Multi-Language Localization for Mobile Apps


MobileTogether includes support to seamlessly localize mobile apps in multiple languages. This empowers developers to build one version of a mobile app that works across many languages as well as across multiple platforms.

Developers can include translations in a single MobileTogether app design for all text phrases required, and when any end-user runs the app, whether on an Android phone, an iPhone, Windows desktop, or any other supported platform, the language for the app is selected to match the language for the device operating system.

With multi-language localization, even text-to-speech functionality is localized to the user’s native language.

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

How To Build Your First App


MobileTogether Designer provides a powerful drag and drop interface that allows for incredibly quick cross platform app development. To help developers get started I have produced this video tutorial, which covers the interface and the steps needed to build your first app.

By the end of the video developers should be able to navigate the Designer’s interface and create a basic app that takes user input and performs an action with it at the press of a button. This is the first in a series of tutorials aimed at familiarizing developers with the ins and outs of app development in MobileTogether.

 

Tags: , , , ,

SQL Queries with Parameters: Support for SQL Templates in DatabaseSpy


SQL queries with parameters, also known as SQL templates, are a flexible and efficient solution for repetitive data reporting requirements, for instance allowing users to easily execute complex join statements with multiple sets of values. DatabaseSpy, the multi-database query, design, and editing tool from Altova, includes robust support for developing, executing, and refining complex SQL queries with parameters, also known as SQL templates.

Prototyping SQL queries with parameters in DatabaseSpy can even accelerate development of queries required in other projects such as database mappings in MapForce or database data sources for MobileTogether cross-platform mobile apps.

Big Data Support

Read more…

Tags: , ,

Push Notifications Headline Latest MobileTogether Release


The latest release of MobileTogether, Altova’s framework for cross platform mobile app development, adds easy-to-use tools for defining push notifications, the ability to embed apps inside web applications, and more.

Let’s take a look at these new features, which only add to the long list of functionality available for building today’s sophisticated, data-centric mobile apps.

MobileTogether 4.0 Adds Push Notifications

Read more…

Tags: , , , , ,

Three-Way File Comparison and Difference Merging


Manually comparing versions of a long XML Schema or document to find any differences would be a tedious and error-prone task. XMLSpy has long featured file comparison with highlighted differences in side-by-side windows with merging in either direction. And of course, DiffDog is the go-to comparison utility for text, source code, XML, JSON, and Word documents. Now both XMLSpy and DiffDog support three-way file comparison and difference merging.

Three-way file comparison is especially relevant for files managed in any source control system where two users may have started from the same source file and made different edits that need to be reconciled.

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Data Mapping NCPDP SCRIPT


EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) standards allow participants with different roles in an industry to communicate clearly and rapidly, and date back to the earliest implementations of electronic communication in the 1950s, long before modern business technologies such as ERP, CRM, and many others. Yet even today, EDI standards continue to evolve to support new requirements and opportunities.

MapForce has long supported data mapping to and from ANSI X12, UN/EDIFACT and other popular EDI standards, and now in the latest release adds support for data mapping NCPDP SCRIPT.

SCRIPT is the state of the art EDI standard developed by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) for electronically transmitting medical prescriptions, also known as ePrescribing (eRX) in the United States.

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Add to Your Collection of Development Building Blocks


When it comes to developing sophisticated software and data integration applications, the more building blocks a developer has at his or her disposal, the better. With each release of our developer and server software, we aim to provide customers with unique tools that give them the edge to get the job done – faster, and more efficiently.

To that end, Version 2018 delivers a unique HTTP testing window, 3-way file comparison functionality, support for SQL Templates, super-powered new server options, and much more.

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Come Meet Us at Microsoft Ignite or Oracle OpenWorld


It is trade-show season at Altova, and the next few weeks will have us in Orlando, FL and San Francisco, CA!

From Sept. 25-28 we will be in Orlando, Florida at Microsoft Ignite in booth #1649.
From Oct. 2-5 we will be in San Francisco, California at Oracle OpenWorld in booth #4521.

