Altova Blog

MapForce v2010 - “Most Wanted”

2009-11-10T18:49:00.000-05:00

As a frequent attendee at the Altova booth at tradeshows, I have to say that this v2010 "Most Wanted" release has been one of my favorites since I've been with the company. Rather than centering the release around a marquee technology like we have in the past with XBRL, OOXML, etc., this time we have added to the MissionKit a collection of over 70 (not a typo) of the features that our customers have requested the most. Many of these requests have come directly from the tradeshow floor, and some I even recall scribbling down myself. Others have come from through our Support Center, and still more from Altova's online user forums. So keep those requests coming, and we'll keep on listening!

In this post I'll outline a few of the new features added to MapForce below, and be sure to look out for our future posts where we will spotlight individual features in more detail.

Processing data from/into multiple files

MapForce users have always been able to map data explicitly to and from many different components at the same time. This feature takes that ability much further, letting you implicitly process files, for example to/from a file collection or directory using a variety of different methods including wildcard values, database tables, auto-number sequences, and more.

For example, the screenshot below shows files from a directory being mapped into a single target file using a wildcard (?) value.

The output file generated from this mapping can be saved to any location from the Output Preview window.

If you'd rather separate the output results into two separate XML files, you can just add a connection between the two file items at the top of each mapping component.

Using file names as parameters

As a complement to this functionality, you can now use file names as parameters in your mappings - an extremely useful feature for real-time transformations when this information may not be known until run time. In the example below, this is accomplished using an input parameter and connecting it to the file item node in the source mapping component.

Support for WSDL 2.0

Like XMLSpy, MapForce v2010 has added support for Web services based on WSDL 2.0 in addition to WSDL 1.1. When you are building or connecting to Web services, MapForce automatically recognizes the syntax of WSDL 2.0 documents and applies appropriate processing rules.

This feature gives MapForce users the flexibility to work with either version of the W3C format.

A number of other features have been added to the "Most Wanted" release of MapForce including:

· Support for xsi:type in XML Schema

· EDI file validation in generated code

· Support for additional EDIFACT messages

So… be sure to download a free trial of MapForce v2010 - or if you have active SMP, download your upgrade today!

Altova Online Training is Out of Beta

2009-11-09T15:23:00.001-05:00

After completely redesigning our training program based on customer feedback, we are excited to announce that Altova Online Training is out of beta!

With over 50 chapters of interactive, video-enhanced lessons, our library of courses offers beginners and advanced users free tutorials in the MissionKit: XBRL, XMLSpy, MapForce, and StyleVision. Learn about a specific topic or take a whole course, study at your own pace, and pick up where you left off. Each course includes step-by-step video tutorials, technical notes, interactive quizzes, and links to important resources. Altova Online Training courses allow you to easily learn about the topics that are important to you.

User feedback has been essential in improving our courses, and we welcome your continued feedback on our training!

Visit Altova at DevConnections

2009-11-06T10:27:00.001-05:00

The Altova team is gearing up for Microsoft DevConnections 2009 next week! Beginning November 10, you can find us in booth #329 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Want to know more about our recently released "Most Wanted" Software Version 2010? Stop by the booth for a demo of all the latest product updates. We’ll be happy to show you support for additional technologies, such as WSDL 2.0 support in XMLSpy and MapForce, JSON editing and conversion in XMLSpy, and SysML support in UModel. The new version also delivers enhanced support for technologies like XBRL, offers a completely new design paradigm that gives StyleVision users a new option for creating stylesheets and electronic forms, and much more.

Viva Las Vegas!

Oh, and if you don't happen to be attending DevConnections, you can catch us the following week at PDC in LA.

XMLSpy's Most Wanted

2009-11-04T14:30:00.001-05:00

When we announced that Altova Software Version 2010 included over 70 of the features most requested by our customers, we weren't talking about little tweaks and enhancements, but major new functionality! To show you we mean business, I'll outline some of the most requested features added to XMLSpy 2010 here.

WSDL 2.0 Support

In response to requests from from Web services developers, the graphical WSDL editor in XMLSpy 2010 now supports the latest version of the WSDL standard, WSDL 2.0. This adds to existing support for WSDL 1.1, giving you the choice of which version of the standard to work with. The WSDL editor automatically provides the correct editing environment for the version currently being utilized, and XMLSpy even provides one-step conversion capabilities for migration between WSDL 1.1 and 2.0.

Since the XMLSpy WSDL editor uses a graphical interface (you can, of course, also work in Text View if you wish), you can easily visualize the structure of your WSDL document and edit it using drag-and-drop functionality and context-sensitive entry helpers, which offer the relevant choices based on the selected WSDL version.

Enhanced XBRL Functionality

Since we added support for XBRL validation and XBRL taxonomy editing in XMLSpy 2009, we've received excellent feedback from customers, including some feature requests that we were able to address in v2010.

The new XBRL documentation generation capabilities of XMLSpy 2010 make it easy to generate comprehensive documentation - in RTF, MS Word, or HTML - for your XBRL taxonomies. Multiple options let you choose exactly what to include in the documentation, and the resulting output (snippet shown below) includes hyperlinked components for easy navigation.

Another option for documentation is to print the graphical representation of your taxonomy as it is shown in XMLSpy's graphical XBRL view.

XMLSpy 2010 also includes the new XBRL Taxonomy Wizard to give you a head start when creating a taxonomy. Simply enter the company name, ticker, or other identifier for your XBRL taxonomy, and then select the base taxonomy to extend (if any).

XMLSpy creates the required taxonomy files and prompts you to select the entry points of the base taxonomy. Once you click finish, XMLSpy 2010 displays the newly created XBRL taxonomy files in the graphical XBRL Taxonomy Editor, where you can continue editing and refining the taxonomy in a visual manner.

The new Find in XBRL and XBRL Sort options in XMLSpy 2010 meet customers' requests for quick, easy ways to find data in and navigate through large, complex XBRL taxonomies.

JSON Editor

We've recently heard from a lot of developers working on Web 2.0 and Web services apps in XMLSpy who also use JSON - so we decided to add a JSON editor in XMLSpy 2010. You can compose JSON strings in Text View or Grid View, and even convert between XML and JSON.

In Text View, the JSON editor provides syntax coloring, line numbering, source folding, bookmarking, and more, making it easy to comprehend and navigate your JSON code, and find and edit strings. Intelligent JSON editing populates the Elements entry helper window with a dynamically built list of the elements present in your JSON file, which you can insert with a double-click.

Intelligent JSON editing is also available in Grid View, which provides graphical representation that shows the structure / outline of a JSON document through a set of nested containers. These can be easily expanded and collapsed to get a clear picture of the document's tree structure, and drag-and-drop editing is supported.

A final must-have feature for working with JSON is the JSON <=> XML converter in XMLSpy 2010. One click lets you, for example, convert an XML file to JSON for transport with JavaScript, or convert data received in JSON format to valid XML. No more JSON vs. XML arguments - XMLSpy gives you the best of both worlds.

Redesigned Scripting Environment & Forms Editor

XMLSpy includes an integrated scripting environment and forms editor that has been redesigned for this latest release. Scripts can be written in JScript or VBScript to access and interact with the XMLSpy API, allowing you to modify and add functionality to your installation of XMLSpy 2010. Improvements and optimizations in Version 2010 include:

Access to most of the .NET framework
New form editor controls
Testing & debugging of macros directly in the scripting editor
Execution of macros directly through XMLSpy menus
Improved entry-helpers & auto-completion in the scripting editor

Read more about the "most wanted" features in XMLSpy and the rest of the Altova MissionKit.

Please be sure to let us know your most wanted features, either by commenting here on the blog or entering a feature request.

Altova’s Most Wanted Edition – Version 2010 Announced

2009-10-28T10:32:00.000-04:00

We are excited to have launched the MOST WANTED edition of the Altova MissionKit today! The MissionKit 2010 represents the most wanted functionality as requested by you - our customers. We’ve wrangled over 70 new features into this version of Altova’s XML, database, and UML product line to deliver on your list of demands.

Check out the highlights for each product included in the MissionKit 2010 tool suite below; subsequent posts will cover the new features in each product in greater detail.

WSDL 2.0

One of the features most often requested by our customers is support for the latest version of WSDL: WSDL 2.0. In addition to existing WSDL 1.1 editing and validation capabilities, XMLSpy now supports WSDL 2.0 in the graphical WSDL editor. It also allows one-click conversion between WSDL 1.1 and 2.0 files.

