modules allow developers to seamlessly access XMLSpy® 2008 editing views and XML development tools from within these popular multi-purpose development environments. These modules are both available for free from our download page.
Back to Top - Does XMLSpy® 2008 work with relational databases?
Yes. While XML has become the technology of choice for data exchange and content management, most critical enterprise data is stored in relational databases. Altova recognizes the importance of working with XML data in harmony with relational databases, and XMLSpy® 2008 interacts with the most popular relational databases in their native interface language, supporting Microsoft Access and SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, IBM DB2, and any other relational database via ODBC or ADO connectivity. XMLSpy® 2008 has the ability to connect to a relational database, generate an XML Schema based on a relational database structure, import and export data based on database schemas, and generate relational database structures from XML Schemas with ease.
Back to Top - How does XMLSpy® 2008 fit in with the other Altova tools?
Altova’s XML product family includes 7 highly-complementary tools for XML development: XMLSpy® 2008, MapForce® 2008, StyleVision® 2008, SemanticWorks® 2008, SchemaAgent® 2008, DiffDog® 2008, and Authentic® 2008.
Altova MapForce® 2008 is a powerful data integration and Web services implementation tool allows developers to design XML, database, flat file, EDI, Excel 2007 (OOXML), and Web services mappings visually through an intuitive user-interface. It can be used to convert data on-the-fly, and it autogenerates data conversion code to programmatically implement data mappings and Web services in a runtime environment.
Altova StyleVision® 2008 is a powerful stylesheet and electronic forms designer. StyleVision allows you to create one visual design that auto-generates an XSLT 1.0/2.0 stylesheet, an XSL:FO stylesheet, HTML output, RTF output, PDF output, Word 2007 (OOXML) output, and an electronic form for use with Altova Authentic® 2008. StyleVision also supports direct database reporting to HTML, RTF, PDF, and Word 2007, and it includes an HTML importer for converting HTML to XML.
Altova SchemaAgent® 2008 is a new tool for modeling and managing advanced schemas and their components in enterprise workgroups. SchemaAgent allows developers and information architects to visualize XML Schema relationships and construct complex schemas from distributed schema elements via its graphical design view. Now in addition to XML Schema files, you can also see schemas used as sources or targets in Altova MapForce data mappings. SchemaAgent® 2008 also supports integration with XMLSpy® 2008, allowing users to access all SchemaAgent schemas and components in the XMLSpy® 2008 entry helpers. This greatly reduces the complexity associated with schema development and enables the efficient re-use of information assets.
Altova SemanticWorks® 2008 is a new, ground-breaking visual RDF/OWL editor for working with Semantic Web documents. Users can visually design Semantic Web instance documents, vocabularies, and ontologies then output them in either RDF/XML or N-triples formats. SemanticWorks® 2008 makes the job easy with tabs for instances, properties, classes, etc., context-sensitive entry helpers, and automatic format checking.
Altova DiffDog® 2008 is an XML-aware file and directory differencing tool. This easy, powerful synchronization tool quickly compares source code or text-based files and any directories, then highlights differences in its visual interface. You can merge content with a click of the mouse or open and edit files and folders, then instantly re-compare.
Altova Authentic® 2008 is a FREE content editor that allows business users to enter data directly into XML documents and databases without being exposed to the underlying technology. Users simply key in electronic forms using the word-processor style interface, and their content is instantly updated to the corresponding XML document or database. Authentic® 2008 is available as a free license.
To make it easier to harness the power of these tools and meet all your XML development and data integration needs, Altova has created the Altova® MissionKit™ 2008 to deliver the highest functionality at a considerable savings. Get up to 8 software tools for the price of 2 with the Altova® MissionKit™ 2008! The MissionKit bundles Altova's intelligent application development and data management tools to meet the needs of software architects and XML developers. You can download a free 30 day trial of the Altova MissionKit here.
Back to Top - How does XMLSpy® 2008 compare to other XML-related tools?
Its unique combination of power and ease-of-use have made XMLSpy® 2008 the world’s leading XML development environment. With each new release, XMLSpy® 2008 extends its lead by offering support for the most important emerging technologies as well as existing feature enhancements. A few advantages of choosing XMLSpy® 2008 include:
- Power and flexibility
XMLSpy® 2008 delivers all the power developers need to create the most advanced XML applications, yet at the same time it’s flexible enough to allow users to work with XML using the views and options that best suit their specific needs and preferences. XMLSpy® 2008 makes working with XML easy.
- Productivity
Through its intuitive user interface and powerful XML design, editing, and debugging capabilities, XMLSpy® 2008 increases developer productivity significantly while decreasing the occurrence of errors. This allows developers to produce higher quality applications faster, quickly maximizing your ROI.
- Standards conformance
XMLSpy® 2008 includes advanced compliance with XML-related standards including the important new XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0, and XQuery specifications from the W3C.
- Value
The award-winning XMLSpy® 2008 feature set is competitively priced to deliver the power and productivity your organization needs without breaking your budget. XMLSpy® 2008 accelerates XML development, lowers costs, and enables the creation of the highest quality software, delivering exceptional value to your organization.
- Support
All Altova products are backed by our customer-focused support organization and a comprehensive Support and Maintenance Package (SMP) that covers all major upgrades. This is especially important in the XML development space, where standards evolve at a dizzying pace. As active members of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Altova is always on top of technology trends, implementing new standards as they emerge. In addition, we communicate regularly with our customers to understand their evolving needs and ways to improve our products.
To allow us to react to industry changes and our customers’ needs, Altova releases product upgrades frequently. Altova SMP allows you to receive all product releases for free, plus priority technical support, for the duration of your one- or two-year support period.
Back to Top - May I try XMLSpy® 2008 before purchasing it?
Of course! We’re so confident that you’ll love Altova tools that they are all available for a free 30-day trial. Visit the download page to try XMLSpy® 2008 and any of the powerful Altova XML, data management, UML, and Web services tools.
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Visit the Business Managers’ Page for more information about the technological and business benefits of XML and Altova products.
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