If you are planning on attending either show or are in the area and would like to speak with us in person, come to our booth for a demo of the newest features available in Altova’s developer tools, server software, and to see our cross-platform mobile development solution MobileTogether.

We would love to hear from you about your latest projects and challenges, collaborate on best  practices or let us show you some of the new exciting things Altova has to offer. We hope to see you there!

 

Text-to-Speech for Mobile Apps


Altova MobileTogether supports text-to-speech functionality for cross-platform mobile apps, empowering developers to add speech and build a rich multi-media user experience.

Speech can be fully integrated with text anywhere it appears in an app. For instance, an app like the Parcel Delivery MobileTogether example can be enhanced by speaking the next delivery address aloud – especially if the driver is in traffic! Or, text in message boxes of other information blocks can also be spoken by the mobile device.

We created a simple demo to experiment with the functionality of text-to-speech for mobile apps then added text-to-speech features to the Parcel Delivery app.

Text-to-speech for mobile apps

Read more…

Tags: , ,

Exploring an Unfamiliar Database with DatabaseSpy


Software developers working on a new app, data professionals in a variety of enterprises, and even database administrators often encounter unfamiliar databases and need a database tool to quickly explore tables and relationships.

Altova DatabaseSpy is a unique multi-database query, design, and comparison tool with a graphical database design editor that empowers users exploring an unfamiliar database to quickly visualize tables, relationships, and even datatype definitions that may be unique among database types.

Read more…

Tags: ,

Support for JSON5 in Altova MissionKit, Server Products, and MobileTogether


Altova products have supported JSON for several years. Now, Version 2017 Release 3 of MissionKit and Server products, and MobileTogether Version 3.2 all include support for JSON5 across the product line.

The JSON data format was originally designed to be machine-written and consumed, promoting efficient communication between servers. Usage has expanded and JSON5 is a proposed extension intended to make JSON code easier for humans to write and read.  JSON5 extends JSON by adding some ECMAScript 5 features and, like JSON, is a strict subset of JavaScript. Specifically, JSON5 permits inline and block comments, allows long strings to be split over several lines, and defines alternate legal syntax options for quotes and commas.  These features are not permitted in standard JSON, so files containing the proposed enhancements are typically identified with the .json5 filename suffix.

This post details specific support for JSON5 in each Altova product.

Learn about JSON5 support in Altova tools

Read more…

Tags: , , , , , ,

Simplifying License Management


We’ve been offering a centralized license server to all customers of our Altova server software products for quite some time. Now,  you can also manage all Altova desktop software licenses with the same license server. This support covers all MissionKit products, such as XMLSpy, MapForce, StyleVision, etc., whether they’re licensed separately or as part of a MissionKit product bundle.

Doing so greatly simplifies license management for the IT administrator in your organization and allows you to maximize your usage of the investment you’ve made in Altova software products. The Altova LicenseServer can now handle the management of installed-user, concurrent-user, and named-user licenses for all desktop developer tools and allows you to centralize license management either on a per-department level or for an entire organization.

133556519_700px

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Show Off Your Collections with MyCollections 2


The MyCollections app from Altova has become a popular tool for Android, iPhone, iPad, and Windows users to catalog and keep track of their collections of books, watches, recipes, vacation destinations – you name it.

It’s easy to share portions of or entire collections with your friends who have the MyCollections app, and now you can even publish your carefully curated creations to the web – and then share them via email or on your social media accounts.

Publishing collections is just one of the new features in MyCollections 2 – let’s check out the full list of improvements.

MyCollections App

Read more…

Tags: , , , ,

Mobile Apps for Enterprise Operations Management


Combining rapid mobile app development (RMAD) with a single development environment for building cross-platform apps makes Altova MobileTogether an ideal tool to create specialized mobile apps for enterprise operations management at all levels.

The development schedule using MobileTogether can be as short as a few days vs. weeks or months for traditional native platform coding. That kind of productivity makes it practical to build specialized apps that might only be used by a small number of operations managers, but greatly improve enterprise efficiency.