WSDL 2.0 support has also been added to version 2010 of the MapForce data mapping tool, allowing you to connect to WSDL 2.0 (or 1.1) Web services and integrate their functionality into mappings of XML, databases, flat file, EDI, Excel 2007, and XBRL data. You can also use MapForce to build new Web services based on WSDL 2.0 definitions.

MapForce 2010 delivers a number of other enhancements for data mapping, conversion, and integration.

XBRL Enhancements

Several new features for working with XBRL have been added in version 2010. XMLSpy includes a new XBRL Taxonomy Wizard for getting a head start creating taxonomies in the graphical XBRL Taxonomy Editor.

You can also now generate comprehensive documentation for your XBRL taxonomies, or simply print the graphical XBRL representation. Find and sort capabilities let you work more easily with large, complex taxonomies.

If you’re not familiar with the extensive support for working with XBRL in the Altova MissionKit, check out the XBRL Solutions Center page.

JSON Support

With more and more developers working with JSON in the XML, AJAX, and Web services apps they’ve created in XMLSpy, we’ve received a lot of requests for JSON support. Now you can edit your JSON files directly in XMLSpy, using Text View or the graphical Grid / Tree View with intelligent JSON entry helpers. XMLSpy even supports one-click JSON <=> XML conversion.

Check out the rest of the features most requested by XMLSpy users.

New Design Paradigm in StyleVision

The StyleVision graphical stylesheet design / single source publishing tool now gives you a new, flexible option for designing stylesheets and electronic forms. The new design paradigm lets you create templates within layout containers, and even optionally upload a blueprint image on which to base your design. This way, you can specify your design first and add XML and/or database content after.

This new form-based design option is made possible by new support for absolute positioning in design layouts. Instead of having content and layout elements flow on the page automatically, like a typical web page layout, you can now specify exact X and Y coordinates for each element to absolutely position it on a page.

This feature gives you more control over form design in the manner of desktop publishing applications, but also adds the powerful single source publishing capabilities for XML, XBRL, and database data that have always been present in StyleVision.

Read about the numerous other enhancements in StyleVision 2010.

Authentic 2010 users will directly benefit from many of the new StyleVision features for true electronic forms design described above. The sophisticated e-Forms created in StyleVision 2010 are presented in Authentic's WYSIWYG-interface for XML and database content editing by non-technical business users.

In addition, with the release of Version 2010, Authentic is now offered in Enterprise and Community Editions, both of which are available as either as a desktop application or browser plug-in. The new Authentic 2010 Enterprise Edition requires a paid license and provides advanced features for WYSIWYG XML and database content editing. Authentic 2010 Browser Plug-in Enterprise Edition is offered on a 12 month license term basis. Authentic 2010 Community Edition is available under a free license and is also offered in desktop and browser plug-in versions.

SysML Support

Altova’s affordable UML modeling tool has become even more robust with support for SysML, which is related to UML but optimized for designing software to operate and control embedded systems and other complex devices. UModel 2010 supports all SysML v1.1 diagram types and elements with all the same productivity-enhancing features available for UML and BPNM modeling, including code generation in Java, C#, and Visual Basic.

Read about all the new features in UModel 2010.

New Diff/Merge Capabilities

Both DatabaseSpy and DiffDog have received some exciting and oft-requested new diff/merge features in version 2010.

DatabaseSpy, the highly-affordable, multi-database query, design, and comparison tool now allows you to compare and merge database schemas between databases of the same type or across different database types (all major relational databases are supported). DatabaseSpy displays differences between database schemas in a graphical manner, and you can generate a change script to merge changes in either direction.

DatabaseSpy 2010 also adds the ability to convert database structures between different database types, for example, to migrate from MySQL® to Oracle® or SQL Server®.

Version 2010 of the DiffDog diff/merge tool for files, directories, and databases includes functionality similar to DatabaseSpy for comparing and merging database schemas, and it also provides the most wanted XML Schema diff feature.

Since XML Schemas are ever-evolving as requirements change, existing XML files often also need to be updated to remain valid. You can now compare two XML Schemas graphically in DiffDog 2010, and then DiffDog will generate an XSLT file to transform any related instance documents according to the new schema. Alternatively, you can choose to generate an Altova MapForce mapping file based on the DiffDog comparison to further refine the transformation between schemas.

Check out all the most wanted features in DatabaseSpy 2010 and DiffDog 2010.

Mentioned above are just a few of the more than 70 most wanted features added to the Altova MissionKit 2010. Follow the links to learn more, and stay tuned to this blog for more details in the coming days!

Collect your Handsome Reward

If you’re an Altova customer with active Support and Maintenance Package, simply download and install version 2010, and your existing key code will activate the new version.

New customers can download a free, fully-functional 30-day trial to start working with all these new features today.

What to Do On a Rainy Day in San Francisco?

2009-10-18T20:35:00.002-04:00

That was the question for 30,000-plus attendees at Oracle OpenWorld 2009 last week, when weather forecasters were predicting the remnants of a Pacific typhoon would hit San Francisco with winds up to 60 miles per hour and drop rainfall measuring multiple inches.

Fortunately, the best attractions were all indoors. Oracle OpenWorld is one of the largest events held each year at the Moscone Convention Center. The keynote speeches, conference seminars, and partner exhibitions fill all three buildings. Even Howard Street between the North and South halls is closed for an entire block to create room for the lunch pavilion. Oracle OpenWorld is the best place to come for face-to-face education and interaction on all subjects related to every facet of the Oracle ecosystem.

Altova is an Oracle Partner and this is an event we look forward to every year. The Altova MissionKit provides extensive support for database management, query, and design; database integration; database differencing; and database content editing.

We love to meet users whose Oracle databases contain XML and show off features like support for Oracle XML DB data modeling, and the XQuery editor, debugger, and profiler in XMLSpy. We love to talk to users whose Oracle databases don’t contain XML yet, so we can demonstrate how to derive an XML Schema from the tables and relationships in a non-XML database. We also like to meet users who sometimes interact with databases other than Oracle, since the database functionality in Altova tools is never restricted to a single database technology. Due to the Oracle acquisition of Sun this year, MySQL was a popular subject. Our DatabaseSpy demo in the Altova booth highlighted simultaneous connections to Oracle and MySQL databases with interactive functionality to compare and merge data between tables in different database types.

With convenient shuttle service from all the area hotels to Moscone, the question became not “What to do in the rain?”, but “What to do first?”

Conference sessions covered every topic from databases to applications, to middleware, to specialized industry topics, and even XBRL. In Moscone West the Oracle Demo Grounds were always busy, with dozens of individual stations simultaneously active. The Altova booth was a popular spot, as were displays by other Oracle partners, including Amazon, Salesforce, and many more.

To refresh and recharge, there were lots of fun things to do too. We even saw evidence that Paul and Ringo might have been there.

Best yet, when we stepped outside after a long, productive day, the rain had stopped and we were presented with a warm San Francisco night.

Check out our Oracle Openworld 2009 video slideshow on YouTube to see more:

Visit Altova at Oracle OpenWorld

2009-10-13T08:09:00.001-04:00

If you're attending Oracle OpenWorld 2009 in San Francisco this week, be sure to stop by and say hello to the Altova team at booth #3750 in Moscone West. We'd love to hear about what you're working on and what you think of the show so far.

You can also enter our raffle for a chance to win a license for one of Altova's XML, database, and data integration tools that supports Oracle, MySQL, and other relational databases.

The XML Aficionado is attending this year and has shared some of his early impressions of the show over on his blog.

HubKey Case Study

2009-09-28T13:53:00.001-04:00

Overview

HubKey is a technology company offering e-commerce solutions and services to small and mid-sized organizations. Their flagship product, ILXA, is a hosted application that uses the document and workflow management capabilities of Microsoft Sharepoint, combined with the power and flexibility of Altova MapForce and XMLSpy, to deliver a scalable, end-to-end, business-to-business (B2B) solution for outsourced EDI.

ILXA builds an intuitive user interface and superior content management controls and functionality around e-commerce/EDI data sources, giving customers the freedom to quickly and accurately process electronic transactions without the need for costly software and hardware systems.

The Challenge

The HubKey team wanted to build a comprehensive EDI management and translation system that would give their clients the ability to track their EDI transactions across a customized workflow and also transform the messages into virtually any other data format.

EDI systems are required to handle a large and constant flow of transactions going back and forth between trading partners. While the actual volume of the data being transmitted is often very small, the amount of individual communications can be overwhelming. HubKey ILXA contains the chaos of EDI automation by giving organizations the ability to view and manage tasks and processes in batches or on-the-fly.

