XPath Editor and Tester (Video)

Erin Cavanaugh
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Writing XPath expressions is an important skill for any developer – whether they are for an XSLT stylesheet, complex XQuery instruction, or even selecting data in a mobile application. And while XPath syntax is simple by nature, it’s also powerful, and writing and debugging the most efficient expression to select exactly the data you need can be a challenge.

This quick video demonstrates some of the tools in the XMLSpy XPath editor that make developing and testing XPath, as well as XQuery, easier. By using a point and click interface for interactive, incremental expression building, you’ll get what you need faster and with less frustration.

To learn more about XPath, check out these free resources:

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XBRL Example Files on GitHub

Erin Cavanaugh
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Did you know that Altova has a sample source code repository on GitHub? We are building this out based on customer requests, and at the moment we’ve posted a collection of XBRL example files, code snippets, and Python scripts for working with XBRL data, including instructions for accessing and processing the vast amount of data from filing companies available on the SEC web site, as well as some essential tools for performing validation on EDGAR filing data.

Here are some details on what you can find there.

hallway

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Top 10 Reasons Your Business Needs MobileTogether Now

Cindy Neely
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MobileTogether is a cross-platform mobile development framework that finally makes it practical for businesses to connect to their back-end data and create enterprise mobile solutions for their workforce – regardless of which devices they use – in record time. Here are the top 10 reasons you should be looking at this solution for your organization.

mobiletogether-byod
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A Cross-Platform Simulator for Enterprise Mobile App Development

David McGahey
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In the past it was difficult and time consuming to synchronize development of cross-platform mobile enterprise applications because each mobile operating system required a different tool set or unique steps to build a compiled result.

Altova MobileTogether simplifies and accelerates cross-platform mobile development with the MobileTogether Designer. Using MobileTogether, developers create a single Solution file for Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8, Windows 8, and in HTML-5 browsers on other platforms.

Even better, the MobileTogether Designer includes a Simulator window that lets developers instantly execute the Solution to test logic, view the design as it will appear on a variety of devices, and examine changes in workflow data during execution.

Here is a view of the BizBudget example Solution as seen in the Simulator representations for iOS and Android devices:

MobileTogether Simulator showing iOS and Android devices

Both views were generated from the same solution file, simply by changing the simulation preview device.
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Format Charts and Graphs for Any Mobile Device in Your BYOD Environment

David McGahey
/in /by

One challenge in development of mobile business solutions is formatting for all the different devices end users will bring. Each mobile OS supports a family of display sizes from the smallest smartphones to the largest tablets. And when you switch to a competing OS, all the screen sizes all change again. The need to support many different mobile devices can slow down development of mobile solutions for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) enterprises.

Pie chart for any mobile device created using Altova MobileTogether

Altova MobileTogether is a cross-platform mobile development framework that lets you build once across multiple platforms:

  • Android
  • iOS
  • Windows 8
  • Windows Phone 8
  • HTML-5 Browser Based Client

Going further, MobileTogether supports all available screen sizes for each OS, with special features to accelerate developer productivity.

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Cross-Platform Mobile Development with Altova MobileTogether

David McGahey
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Software engineers have long wanted to create an application once and run it on multiple platforms. With today’s rapidly evolving mobile devices, the problem is even more urgent, as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Surface tablets all compete for developer resources.

If you’re working on apps to communicate with enterprise users, you risk disenfranchising and alienating influential and important subsets of your colleagues when you build for each device sequentially or deliver unequal functionality.

Altova MobileTogether lets you create a cross-platform mobile solution once and deploy it in seconds to all mobile users in the enterprise, who may run it on iPhones, iPads, Android phones or tablets, Windows Phones, Surface tablets, or even laptop or desktop computers.

And these are not simple .html-based one-size-fits-all Web pages, but true native mobile solutions that take advantage of all the rich interface features users already know, delivering mission-critical data from databases, XML files, or by issuing HTTP requests to remote servers and filtering and formatting the response as necessary.

A mobile sales report application created with MobileTogether

The MobileTogether Designer is an easy-to-use development tool for creating high-quality business intelligence dashboards, interactive reports, enterprise forms, and other mobile applications by using drag-and-drop functionality. You simply drag various controls into the work area and assign data structures and actions to build a cross-platform solution.

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XML Development with Database Integration

Erin Cavanaugh
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Did you know that XMLSpy connects to relational databases? One of the most compelling features of the Altova MissionKit is that numerous tools in the suite include offer deep integration with relational databases, providing seamless access to back end data for bi-directional conversion, integration, analysis, and reporting. image Let’s take a look at what you can do when you connect XMLSpy to your databases. Other database-enabled MissionKit tools will be covered in subsequent posts.All popular relational databases are supported in XMLSpy:

  • Microsoft® SQL Server® 2000, 2005, 2008
  • IBM DB2® 8, 9
  • Oracle® 9i, 10g, 11g
  • Sybase® 12
  • MySQL® 4, 5
  • PostgreSQL 8
  • Microsoft Access 2003, 2007

First step: Connect to and query the database

When you select Query Database from the DB menu, XMLSpy helps you connect to your database with the step-by-step Database Connection Wizard. Then, the DB Query window makes it easy to explore and/or edit data in the database you’re working with, either by opening existing SQL files or creating SQL scripts from scratch using drag-and-drop and auto-complete functionality. Once you execute your query, you can edit the database data in the results window, review changed fields (highlighted in pink), and commit the changes back to the database. Querying a database in XMLSpy

Next: Convert between XML and databases

Another common requirement is converting between XML and database models, and XMLSpy supports this in both directions. You can easily export database data to XML. If no schema is required, you can simply export the data to XML in its basic tabular format. Or, you can use the Create XML Schema from DB Structure option first, then import database data maintaining all the relationships and dependencies defined in the content model. Numerous options are available to specify the format of the schema, whether columns should be imported as elements or attributes, and the database constraints that should be generated in the XML Schema. Get schema from DB data Or, to go in the other direction, it’s just as easy to go from XML to a relational model in XMLSpy. The Export to Database dialog (accessed via the Convert menu) allows you to specify where to start the export, how to handle export fields, and which elements to include. Then, the data is instantly converted and stored in your database. image For times when you want to define a database with the same rules as an existing XML Schema, the Create DB Structure from XML Schema dialog lets you do so with numerous options. Any identity constraints included in the schema will automatically transfer to the database structure. Alternatively, it’s easy to define relationships between elements manually. Learn more about all these features for working with XML and databases in XMLSpy, or check out all the database tools available in the MissionKit.

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