For instance, an app for the inventory manager for a manufacturing operation with just-in-time supply chain management can link to back-end systems to monitor inventory levels using any mobile device from anywhere in the plant or even offsite.

Read more…

Tags: , , , ,

3 Ways XML Text View Just Got Better


Though XMLSpy includes a helpful Grid View for visual editing, Text View remains the most popular pane for developers using the XML editor. Intelligent XML editing functionality helps make the job easier, and we’re continuously adding functionality to the XMLSpy Text View to facilitate this.

Let’s look at some new functionality XML developers will have at their disposal starting with Release 3 of XMLSpy 2017.

XML developer

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

MapForce Server Accelerator Edition Achieves a New Level of Data Transformation Performance


MapForce Server automates recurring execution of data mappings and transformations designed and tested using Altova MapForce. Every day, MapForce Server is employed in business communication, financial reporting, database ETL, and many other applications to transform critical data between any of XML, JSON, database, EDI, XBRL, flat file, CSV, Excel, and/or Web service formats.

Now, MapForce Server Accelerator Edition offers even faster throughput for high-performance server platforms.

Read more…

Tags: , ,

New Features for Mobile App Development in MobileTogether 3.2


The latest release of Altova’s mobile app development framework introduces over 18 features with highlights including support for NFC messages, text-to-speech, the ability to read device contacts, flexible options for dynamic tables, and more.

Read more below or check out our quick MobileTogether 3.2 video.

 

New in MobileTogether

Read more…

Tags: , , , ,

Converting a StyleVision Design to MobileTogether


StyleVision, Altova’s visual XSLT stylesheet designer and report designer, is also a powerful enterprise form designer popular with customers who need to get their XML or database data into e-forms for use with Altova Authentic.

Authentic is a WYSIWYG editor for non-technical users and is available in desktop and browser plug-in versions. However, due to increasing security issues, support for native plug-ins is being phased out in most modern web browsers. If you are an Authentic Browser Edition customer, fear not – you can now convert any existing StyleVision design to a MobileTogether design to deploy it via MobileTogether Server as a simple URL that can be accessed by web browsers, or even as a native app on a mobile device.

Let’s take a look at the advantages of that approach.

Enterprise Form to Mobile App
Read more…

Tags: , , , , ,

Update to Altova’s Database Tool Adds Important New Features


DatabaseSpy is the unique database tool that supports all major databases and facilitates database query, design, structure comparison, table content editing and comparison, and even generates elegant charts from query results.

The recent update of DatabaseSpy to version 2017 Release 3 adds several new features, including the ability to automatically generate a complete DDL script for any database schema.

Read more…

Tags: , ,

Use Join to Integrate Data in Any Format


Join is a powerful SQL operation implemented across most database types and familiar to database users. Join is typically used to select and combine information from multiple database tables.

Altova MapForce includes a join component for data mapping that works like a SQL join for database tables and extends data integration functionality by empowering users to join data trees of any data format. Anyone familiar with join operations for database tables will find the MapForce join component especially intuitive. A join operation in MapForce can even combine two different data formats and produce output in a new format altogether.

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

New XSLT Back-mapping Headlines Altova Release


It’s time for the latest release of Altova desktop developer tools and server software products, and this one introduces numerous innovative features across the product line, including a brand-new version of MapForce Server called MapForce Server Accelerator Edition for even faster processing of data integration jobs.

Let’s take a look at the highlights of Version 2017 Release 3.

Read more…

Tags: , , , , ,

Build a Mobile Dashboard to Wow Any Executive


In an earlier post on Creating Elegant Mobile Apps, we showed examples of a simple app and a complete mobile dashboard running on multiple mobile devices. Mobile developers can also delight end users by empowering them to customize the app experience. MobileTogether lets developers tailor cross-platform apps to each mobile platform and empower users through a simple and intuitive custom text size control.