Recognizing an increasing demand for B2B integration systems that comply with both EDI and XML, HubKey decided to build a platform that had powerful support for both data formats and could generate application code to automate these translations. Complex EDI-XML and XML-EDI mappings would run behind-the-scenes, but users would be able to access these mappings, as well as the raw data, for quality assurance and error fixing.

The Solution

HubKey ILXA is a hosted e-commerce solution that gives non-technical end users the ability to seamlessly manage their EDI transactions without being exposed to complex data syntax. To easily manage the document workflow, HubKey chose to build their system on top of the Sharepoint platform, creating a customizable .NET application with advanced functionality for a collaborative workflow environment.

The ILXA system draws upon the versatility and quality control capabilities of XML, with EDI-XML conversion powered by Altova MapForce. The end result is sophisticated translation software combined with validation and workflow management capabilities, all in one easy-to-use system.

Translator - performs virtually any to any document translation for integration with backend ERP and accounting systems or trading partner requirements
Tasks Engine - gives users a Web-based interface through which to view and orchestrate document management tasks
Business Rules Engine - handles data validation, alerts, substitutions, and more through generic or specific processing rules devised by the user

ILXA is delivered to customers in the form of a personalized, secure Web portal. Connections are easily set up between backend accounting/ERP systems (including technologies from Microsoft, Sage Software®, Exact®, and Intuit®) and member trading partners for sending and receiving messages via virtually any connectivity option (AS2, VAN, HTTP, etc.). The modularity of the ILXA system, combined with the experienced solution providers at HubKey, work together to make setting up the system a seamless process that can be implemented and up and running within 24 hours.

Translator

Using the data transformation and code generation capabilities of MapForce, ILXA translates raw EDI data into XML based on generic XML Schemas (developed using Altova XMLSpy) stored on the system. Once in XML, the data becomes much more usable within the Sharepoint environment, enabling users to work easily with messages and respond to tasks. Non-technical users can create workflows, assign tasks, and send and receive messages within the ILXA interface without even seeing a line of EDI or XML code.

However, if changes or adjustments need to be made, ILXA customers are given the freedom to apply these in-house using the data maps saved in the SharePoint document library.

MapForce's intuitive graphical interface enables users to redraw connections, add functions from the function library, and apply filters to the mappings. Any saved changes cause compiled code to be saved back to the system and will affect ensuing automated transformations.

MapForce generates program code in Java, C++, and C#. HubKey opted to have code generated in C# to make it easily consumable by the Sharepoint platform.

Once the data has been translated, users can even launch XMLSpy to view and make changes directly in the XML. The generated XML displays the original EDI format in the file for an easy comparison.

Using MapForce, ILXA can also be easily configured to convert data into other EDI specifications, databases, flat files, Microsoft Excel 2007, and Web services.

Tasks Engine

The ILXA Tasks Engine enables users to manage advanced workflows, as well as track and resolve processing and validation errors that occur during the translation process. Users can view all of the documents in their workflow and take actions based on their status. Once an issue has been resolved, the document translation automatically resumes.

The ILXA Tasks Engine builds upon the advanced capabilities of Sharepoint to make a document management and publishing system that is ideal as an EDI/e-commerce solution. Users can easily assign, resolve, and review tasks in a secure setting based on assigned permissions and defined roles. The ability to streamline these vital business processes in one central application helps increase the quality and consistency of error-prone large-scale message translation and transmission.

Business Rules Engine

HubKey's patent-pending Business Rules Engine provides customers with a powerful tool for implementing specific rules based on documents, trading partners, and/or date/time parameters. This gives organizations the ability to apply filters to transactions based on customized definitions and constraints that apply to a particular situation.

The HubKey team offers its customers the option to have their business rules set up and implemented, or the training to do so in-house.

The Results

ILXA breaks down the barriers to costly EDI implementation, giving organizations an affordable, flexible, and reliable alternative to fully outsourced solutions through a modern, Web-enabled, component-based application. By combining content management functionality with age-old e-commerce business process requirements, HubKey is able to offer its customers a centralized EDI management application with resources and personalized services customized to meet any level of e-commerce data expertise.

Altova MapForce and XMLSpy provide the translation and XML structure behind-the-scenes, but are also available to more technical users to make adjustments and confirmations at the source. This gives HubKey the ability to offer a flexible and changeable solution to their end users, giving them the power to decide upon hands-on EDI management, or an assisted solution that still falls within their budget.

Find out how MapForce and XMLSpy can add functionality to your business applications. Download a fully functional free trial of the Altova MissionKit today!

NYC & Company Case Study

2009-09-14T15:50:00.000-04:00

Overview

NYC & Company is the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization for the five boroughs of New York City. Its mission is to maximize travel and tourism opportunities, build economic prosperity, and spread the dynamic image of New York City around the world.

In 2008-2009, the company initiated a major rebranding, redefining their Web presence and launching an interactive multi-media center in Midtown Manhattan. At the center of this transformation, NYC & Company used development tools from the Altova MissionKit - UModel, DiffDog, DatabaseSpy, and XMLSpy.

The NYC & Company Web site and Information Center was created together with online powerhouses as Google and Travelocity, reservation sites like Open Table, content providers Time Out, Greenopia.com, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and more.

The Challenge

As the single organization responsible for meeting the marketing and tourism needs of the city of New York, NYC & Company has been tasked with meeting Mayor Bloomberg's January 2006 State of the City goal of luring 50 million visitors by the year 2015 - up from an estimated 43 million in 2006. A large part of the effort behind this push would be manifested in a general Web site rebrand/redesign coupled with the creation of an interactive visitor center.

NYC & Company chose to use existing tools and technologies as much as possible, leveraging their ColdFusion Web site architecture, the Eclipse software development platform, a SQL Server 2005 backend, and the Altova MissionKit. A new content management system was also implemented to manage the large amounts of data and associated workflow.

The Solution

The NYC & Company Web site redesign included a migration from nycvisit.com, which followed a typical convention and visitor bureau site structure, to the much more animated and multi-faceted nycgo.com, a design that promotes the dynamic nature of the resources available and of the city itself.

nycvisit.com on 26 February 2008

nycgo.com on 22 May 2009

UML Modeling

The new design components were drawn out as a UML class diagram, expanding on the data model that was created for the live Web site. NYC & Company used Altova UModel to map out the physical structure of nycgo.com, importing their XML Schema definition to ensure adherence to formatting rules.

The class diagram was used to represent the new Web site structure at a high level, and to model the objects that needed to be built into NYC & Company's content management system (CMS). UML design in UModel also enabled the company to generate documentation so that the developers could share the UI design with those not familiar with the intricacies of UML.

UModel UML Class Diagram of the nycgo Web site

NYC & Company then worked with third party design vendor, HUGE, Inc., to further analyze the UML wire frames and predict user interaction scenarios for the nycgo Web site. Dynamic code was then delivered in JSP, implemented on JRun then subsequently converted to ColdFusion.

Code Differencing

NYC & Company chose to migrate their JSP templates to ColdFusion 8 for its rapid application development capabilities, rich feature set, and intrinsic simplicity.

DiffDog, Altova's diff/merge tool, was an integral part of the development process, helping the development team to ensure that the ColdFusion code was in line with the original JSP. NYC & Company could easily recognize and reconcile any crucial differences using DiffDog's straightforward text comparison interface.

JSP/CFM code differencing in DiffDog

Database Migration

As part of their rebranding effort, NYC & Company successfully migrated their data from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005.

NYC & Company used Altova DatabaseSpy to connect to the database, structure queries, and for database analysis. They also use the integrated SQL Editor to test their more complex SQL queries. This enabled them to do their database management and testing in-house, with non-technical and even non-DBA team members assembling complex SQL scripts with features such as auto-completion, syntax color coding, automatic formatting, and refactoring.

Building Out the Content Management System

NYC & Company used a third party CMS to manage workflow and collaboration for newly designed the Web site.

The CMS was also modified to output XML feeds. Additionally, content sourced from NYC & Company's partners was validated against an XML Schema and then imported into the CMS. Every night, a scheduled task is initiated that delivers the formatted XML feeds to the interactive data center.

XMLSpy, Altova's XML editor, provides NYC & Company with all of its XML editing needs - from validating and saving content, to managing and manipulating it as part of an integrated workflow.