Allowing each end user to set the preferred text size for viewing conditions and the device is both courteous to users and relieves developers of the task of determining the appropriate text size to work across all devices.

Read more…

Tags: , ,

A Typical MapForce Server Use Case


Envision a manufacturing company that controls costs by exploiting a just-in-time assembly process with a very low supply of parts inventory on hand. New customer orders are logged in a sales database and at the end of every day the components needed to assemble that day’s sales are tabulated.

The IT department runs a SQL query to identify the required parts and transforms the list into a purchase order in JSON format to be transmitted to the supply chain.

Sound familiar? Our recent blog series on JSON tools and JSON data mapping were based on this real-life scenario. In this post we describe a MapForce Server use case that automates the repetitive task of generating each day’s purchase order.

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

JSON Data Mapping and Transformation with MapForce


JSON is a popular format for transferring data between systems thanks to its simple markup, small footprint, and heritage based on the JavaScript programming language. MapForce supports JSON as both an input and output format for JSON data mapping and transformation. For instance, MapForce can extract information from any popular database and produce a JSON file ready for transfer.
The Requirement: Here is an example of a typical need for JSON data mapping: A manufacturing company controls costs by exploiting a just-in-time assembly process with very little parts inventory on hand. New customer orders are logged in a sales database, and at the end of every day the components needed to assemble that day’s sales are tabulated via a query into the database. The required parts will be ordered from suppliers via a purchase order transferred in JSON format.

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Build an Elegant Mobile App that Delights End-Users


Smartphones and tablets are everywhere, and superior apps have created a population of demanding users with high standards for mobile performance. This can be challenge for enterprises that want to build mobile apps to support internal business goals.

Complicating development tasks, many companies have adopted BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies that give users choice and flexibility while off-loading mobile device procurement issues. However, BYOD scenarios present significant hurdles for developers, who now must build apps for multiple mobile operating systems and screen sizes.

Enterprise developers in this environment need a tool that lets them quickly deliver a new mobile app or an updated version. Altova MobileTogether is that tool. MobileTogether lets developers design, test, and release one version of an app to run on all mobile devices, with interface features that will delight users across platforms.

Further, MobileTogether makes it simple to build sophisticated apps that connect to your existing backend systems and all popular relational databases. The MobileTogether framework includes the backend server for the mobile app, so developers create the front-end app and the back-end server logic at the same time and in one environment!

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Opening URLs and Documents within a Mobile App


MobileTogether apps for enterprises can connect to existing backend databases and generate richly-formatted documents and forms. MobileTogether can also create gateways to existing resources by opening URLs and documents within a mobile app.

Opening URLs and Documents within a Mobile App

The Open URL/File action lets MobileTogether developers give end users the ability to open Web pages or files such as PDFs, image files, text files, etc., that are stored on the client device.

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Patient Mobile Form – New Sample App


It’s time for your yearly checkup. However, first, you must update your paperwork. You can practically feel the hand cramp coming on as soon as the receptionist hands over the clipboard.

What if you could update all your info ahead of time – or even in the waiting room – on your mobile device? You could definitely build an app for that.

We’ve created the New Patient sample app to demonstrate a few key features, including how MobileTogether lets you develop cross-platform apps that include rich, mobile form based solutions for capturing data. Let’s take a look at how it works.

Patient form mobile app

Read more…

Tags: , , , ,

Generate PDF, Word, or RTF Documents from a Mobile App


Need to empower mobile users to capture information and generate a document or report from any remote location? MobileTogether lets you build a cross-platform mobile app to do that. You can tailor the app with all the device-specific mobile controls users expect, like check boxes, date pickers, switches and buttons, yet generate output files identical to an existing document, form, or report already familiar throughout the enterprise.

The Actions Dialog in the MobileTogether Designer lets developers define a Print To action to generate PDF, Word, or RTF documents from a mobile app. Once a document is rendered, it is saved on the mobile client for further processing. For instance, a PDF file could be emailed as a file attachment.