Real-time XML Feeds

The XML feeds that are available on the nycgo Web site, and the interactive wall kiosks and tables at the Information Center are taken from data submitted by NYC & Company's numerous content partners and provide real-time information about attractions and events all around the city. Once accessed, the information can be transferred to any mobile device via SMS.

The walls display touch-screen FAQ stations that inform visitors about top New York City attractions and provide other useful information like how to tip a doorman, places to exchange currency, etc. in English and nine other languages. Users can also buy MetroCards and tickets to exhibits and other popular events.

The same real-time data is also fed to interactive tables, where visitors place a "puck" on a Google map of the city to select their area of interest. They then click on a category (e.g., dining, entertainment, etc.) to get more information.

The Results

NYC & Company offers the latest in travel and tourism to New York City's visitors, which number well over 40 million in any given year and offers a wealth of new experiences and up-to-date information to adventurous locals. The innovative new Web site design and interactive exploration center pulls together the latest in hardware, software, and data management technologies to showcase every aspect of this multi-faceted city to tourists from all walks of life and with all sorts of interests.

NYC & Company was able to leverage the Altova MissionKit to manage large amounts of disparate data from a variety of different sources -from the preliminary UML modeling, to code differencing, database management, and XML editing.

Find out how the Altova MissionKit can help with the end-to-end management of all of your data assets. Download a fully functional free trial of the Altova MissionKit today!

New Online Training - XMLSpy XML Editor

2009-08-28T13:38:00.001-04:00

The Altova Online Training team is very excited to have just launched the much-anticipated first module in the XMLSpy training course! XMLSpy Module 1* provides an introduction to XML and the XMLSpy XML editor:

In this beginner-level module, students start with an overview of XML, including the anatomy of XML documents and schemas. After a brief tour of the XMLSpy user interface, you'll create an XML Schema and walk through the steps of defining a namespace, creating a content model, adding elements, configuring schema views, and generating sample XML files and schema documentation. Then it's time to create an XML document based on the schema. By the end of this module, you will be able to enter data in XMLSpy's grid view and text view, perform well-formedness and validity checks, add new elements, and modify your schema while working on our XML document.

Detailed tutorials walk you step-by-step through each task, and you can test what you've learned using the interactive quizzes for each chapter.

Check out the free XMLSpy training module* now, or visit the Altova Online Training page for a complete list of available training topics, including MapForce, StyleVision, XBRL, and more.

All Altova Online Training courses are available on-demand and free-of-charge.

*See Altova Online Training System Requirements for supported browsers, etc.

XML & Digital Textbooks

2009-08-26T11:00:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday's New York Times had an interesting article on the front page about digital textbooks for the K-12 market. The piece was undoubtedly partially inspired by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's (he's from California by the way) recently announced initiative that will replace some high school textbooks with digital versions.

In fact, compared to standard printed texts, digital textbooks:

Can be more quickly and readily updated by publishers
Can often be purchased as individual chapters or a complete text
Are easier to store and transport, if downloaded to a portable computer
Can be combined with other digital materials, such as portions of other textbooks, periodical articles, instructor-provided materials, etc.
Can offer enormous cost-savings of because of elimination of materials, shipping and storage costs that are partially passed on to purchasers
Provide purchasing and procurement efficiencies
May feature learning tools content such as hyperlinks to related learning modules, electronic annotation by students, keyword searches, additional graphics and pop-up modules that furnish additional information

And so XML will finally have a chance to truly demonstrate its power in the K-12 market. For my part, I cannot think of a better example of the efficiencies of XML publishing than for education. Certainly most, if not all, of the major educational publishers are already using XML workflows internally because of benefits like validation, single source publishing, amenability to standards and metadata tagging, etc.

XML also gives publishers the ability to easily manage multi-dimensional educational content. Educational content, like textbooks and other learning materials, is usually structured around a fairly simple content model using word forms such as titles, paragraphs, quotes, etc.

The second dimension of the content is contextual information - footnotes, glossary terms, highlighting items - anything that may be necessary to target a specific audience. For instance, if a piece of content is to be included in a sixth grade textbook it would have different markup than if it were to be used for an eighth grade classroom.

The third dimension of K-12 educational content is the standards dimension. Standards are in most cases on the state level and are used to ensure that teachers know exactly what topics they are teaching in a particular piece of the content, ensuring they are covering the complete set of standards for state aptitude tests, like the MCAS. The standards dimension itself has the potential for further layering as content producers adopt their own standards to guide teachers to other relevant standards and topics that the content is aligned to.

XML is particularly well-suited to digital publishing of educational content for its ability to easily separate or layer these dimensions and repurpose it in nearly unlimited ways without the need for rekeying information. For example, one company in the article, CK-12 Foundation, develops free "flexbooks" that can be customized to correlate with state standards. Without XML, this would be a nearly (if not completely) impossible undertaking – with XML you can use many of the existing XML content creation tools to streamline the process.

So what has taken so long for the K-12 market to embrace XML-enabled digital learning materials? Well, it appears that the issue is an economical one. We still live in a country where many students do not have access to a computer, and few school districts have the means to provide them. Perhaps in the near future there will be a solution for this problem - and perhaps, just perhaps, California has just taken the first steps to lead us in the right direction.

So, where does Altova fit into this equation? Well, the Altova MissionKit offers support for intelligent XML content creation and editing for both technical and non-technical users. These tools give educational publishers and other content contributors the ability to work with structured XML content in a comfortable atmosphere, with easy-to-use interfaces, entry-helpers, drag and drop functionality, and a wide variety of options that make working in a team environment a flexible and even seamless process.

Visit the Altova website to read more about the MissionKit – or download a free 30-day trial today!

Recent Industry Awards

2009-08-20T11:20:00.000-04:00

The Industry Has Spoken…

For us at Altova, being recognized by our industry peers is an honor and something we are proud of and want to share with all of you – our current and future customers. This summer Altova was named to both the 2009 SD Times 100 and Visual Studio Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards.

Altova was named to the SD Times 100 list in the ‘Tools & IDEs’ category as a leader and innovator in the software development industry. Alan Zeichick, editorial director of SD Times magazine, said, “The software development industry has always been led by innovation, and that’s true even in today’s challenging economic climate. When choosing the 2009 SD Times 100 winners, we carefully considered each organization's products and services, reputation with enterprise development managers, and the new ideas and thought leadership that it has brought to the industry. Thanks to companies like Altova, the art of software development continues to advance at a rapid pace.”

And it was the Altova XMLSpy 2009 XML editor that was recognized for excellence with a 2009 Readers’ Choice Award from Visual Studio Magazine. The winners were chosen by Visual Studio Magazine’s readers and honor excellent software in 23 development categories. Altova XMLSpy was named in the category of ‘Web Design and Development Tools’.

Michael Desmond, Visual Studio Magazine editor-in-chief and editorial director of the developer media group at 1105 Media, said, "When it comes to judging the value and capability of developer tools, you won't find a savvier audience than Visual Studio Magazine readers. These are committed developers -- demanding professionals who work with code every day and have a deep appreciation for the tools they rely on.

"This isn't a popularity contest," Desmond continued. "A product that earns a VSM Readers' Choice Award has earned the respect and loyalty, over time, of VSM readers, some of the most demanding users on the planet. I commend all the Readers' Choice Award winners. Visual Studio Magazine readers have put your product on top.”

Check out what the industry is buzzing about and download a free 30-day trial of the Altova MissionKit that includes our full line of XML, database, and UML tools!

Altova's Commitment to Renewable Energy

2009-08-07T11:17:00.001-04:00

Since 2007 we have been doing our part to help lessen the effects that greenhouse gases and air pollution are having on the quality of the environment. We were recently recognized for our efforts by being named a member of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership, honoring organizations that have made a significant green power purchase, helping to reduce the risks associated with climate change by supporting technologies that are more sustainable for businesses and communities.

At Altova we purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) from Renewable Choice Energy to compensate for the carbon emissions produced in powering our US headquarters. By purchasing RECs, we ensure that the specific amount of electricity we consume is replaced on the national grid with clean, carbon-free electricity. Our purchase of 144,000 kWh prevents over 200,000 pounds of CO2 pollution and that has the same environmental impact as not burning 107,653 pounds of coal, or planting 2,646 fully-mature trees, or not driving a typical car 218,830 miles!

At the same time we have switched our European headquarters – Altova GmbH – over to using only renewable energy from wind, solar, and hydro power produced by Wienstrom through their Naturstrom product, the main energy supplier for the city of Vienna, Austria.

Our purchase of clean renewable energy not only helps to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, fight global warming, and reduce our environmental footprint, but also provides a healthier environment for our families, friends, employees, and customers.

We are honored to be recognized by the EPA for our efforts in helping to reduce the effects of pollution on our environment. It is our hope that by taking steps like these, along with other organizations, that the benefits of green power will bring about positive changes for our environment that we can all reap for decades to come.

XBRL Glossary

2009-08-06T16:19:00.000-04:00

The biggest hurdle for a lot of people (myself included) when they first start looking at XBRL is the vocabulary used in the specification. There is, of course, some overlap with terminology from the XML and business reporting worlds – handy for the handful of you with a background in both – but some of the terms are entirely new and sometimes even a little cryptic (if you don’t believe me, try looking up hypercube on Wolfram for a bit of fun).

Altova has published a comprehensive XBRL glossary (many thanks to Neal Hannon and Eric Cohen for their comments/suggestions) that we hope will clear some of the fog. So hopefully the next time you run headlong into a hypercube, you will feel safe knowing that

has, at least in the context of XBRL, nothing to do with it.

New XBRL Video

2009-07-23T14:04:00.000-04:00

We recently posted a new, five-minute XBRL Overview video on YouTube! Please check it out and let us know what you think!

DiffDog Reports for Service

2009-07-22T10:59:00.000-04:00

A recent message on Twitter asked whether DiffDog can create a differences report. The short answer is yes!

In addition to its renowned directory compare and merge, file compare and merge, database compare and merge, and XML diff merge functionality, Altova DiffDog can create differences reports for directory comparisons and for file comparisons. After you select the directories or files and the compare options you want to apply, you can create a report file by choosing Export differences from the DiffDog File menu.

This opens a Save File dialog that lets you choose to create the diff report in text format or as an XML file.

Text format reports follow the well-accepted Unix diff style. In the directory comparison example report below, the < character indicates a file that exists only on the left side, > indicates a file exists only on the right, and ! signifies file names that occur in both directories with unequal content.

Report files in XML format are human-readable with descriptive element names and record the the comparison mode and the paths of the directories compared:

You can also use the DiffDog directory report functionality to create diff report files for comparisons of Zip archives or OOXML documents.

Developers and other project stakeholders often want to keep a record of changes to source code files in a software project. DiffDog can create diff reports for all comparisons of text-based files, including source code files. DiffDog can even create detailed XML-aware reports for XML file comparisons.

The illustration below shows two versions of a Java source code file:

If you read our earlier series on Reverse Engineering an Existing App with Altova UModel, you may recognize this code. Lines 8 and 9 on the left introduce a new class property called fee that is set to an initial value of 2.

Here is the file compare report for the differences shown above in text format:

And the XML version of the report for the same portion of the files:

You can even execute DiffDog from a command line to create differences reports automatically. Here is an example of a short batch file that compares the same two directories from our GUI example and writes the output in XML in a file named diff_1.xml:

The DiffDog Help system includes extensive documentation on all the command line options, including specific instructions on how to integrate DiffDog with 19 popular source control systems.

If DiffDog report files get your tail wagging, don’t just Twitter about it! Click here to download a free 30-day trial of Altova DiffDog.

Adding z-segments to HL7 Mapping Components

2009-07-20T11:20:00.000-04:00

When mapping HL7 EDI components, it is often necessary to add locally-defined information, or z-segments, to accommodate additional fields not included in the standard. Following is a simple walkthrough that will demonstrate how to add z-segments to the HL7 configuration files that are available as a free download with MapForce.

In the example below we will be adding a ZLR segment to an HL7 2.3 Observation Results Unsolicited (ORU) message. The ZLR segment is commonly used for adding additional information for legacy laboratory-based reporting.

ZLR attributes are provided below:

SEQ	LENGTH	OPT	DATA TYPE	ELEMENT NAME
1	106	true	XAD	Ordering Provider’s Address
2	90	true	XON	Ordering Facility Name
3	106	true	XAD	Ordering Facility Address
4	40	true	XTN	Ordering Facility Phone
5	20	true	SN	Patient’s Age
6	40	true	XPN	Next of Kin/Associated Party Name
7	40	true	CE	Next of Kin/Associated Party Relationship
8	106	true	XAD	Next of Kin/Associated Party Address
9	40	true	XTN	Next of Kin/Associated Party Phone

The ZLR segment must follow each OBR (Observation Request) segment, and there can only be one ZLR per OBR.

1. Go to C:\Program Files\Altova\MapForce2009\MapForceEDI\HL7.v230 to access the MapForce configuration files for HL7 version 2.3.

2. First, locate the message configuration file in question, ORU_R01, and open it in XMLSpy - or any text editor.[i] Add a ZLR just below OBR.

3. Save this file as ORU_R01_ZLR (or any unique name you choose).

4. Now open the EDI collection file and add the new message to the list.[i]

5. Next, simply open the HL7 SEGMENT file to add the segment details to the GENERATE DATA section as provided above.[i]

6. Finally, scroll down to the GENERATE SEGMENTS section and add the following:

7. Now, let's access our newly customized HL7 EDI mapping component in MapForce. Open MapForce and choose Insert > EDI. In the Browse EDI collections dialog, select HL7.v230 and scroll down to select ORU_R01_ZLR.

Press OK to insert.

8. Your new mapping component will appear in the MapForce design pane with the new ZLR segment included.

Now you can complete your data integration design by inserting another source or target data structure(s) and dragging lines to connect nodes. MapForce supports mapping to/from XML, databases, flat files, EDI, XBRL, and Web services.

[i] If you are working in XP, you will have to unclick "read-only" in the Properties dialog. Vista users will need to copy the file to another location before editing - you can then copy the file back to the appropriate HL7 collection directory.

For more information about mapping HL7 and other EDI formats, please see the MapForce feature pages - or download a 30-day free trial of MapForce today!

XBRL Training Course Updated

2009-07-15T14:35:00.001-04:00

We have recently updated Altova’s MissionKit XBRL online training course, which debuted in May, to make the XBRL filing process as accessible to accountants and financial professionals as it is to more technical users.

The new course includes easily identifiable “Accountant’s Notes” to make key XBRL concepts more transferable for those with an accounting background. An updated glossary also includes more accounting-friendly definitions of XBRL concepts to help you ease into the XBRL filing process. Access Altova’s MissionKit XBRL course now. (Yes, it's free!)

XBRL… so much more than compliance

2009-07-13T17:02:00.000-04:00

Having recently returned from a short visit to the 19^th XBRL International Conference in Paris, I can't help but think that many organizations are simply missing the point - and that perhaps the SEC mandate is partly to blame for this. One would think (well, I thought, anyway) that in the year following the issuance of XBRL reporting requirements by the world's largest economy, that this conference would be overflowing with company representatives eager to learn more about how, and best of all, why they should mark up their financial data in XBRL. But alas, this was not the case.

I can only guess that the meager attendee numbers - especially from the United States - have to do with the fact that organizations are still viewing XBRL as singularly a compliance issue and are continuing to outsource the "tagging" of their financial statements to financial printers or other EDGAR filing entities.

So, is XBRL a compliance issue? Well, of course it is, but it is much more than that. I can tell you this for certain because I work for Altova and we simply do not focus on compliance software. We build tools that help businesses to maximize the efficiency of their internal processes with an eye toward reducing the overall time and cost of the data management workflow. And this is well within the realm of possibility for any company using XBRL - but it means taking a proactive look at the way you manage your data.

"Tagging" implies that financial statements are drawn up in the traditional manner in a spreadsheet or accounting program and then retroactively and meticulously marked up with XBRL tags to make them compliant. Ugh… no wonder compliance has such an ugly ring to it! Haven't we all got enough work to do? And wait, isn't this just adding one manual task on top of another - doubling the chances of human error?

I'm not sure exactly when this word "tagging" became so popular for describing XBRL implementation, but all it has done is succeeded in oversimplifying something that was not very complicated in the first place (admittedly, it was probably coined by someone in the marketing tribe - of which I'm a member). Anyway, let's put this idea of tagging aside and see if we can come up with something a little more dangerous.

Let's say that all of your company financial data resides in some sort of backend repository, a database, accounting/ERP system, XML, or even some combination of these. What if you could simply map your data to XBRL in-house instead of having external consultants comb through reports and tag each line item? What if you could even reuse this mapping the next time you had to produce a similar financial report? And what if you could even have your IT department automate your XBRL filing processes?