Generate PDF, Word, or RTF Documents from a Mobile App

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Flexible App UI Design with Multi-level Style Sheets


Using a cross-platform mobile development framework like MobileTogether is a great choice for building native apps, because the design environment takes care of rendering the app UI properly using the native look and feel of each operating system. You just have to build one design.

This gives app developers the ability to build sophisticated, data-centric apps for all users very quickly. To help this work, MobileTogether employs an RMAD approach along with flexible options for designing a beautiful UX. To help specifically with this last point are multi-level style sheets that let you customize and apply styles – either statically or dynamically – at various levels of the app UI design with just a few clicks.

Viewing a mobile app

Read more…

Tags: , , , ,

Database Features Across the Altova Product Line


We have written previously about database features like SQL Merge for data integration, and summarized database features in the latest release. But if you’ve only used one or two Altova products, you may not be aware of the powerful support for working with relational databases is provided throughout Altova’s tightly-integrated tools.

Database features across the Altova product line

The Altova MissionKit and MobileTogether products include SQL database features with rich functionality for database-related tasks, supporting all major relational databases in their native interface languages.

Read more…

Tags: , ,

Learn About Inline XBRL and XBRL Taxonomy Packages


As adoption of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for financial reporting increases worldwide, new standards are emerging to meet the needs of filing companies and developers alike. Altova’s line of XBRL-enabled products supports a wide-range of XBRL standards and is updated frequently as new specifications emerge.

Let’s take a closer look at two of the newer XBRL standards – Inline XBRL and XBRL Taxonomy Packages – and explore how they work.

Corporate buildings

Read more…

Tags: , ,

Automated Testing for Mobile App Development


Robust and repeatable testing improves any software development project. If you’re creating a mobile app, testing is especially critical given the unpredictable range of end user devices and location variables. Altova MobileTogether includes sophisticated Automated Testing features that let developers:

  • Record a series of user actions as a test case
  • Replay the test case in the MobileTogether Designer Simulator environment
  • Deploy test cases to the MobileTogether Server for replay on a variety of client devices
  • Retrieve Test Run results from the server and compare differences

Automated Testing for Mobile Apps

You can even modify the app to fix a bug and run the test case again to validate the results of changes, which makes this an indispensable QA tool for your mobile app development process.

Read more…

Tags: , , , ,

Scan Now: Barcodes in Mobile Apps


Barcodes are used in various industries to provide an optical, machine readable representation of data, usually related to an object they are placed on, such as a book, retail product, shipping package, or even the wrist of a patient in a hospital.

Recent developments in barcode technology include 2D codes that use shapes beyond the original bars (think of those QR codes you see on everything from magazine ads to cereal boxes). More significant, though, is the ability of smartphones and other mobile devices to scan barcodes using their built-in camera. Where in the past a specialized barcode scanner was required to read the coded information, now anyone can scan a code, greatly expanding the usefulness of barcodes for communicating data that can then be used a variety of ways.

Apps that can process barcode information are useful in a number of industries, and they can be used in apps that target workers as well as consumers. Let’s take a look at how easy it is to build an app that scans and processes barcodes in MobileTogether.

Barcodes in mobile apps

Read more…

Tags: , , , , , ,

EDI Data Mapping with MapForce


Any computer industry standard that promotes reliability and clear communication between independent enterprises will have a long life. EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) originated in the 1960s to enable automated transactions between corporate computer systems. EDI remains in widespread use today and continues to evolve to meet modern requirements, under the administration of the UN/EDIFACT and ANSI standards bodies.

Altova MapForce supports EDI data mapping between EDI messages and XML, JSON, relational databases, flat files, Excel, or other data formats to bridge between commonly used information interchange and in-house technologies.

MapForce includes support for the latest EDIFACT versions 2015B and 2016A including the new VERMAS message. Mapping and translating EDIFACT messages to other usable data types for transfer, storage, and management is a common business requirement solved by MapForce.

container_ship1

Read more…

Tags: , , , ,

MobileTogether Adds Barcodes, Automated Testing, and More


It’s time for the latest release of MobileTogether, Altova’s cross-platform framework for building native, data-centric apps.