XBRL Mapping

Altova MapForce is an enterprise-level data integration tool that lets you do just this. It is used at a high level by developers and application architects, but its easy-to-use graphical interface makes MapForce accessible to anyone with an understanding of the data that needs to be mapped. Let's look at a partial example to illustrate how easy this can be:

The first step is to load insert the source data component - in this case a database - into the MapForce design pane.

Note that the mapping component is a representation of the tables and columns in the database, the underlying data can, therefore, change at any time and the mapping itself will not be affected. The same is true for any mapping structure that you use in MapForce - XML, databases, flat files, EDI, Excel, XBRL, or Web services.

Next, we'll add our target mapping component, in this case a basic XBRL extension taxonomy built on top of US GAAP - Commercial and Industrial.

Now, we can simply begin the mapping by connecting lines to associate line items. There will be some cases when we need to apply data processing rules to slightly modify the format, filter data, or even add constants for XBRL reporting requirements that do not exist in the database. All of this is very easily done by dragging and dropping intermediary functions from the MapForce library in the sidebar.

Let's say, for example, that your database automatically requires a datetime format to record any accounting period. Since XBRL reporting only requires a date, we need to strip the time out in our mapping. So, simply drag a date-from-datetime function from the library and connect the lines between your database and XBRL component.

Of course, you'll probably also need to add a variety of other math, logical, or other types of functions to your data, and you will find a long list of these already available in the function library.

You can also easily add custom functions, if needed, using a graphical function builder.

In the end, your mapping will look something like this:

Now just hit the Output tab to see what the XBRL looks like. And there you go… a reusable, extensible data mapping that you can run any time you need to submit XBRL data. You can even integrate the mapping interface into another application, or ask IT to generate code that will automate the XBRL file generation each time a report is due.

For a more detailed overview of how XBRL mapping works in MapForce, check our Altova's XBRL tutorial.

So, here we have a very quick example of generating XBRL directly from an accounting system - no need for re-keying information, no need to create a set of traditional financial statements, and certainly no need for "tagging". And best of all, all of this can easily be done in-house and at a fraction of the cost.

Now don't get me wrong, outsourcing could very well have a place in your company's XBRL implementation. Building an XBRL extension taxonomy, for example, could very well be something that you feel more comfortable leaving to those who have years of experience working with XBRL syntax and other complexities. But putting your organization's financial data into XBRL… shouldn't that be left to those who know the data best?

For more information on the Altova MissionKit tools for XBRL - which includes support for XBRL mapping and automation, XBRL validation and taxonomy creation, and XBRL rendering - please visit http://www.altova.com/solutions/xbrl-tools.html

…or download the Altova MissionKit today!

Altova Tools for IT Professionals – Tell Us Your Story

2009-07-02T15:03:00.000-04:00

XMLSpy and the other tools in the Altova MissionKit are well-known in the development community as the go-to toolset for XML, data integration, UML, and database development projects. But Altova tools are also used by IT professionals to efficiently complete a variety of enterprise support tasks:

XMLSpy is an advanced tool that makes XML documents easy to navigate and edit. Do you use XMLSpy to edit or validate any of the wide variety of XML configuration and data files increasingly essential to today’s IT environments?

MapForce integrates and maps data between any combination of XML, databases, flat files, EDI, Excel 2007, XBRL, and/or Web Services. Have you ever used MapForce to merge an end-user’s Excel data into a database?

DatabaseSpy is the unique multi-database query, design, content editor, and comparison tool selected as Roundup Champion by Redmond Magazine. Have you used DatabaseSpy to browse an unfamiliar database or build a SQL query to get a quick answer?

And who could forget DiffDog? At every trade show visitors come to the Altova booth to rave about Altova’s file, folder, and database diff/merge tool. Do you depend on DiffDog to quickly identify changes between the live instance of a mission-critical file or folder and a backup copy?

If you’re an IT professional who uses Altova tools to support the technical infrastructure of your enterprise, we’d like to hear your story. Click here to visit the Altova Case Studies page and check out the right margin to contact us.

Of course you can comment right here too!

New Data Mapping Demo Video Released

2009-06-24T11:57:00.001-04:00

We've recently updated our MapForce demo video to highlight the new functionality added in MapForce 2009, including XBRL mapping and HL7 mapping.

Watch the short demo to see MapForce in action and learn about this new functionality. And if you'd like more detailed tutorials, check out Altova's MapForce training course, which is free and available on demand.

Part 5 – Analyzing a Legacy Application with Altova UModel

2009-06-15T11:00:00.002-04:00

Previously in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this series we applied Altova UModel reverse-engineering functionality to create UML diagrams for an ATM banking simulation application. After analyzing the existing architecture, we planned and implemented a new feature, the withdrawal fee.

Even in a reduced size, our updated sequence diagram for the withdrawal transaction clearly represents in graphical form the nested logic structure of the source code.

This morning we happened to run into the ATM product manager at the coffee machine. “You’ve been working on that ATM code for over a month now,” he said. “When am I going to see what you’ve accomplished?”

We can take advantage of the UModel Generate Documentation feature to satisfy this request. UModel will automatically create customized documentation for our project in HTML, Microsoft Word, or RTF formats. The Include tab in the Generate Documentation dialog box lets us choose which diagram types to include, and to specify the level of detail for our report by allowing us to expand each diagram element type.

For an overview report, we can select all diagram types. We’ll also select class from the Elements list to show further information about the classes in our application. UModel helpfully asks if we want to add elements derived from class as well.

After we have selected or adjusted other document parameters, including fonts and sizes, UModel generates the report in just a few seconds. At the top of the first page, the report begins with an index of diagrams and a separate index of elements. Each indexed item is hyperlinked to a bookmark in the document.

Regardless which format you choose, the resulting report is fully editable. For instance, we can add a footer that includes page numbers and a tag line recording the document creation date. We can grab the tag line UModel created to create our footer.

Our completed report contains all the UML diagrams that describe the legacy ATM application, with detailed class diagrams that show the class properties and operations. Additionally, the illustration of each class is accompanied by a hierarchy diagram to show the class relationships, and a list of all the class associations.

Later on as our project evolves further, we can easily generate an updated version of the report. We could even take advantage of the UModel command line functionality or the UModel API to automate creation of project documentation, or we could attach the .html version of the report to our developer team wiki.

But for now all we have to do is email the report to the ATM product manager.

Conclusion

We hope you’ve enjoyed following along with this exercise in Analyzing a Legacy Application with Altova UModel. Although we are ending the series here, in the real world there is much more work to do on our ATM application. For instance, the feature to permit users to accept the fee or cancel a withdrawal remains to be implemented. Or, we could update the legacy code with newer Java language constructs such as generics, annotations, and enumerations.

If you’re already experienced with UML we hope we’ve shown you a new trick or two. If you are a developer who’s never tried UML, we wanted to give you some of the flavor and benefits of visual software modeling. Either way, if you’re ready to go further on your own project, click here to download a fully-functional free trial of Altova UModel.

Java Utopia

2009-06-12T15:40:00.002-04:00

Java-powered robots, Java mobile phone apps, Java in the cloud, Java running Neil Young’s ’59 Lincoln, a new T-shirt, and photos with Duke! It can only mean the annual pilgrimage to the Moscone Center in San Francisco for JavaOne. XMLSpy and MapForce feature Java code generation and UModel can both generate and reverse engineer Java code. Of course you can use all the Java code you generate with Altova tools royalty free! Check out this YouTube video:

to see and hear a few highlights of JavaOne 2009 and Altova’s presence there.

You can also click here to see an interview with Altova's Technical Marketing Manager filmed at JavaOne by TechTarget.

Wrycan / NAVSEA Case Study

2009-06-03T12:00:00.001-04:00

Overview

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, is a division of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), the largest of the United States Navy’s five systems commands. They approached Wrycan, an Altova partner focused on content-centric XML expertise, for help converting some of their legacy format technical manuals to XML based on the Navy ETM XML DTD and recreating them as PDFs.

The shipyard had been given a mandate to start utilizing XML as their primary data and storage format and needed a low cost and reliable publishing solution that could be easily maintained by their in-house workforce.

Wrycan had some experience working with the Altova MissionKit for XML development, as well as a broad expertise in XML technologies including XML, XSL:FO, and DTD. They chose to use XMLSpy, StyleVision, and Authentic as the development tools for this implementation because of their intuitiveness, ease-of-use, and low price tag.

The Challenge

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard needed to convert about 10,000 pages of content from a legacy format into XML that was conformant to their DTD. This included an automated conversion, manual review and cleanup, and a command line tool to publish the XML back into its original PDF format.