Coming a short five months after MobileTogether 2.2, version 3.0 ships with an impressive array of new functionality, from developer-requested features such as barcode scanning and automated testing support, to flexibility improvements in the form of multi-level stylesheets and print-to-file functionality, all of which are sure to set your apps apart from the crowd.

Let’s take a look at the new features in detail.

 MobileTogether 3.0

Read more…

Tags: , , , , , , ,

MapForce Supports SQL Merge When It’s the Right Tool for the Job


Large database tables can easily contain a million, even hundreds of millions of rows of data. Database administrators and others charged with maintaining such large datasets are always concerned about execution time for ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) operations, updates, and other SQL queries. To make these operations more efficient, some — but not all — database vendors implemented a SQL merge statement to insert or update rows of an existing table as a single bulk-insert statement rather than requiring individual statements for each row.

Altova MapForce automatically supports SQL merge when it is available for the target database. Let’s look at an example.

shutterstock_66084286

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

MapForce Offers Dynamic Access to Node Names


There are situations, especially when encountering loosely structured data, where you may want to map and transform structural components of a data stream along with content. MapForce 2017 includes a new feature to dynamically access node names of XML elements, attributes, or text file columns such as the contents of CSV files, to target components.

Dynamic access to node names allows creation on the fly of target elements and attributes whose names do not need to be known beforehand or specifically identified in the data mapping. This feature lets you create much more generic, flexible, and reusable mappings that require less manual intervention if data models evolve.

News about Dynamic Access to Node Names in MapForce 2017

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

XML Editor Text View Gets a Big Update


Starting with Version 2017, XMLSpy developers will have access to some new, time-saving productivity tools in their favorite XML editor, including a modernized  Find/Replace dialog, an easy way to select all occurrences of a particular string, and a shortcut for finding a parent element.

I was amazed how much time and effort these new tools saved me right away – let’s take a look, and I’ll show you how.

News about XML find / replace

Read more…

Tags: , ,

Big Data, Database, and XBRL Tools Get a Huge Boost


It’s time for the latest release of Altova’s MissionKit and server software products, and this one delivers a huge boost in functionality for working with big data, databases, XBRL, and much more.

With support for Apache Avro in multiple products, additional databases and drivers across the product line, and two new XBRL specifications in developer and server products, plus a new way to build and process PDF forms, Version 2017 connects all the data dots.

What will be your favorite new feature? Let’s take a look.

Big Data Support

Read more…

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Going to Oracle OpenWorld or Microsoft Ignite? Come Meet Us!


shutterstock_183313544

It is trade-show season at Altova, and the last two weeks of September will have us in San Francisco, CA and Atlanta, GA!

From Sept. 19-21 we will be in California at Oracle OpenWorld in booth #421.
From Sept. 26-29 we will be in Georgia at Microsoft Ignite in booth #234.

If you are planning on attending either show or are in the area and would like to speak with us in person, come to our booth for a demo of Altova’s developer tools and to see our cross-platform mobile development solution MobileTogether.

We would love to hear from you about your latest projects and challenges, collaborate on best  practices or let us show you some of the new exciting things Altova has to offer. We hope to see you there!

 

Tags: , , , ,

How to Get Server Processing Speeds Inside your IDE


Nothing interrupts the flow of development like waiting for a collection of files to transform – yet this step is unavoidable when writing, testing, and debugging XSLT and XQuery code.

In addition to offering the XSL Speed Optimizer, we’ve worked hard over the years to make sure the processor in XMLSpy is as fast as possible. As quick as it is today, it’s still limited to a single core execution on the CPU in your development machine – well, not any more.

 

Servers

 

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Top Five Reasons to Document Your Schemas


Schema development is often an iterative process, and developers don’t typically start from scratch – XML Schemas, and, increasingly, JSON Schemas, are pieced together from existing documents or inherited from other teams. The ability to discern how schema components relate and analyze notes about development choices is infinitely helpful – but so often impossible due to lack of effective documentation.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons documentation should be an integral part of your XSD, JSON, or other schema development.

 Benefits of XSD documentation

Read more…

Tags: , , ,

Audio and Video in Cross-Platform Mobile Apps


Altova MobileTogether combines UI design by visual drag and drop with functional programming using Actions and Action Trees to let developers quickly build mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows devices. MobileTogether 2.2 recently added support for multimedia features that will delight end users with sound effects, video, and audio recording functionality.

Add audio and video to delight mobile app users

Read more…

Tags: , , , , ,

Multimedia for Mobile


Thanks to invaluable feedback from developers building apps in MobileTogether, we’re constantly adding new functionality to the product. Close on the heels of MobileTogether 2.1, which added over 30 new features, is the latest release: Version 2.2.

Additions to MobileTogether 2.2 are focused on integrating multimedia assets in your mobile apps, with new tools for using audio and video functionality to enable seamless interactivity that your end users will love.

 

New in MobileTogether: Audio and Video

Read more…

Tags: , , , , ,

Accelerate Testing in Mobile App Development


Testing by real-world users is a critical step in successful development of intuitive mobile apps for all platforms. A recent in-house experience demonstrated this axiom, and the MobileTogether Instant Deployment proved to be an effective tool to accelerate testing in mobile app development, deliver a new version of an app into the hands of Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Windows 10 users, and get feedback faster than ever.

FiveKeys

Read more…

Tags: , , , ,

Excel Add-in Generates XBRL WIP Data


The reach of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is rapidly expanding beyond financial reporting requirements to provide the advantages of standardized data submission across verticals. One recent development is the Work in Process XBRL Taxonomy created by XBRL.US for the surety industry.

The good news is that non-technical stakeholders can be completely shielded from the complexity of XBRL using software tools developed in concert with the taxonomy standards.

We’re excited to introduce the Altova Work in Process (WIP) XBRL add-in for Excel: a new product that lets contractors build their WIP reports directly in Excel, where they’re already comfortable working, and then export the reports in WIP XBRL for submission to sureties and underwriters.

Contractors writing WIP XBRL reports in Excel

Read more…

Tags: , ,

Advanced Error Handling Actions for Mobile Apps


MobileTogether 2.1 includes new Try/Throw and Catch error handling actions for mobile apps, allowing developers to build sophisticated error-handling routines that improve end-user experience. For instance, if an app wants to connect to a third-party Web service but the server is not available, error-handling actions permit graceful recovery.

MobileTogether error handling actions for mobile apps work the same way for all platforms, saving developers time since there’s no need to customize error handling based on the requirements of each mobile operating system.

error_handling5

Read more…

Tags: , ,

Build your Collections with the MyCollections App


For the longest time, I’ve searched in vain for a collection app that would help me manage my favorite recipes. I have a ton on Pinterest, and an equal number in my ever-growing cookbook collection. The problem is, when it comes time to make a favorite dish, I can never remember where the recipe is and end up spending half my cooking time looking for it. Enter the new Altova MyCollections app: I’ve already started using this for my recipes and other collections, and I’ll never go back.

MyCollections lets you catalog any collection whatsoever – whether it’s comprised of actual objects like books, CDs, watches, or camping equipment – or if it’s your favorite places to visit, your great-hikes bucket list, or your birthday wish list. Oh, and it’s free.

MyCollections App
Read more…
Tags: , , , , ,

First Comprehensive XQuery Online Training Now Available from Altova


XQuery is an XML-based query language for extracting information from structured and unstructured data, typically – but not limited to – XML format. XQuery is supported by dozens of applications and software tools, and is commonly used wherever XML data is exchanged, consumed, or otherwise processed.

Now Altova is proud to announce launch of the first comprehensive XQuery online training, including the latest features of XQuery 3.1. Altova’s free online XQuery tutorial is available now at the Training and Tutorials section of the Altova Web site.

XQueryTraining1

Read more…

Tags: ,