As with any large publishing and conversion operation, the project required heavy QA review post-conversion, much of which could be done by non-technical shipyard employees if they had a mechanism to help them interpret and access the XML markup.

In addition, because of the relative complexity of the documentation format, which included complicated page layout details such as a variable number of columns per page and different margin widths, callouts interspersed with sections and enumerated lists, as well as many large schematic models, some of which were on foldout pages, the XSL:FO coding promised to present a formidable challenge.

The Solution

Wrycan performed the bulk of the content conversion in-house using custom scripts and some manual processes, along with some technical QA.

After the content was converted, Wrycan used StyleVision’s drag and drop design interface to create Authentic e-Forms for editing using the Navy ETM XML DTD as the structural component. Advanced stylesheet functions such as conditional templates and auto-calculations were inserted to facilitate QA and editing workflows.

After the content conversion, Wrycan implemented a command line processing tool that includes multiple steps such as:

Volume assembly from chunks of XML files For greater flexibility and usability, the Navy technical manuals were divided up into sections including Front Matter, Chapters, Back Matter, and image files. This enabled Wrycan to make certain parts of these files available for reuse. Components that appeared identically in more than one place within the manuals could be segmented so that changes made in one place would iterate throughout the documentation.
XML to XSL-FO conversion Wrycan used XMLSpy, Altova’s full-featured XML editor , to hand-code the advanced XSL:FO that was needed for the manuals. The complexity of the XML and PDF output can be seen in the following examples: Volume source, Front Matter source, Chapter source, and Final document (3.8 MB PDF).
Custom page formatting This project required various page sizes within one document, such as a portrait page followed by a foldout 11" x 17" landscape page. There are Naval documentation requirements specifying that different page formats have different printing requirements. For example, foldout pages are printed on one side only while other pages are double-sided.
Post processing steps There were also page numbering requirements, such as every chapter must start on an odd numbered page. If this causes a page to be blank, a message indicating that the page was intentionally left blank is placed on the page. These requirements are automatically satisfied by Wrycan's processing tool.
PDF creation Wrycan integrated RenderX's XEP software into the processing pipeline to convert the XSL:FO output, including all images and common content, into one PDF file.

The editing of the content is done with Authentic via Stylevision, which was recently upgraded to the most recent release for more advanced table support and authoring options.

Below is a sample screenshot of one of the Authentic e-Forms for WYSIWYG XML editing that was generated for NAVSEA based on the StyleVision stylesheet design.

The Results

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard now has an XML publishing solution with native XML editing capabilities. They can reproduce their technical manuals in PDF using XML as the content source. They are now ready to move onto the next step, which is implementing a full scale content management system with workflow and custom publishing capabilities.

Find out how Altova tools can help with your documentation and publishing challenges. Download a fully functional free trial of the Altova MissionKit today!

Internationalization with the Altova MissionKit

2009-06-01T15:20:00.000-04:00

The following post is written by Peter Reynolds, CEO and translation management consultant at TM-Global and Executive Director of Kilgray Translation Technologies. An Irish national based in Warsaw, he holds a BSc and an MBA degree from Open University and is a localization and translation industry veteran. Peter previously worked at Idiom Technologies Inc. — now SDL PLC. As director of the LSP Partner Program at Idiom, Peter was responsible for making its global LSP partners program a successful and innovative venture. Before Idiom, he worked on language technology development for several global localization companies: Lionbridge, Bowne Global Solutions and Berlitz GlobalNET. He managed the Dublin development team responsible for BerlitzIT, Elcano, Freeway 2.0 technology solutions, and internal project and vendor management tools. Peter has been actively involved in the development and promotion of standards (notably XLIFF) for more than ten years, mostly at OASIS. Until 2008 when XLIFF was published, he was secretary of the XLIFF Technical Committee at OASIS and chaired the Translation Web Services TC. He is currently involved in OASIS, TILP as well as being the Irish expert to ISO SC2 and SC4 and training auditors for the EN 15038 standard.

Introduction

Every developer wants his or her applications to be used and hopes they will be very popular. A web application developed in rural Maine USA could easily be used by someone living in the next township or in Malaysia, New Zealand, Germany or Poland. Even if the application is not translated (localized), there are some important differences between how data is represented from one locale to another. The W3C definition of internationalization is “the design and development of a product that is enabled for target audiences that vary in culture, region, or language”. This does not mean that the product has to be translated into the language of the target audience but that it is designed in such a way that the target audience can use the application and understands the way data is presented.

The reason for internationalization is to ensure the widest possible audience for your application and to make its translation easier and less costly.

This article will introduce you to internationalization and demonstrate how applications can be internationalized using the Altova MissionKit, an integrated suite of XML, database, and UML tools including XMLSpy, StyleVision, MapForce, and others. If you are using tools such as XMLSpy and StyleVision it is very likely that you are already creating internationalized XML applications. The strategy which I suggest is that you try and figure out what target audience your applications are intended for beforehand and implement internationalization accordingly.

In this article I will first discuss a strategy for internationalizing XML. I will then introduce the Internationalization Tag Set and examine issues relating to XML internationalization.

Strategy for Internationalizing XML

The first step in planning internationalization is to make an informed decision as to the level of internationalization you require. There may be people in your organization who can help you make this decision, and it would be particularly useful to obtain input from people who live in different countries. The three-level approach presented below should help you decide on the level of internationalization you are going to implement. However, you should remember that you may encounter some problems if your documents or applications are not internationalized, but you will certainly not have the same problems if to ensure that they are fully internationalized.

The three levels of internationalizations are:

Level 1 – Your applications are likely to have a relatively small audience, which could grow, but the applications are unlikely to be translated or used internationally. In that case you should just follow the suggestions in this article and ensure that you use the functionality in Altova MissionKit to support internationalization.
Level 2 – Your applications will have a wide audience and could be translated and used internationally. As well as using the Altova MissionKit functionality you should also use the Internationalization Tag Set. This is a schema released by the W3C for the purpose of internationalization.
Level 3 – Your applications are most likely to be used internationally and translated into a number of different languages. You should consider how to improve the localization process by separating content from code and ensuring the translators can see the document or application as the end user would see it. This is beyond the scope of this article but you will find some relevant information on the subject in the references below.

The software tools in the Altova MissionKit have a lot of functionality which supports internationalization. If you are using these tools you have a very strong basis for creating internationalized XML documents. Unicode is the default encoding for applications created in the XMLSpy XML editor, and I would strongly recommend using this character set.

Internationalization Tag Set

The Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) is recommended by W3C and designed to create XML which is internationalized and can easily be localized. If you are working with XML documents which might be localized, I would recommend using ITS. With this technology you are able to specify which text requires translation, provide instructions for translators and specify the direction of the text.

The seven data categories included in the ITS are:

Translate: Defines which parts of a document are translatable.
Localization Note: Provides notes and helpful information for translators.
Terminology: Identifies terms in the documents.
Directionality: Indicates the direction which the document or part of the document is written and should be read.
Ruby: Indicates which parts of the document should be displayed as ruby text. (Ruby is a short run of text alongside a base text, typically used in South-East Asian language documents to indicate pronunciation or to provide a brief annotation).
Language Information: Identifies language used for the different parts of the document.
Elements Within Text: Indicates how elements should be treated with regard to linguistic segmentation.

W3C has published a best practices guide for internationalizing XML documents which details how to use ITS. It can be found on their web site at: http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-xml-i18n-bp-20070427/

The specification can be found in this section: http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/REC-its-20070403/

I would strongly recommend you read these documents before proceeding with internationalization.

Internationalization Issues

The following table describes some of the internationalization issues you may come across. This will be followed by a more detailed explanation of these issues and suggestions for how they can be resolved using the Altova MissionKit.

ISSUE	DESCRIPTION
Encoding	Characters need to be supported by the code page being used. Unicode is an encoding which supports characters from all common language.
Date & Time	How dates and time are represented varies between countries.
Numbers	How decimal points and thousands are represented varies between different countries.
Currency	As well as difference with how the number is represented in some countries the currency symbol or word is written after the number while in most it is written before.
Salutation & Names	There are many differences in salutations between countries, and in some countries, such as Hungary, a person’s name is written with the family name first. No middle name is used in Japanese.
Address	There are a number of differences relating to address, such as the house number appearing before the street name in some countries and after in others. Also, some countries use a ZIP code vs. a postal code.
RTL	Text is many languages is read from left to right, but in some, such as Hebrew and Arabic, the text is read from right to left (bi-directional).
Sorting & Collation	There are differences in how alphabets are sorted. Some Scandinavian languages have an ‘aa’ character which is usually, but not always, sorted at the end of the alphabet.
Exclamation & Question Marks	In English questions and exclamation marks are always at the end of the sentence, while in Spanish there is a question mark at the beginning and end of a sentence.

Encoding

All electronic text uses a character coding system where the character is represented by a number. Before the widespread use of Unicode this was one of the most significant internationalization issues. When an application tries to show a character that is not represented in a code page it will appear as garbage text. There were not only problems between different languages but also with characters appearing incorrectly on computers running different operating system.

Unicode has solved most of these problems by creating a single code page regardless of platform, program or language.

XML uses Unicode as its default code page. Any XML documents you create in XMLSpy will by default have the declaration encoding="UTF-8” If the file has not been created in XMLSpy, you need to ensure that the file is saved as UTF-8.

UTF is an acronym for Unicode transformation format, and UTF-8 is a flavor of Unicode that uses 1, 2 or 4 bytes to store characters. It is the most commonly used flavor and is very widely used for XML and the Web. The other versions of Unicode which XMLSpy supports are:

UTF- 7. This is 7 bit version of Unicode. It should only be used in the context of 7 bit transports, such as email.
ISO 1064 UCS – 2 and UTF – 16. UCS is an acronym for Universal Character Set and UCS-2 uses two bytes for each character. UTF-16 is an extension of UCS-2 which uses 2 or 4 bytes to represent a character. UTF-16 is often used by Windows and Java. You should use UTF – 16 rather than UCS – 2 for new documents.
ISO 1064 UCS- 4. Uses 4 bytes for each character and is the same as UTF-32. UTF-32 is often used by Unix.

There may be reasons for using default encoding other than UTF-8. To set the default encoding in XMLSpy go to Tools | Options and select the encoding tab.

If you want to change the encoding for an individual XML document, open the document in XMLSpy and select File| Encoding.

Language

The XML namespace defines xml:lang to identify the language of an XML document. The value for xml:lang must be an ISO language code (ISO 639- 2). If you have an XML document which is written in one language but has a segment in another language you can use xml:lang at the root element to identify the main language of the document and use it at the element where the text in another language is used to identify that language.

Dates

In different countries dates and time are represented in very different ways. Let’s take as an example the date 10/09/08:

In most European countries this means the 10th of September 2008.
In the United States this means the 9th of October 2008.
In Japan this means 8th of October 2009.

The way to deal with this is to use ISO 8601 for specifying date and time within your application. This is a standard way for representing date and time in the format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS[±HH:MM] where

YYYY- represents year
MM- represents month
DD - represents day
T signifies that Time follows this
HH- represents hours
MM- represents minutes
SS- represents seconds.

You can then use StyleVision to create a style sheet which formats the date in a way suitable to your target audience. StyleVision is a graphical stylesheet design tool that allows drag-and-drop design of XSLT and XSL:FO stylesheets to render XML data in HTML, Microsoft Word, PDF, and other formats.

To use the date formatting functionality within StyleVision:

Select the contents placeholder or input field of the node.
In the Properties sidebar, select the content item, and then the Content group of properties.
Click the Edit button of the Input Formatting property.
The Input Formatting dialog will appear:

Select the Formated radio button. This will allow you to choose which data type you would like to use, and if you have selected a date, you can then choose the format for the date.

You can also select other date and time formats here.

I would strongly recommend using the date picker. In order to insert the date picker, the cursor must be between an xs:date or xs:dateTime node. You then go to Insert on the main menu and Select Insert Date Picker. If the cursor is not between xs:date or xs:dateTime node the Insert Date Picker menu item will be greyed out.

Numbers

Decimals can be preceded by either a point or a comma depending on the locale. There are also differences for how thousands are represented.

StyleVision provides functionality where you can format a number for your intended audience:

Select the contents placeholder or input field of the node.
In the Properties sidebar, select the content item, and then the Content group of properties.
Click the Edit button of the Input Formatting property.
The Input Formatting dialog will appear

Select the Formatted radio button. This will allow you to choose the number format.

Money

The issues involving numbers also apply to money, but in addition to this there are different conventions for representing the currency symbol. Some currencies share the same name and symbol, such as the dollar, but the Australian, Canadian and Singaporean dollar are not the same currency, and this should be identifiable. You can deal with the numbers as shown above, but the issue of whether the currency name or symbol should go before or after the number is likely to be dealt with as part of the translation process.

Address

One of the problems faced by customers buying from a foreign company while making an online purchase is that the system does not allow them to enter their address properly. There are many differences, such as the house number being before or after the street name, the order the components of the address are placed and the format of the zip/postal code. CEN (The European Standards Institution) has developed a standard which lists the components of an address, and the UPU (Universal Postal Union) is further developing this to produce a comprehensive list of name and address elements.

I would recommend that you ensure that you are getting the data you need for your main target markets but make sure that someone from another country can also enter their address. A drop-down list of countries could be used to ensure that there is error checking when you know certain components of an address are required but does not produce the error for other countries where you do not know the address structure.

Credit Cards

Some US-based web sites will not accept credit cards from outside the US. As a security check they insist on a valid US address. If you want to accept credit card payments and do business with people outside your country, you should check that foreign credit cards will be accepted.

RTL (bidi)

In many languages the text is being read from left to right but this is by no means universal. Arabic and Hebrew are written from right to left. In XML documents this causes further confusion as the XML elements are read from left to right but any text should be read from right to left.

The ITS namespace has a direction attribute which can be used to identify which direction should be read. <its:span dir="rtl">متعة الأسماك!</its:span>

Sorting

There are differences in how alphabets are sorted. Some Scandinavian languages have an ‘aa’ character which is usually, but not always, sorted at the end of the alphabet. If you have set the language in your XML document and use xsl:sort for your XSL document then the sorting should work according to the sorting rules for that language. However, you should check that your processor does this as that is not always the case.

The example files which come with StyleVision contain examples for sorting. Select StyleVision examples, then the tutorial folder, then sorting and open the file SortingOnTwoTextKeys.sps. To see how the sorting works go to the design view and right click on the member element. Then select the ‘sort by’ option on the context menu. Here you can control how the sorting works for this particular list.

Exclamation and Question Marks

In English, questions and exclamation marks are always at the end of the sentence, while in Spanish this punctuation occurs at the beginning and end of a sentence. This is something which will usually be corrected during the translation process.

Conclusions

Internationalization is an important step in ensuring the widest target audience for your application, and that translation is as cost effect and easy as possible. Your approach to this should be very pragmatic. Time spent up-front sorting out internationalization will result in huge benefits throughout the process and significantly increase marketing potential for your product. The purpose of this article was to present an overview and introduce you to internationalization. There is a lot more useful information available in the references listed below. Tools such as XMLSpy and StyleVision, both of which are included in the Altova MissionKit software suite, go a long way in making the internationalization process for XML documents much easier by providing a lot of in-built support for internationalization. The Internationalization Tag Set from W3C is a very significant innovation which is a great addition to the toolkit available to a developer who wants to build internationalized XML applications. XML is a technology which has had internationalization and translation in mind since its inception. The use of Unicode as the default encoding for XML is very significant and greatly facilitates dealing with any internationalization problems you may come across. The functionality available within the Altova MissionKit, ITS and Unicode are the basis for creating good internationalized applications.

Reference

The following is a list of useful web sites and other resources providing further information on internationalization:

Leading XML tools provider - Altova http://www.altova.com/ . They also offer a free trial of the MissionKit: http://www.altova.com/download.

Unicode web site http://www.unicode.org/

Internationalization Tag Set http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/REC-its-20070403/

W3C Best Practices for internationalization http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-xml-i18n-bp-20070427/

Open Tag (Yves Savourel’s) http://www.opentag.com/

Yves Savourel, ‘XML Internationalization and Localization’, a book which is an excellent source of information. More information can be found at: http://www.opentag.com/xmli18nbook.htm

The TM-Global research and resource web site publishes a lot of useful articles, opinions and surveys on translation, localization and industry standards http://www.tm-global.com/

Web sites of internationalization guru Tex Texin http://www.xencraft.com/ and http://www.i18nguy.com/

Localization Flow – web site of internationalization experts http://www.locflowtech.com/

Value for money XML-based TEnTs and translation tools are available from companies such as Kilgray Translation Technologies http://www.kilgray.com/