Altova Introduces Release 3 of its Industry-leading v2006 XML Tools Product Line; Altova XML Suite Version 2006 Release 3 Includes All New StyleVision 2006 Plus Key Feature Enhancements to XMLSpy 2006 and MapForce 2006.BEVERLY, Mass. -- Altova(R) (www.altova.com), creator of XMLSpy(R) and other leading XML XML in full Extensible Markup Language. Markup language developed to be a simplified and more structural version of SGML. It incorporates features of HTML (e.g., hypertext linking), but is designed to overcome some of HTML's limitations. , data management, UML (Unified Modeling Language) An object-oriented analysis and design language from the Object Management Group (OMG). Many design methodologies for describing object-oriented systems were developed in the late 1980s. , and Web services (1) Loosely, any online service delivered over the Web. Such usage appears in articles from non-technical sources, but not in IT-oriented publications, because definition #2 below describes the correct use of the term. tools, today announced general availability of version 2006 release 3 (v2006r3) of its XML tools product line, which includes the totally revised Altova StyleVision(R) 2006 visual stylesheet designer. In addition to numerous usability enhancements, StyleVision now includes cascading stylesheet (CSS (1) See Cascading Style Sheets. (2) (Content Scrambling System) The copy protection system applied to DVDs, which uses a 40-bit key to encrypt the movie. ) and JavaScript support. V2006r3 also delivers many valuable new features to its other top-selling XML products, including powerful new XML validation The XML Validation (eXtensible Markup Language) checks a document in XML language if it is well formed and it is adjusted to a defined structure. A well formed document follows the basic rules of XML established for the design of documents. and error tracking capabilities for XMLSpy 2006, the industry-standard XML development environment, and seamless integration An addition of a new application, routine or device that works smoothly with the existing system. It implies that the new feature or program can be installed and used without problems. Contrast with "transparent," which implies that there is no discernible change after installation. with Microsoft(R) Visual Studio(R) .NET and Eclipse for MapForce(R), its graphical data integration and Web services implementation tool. "The improvements in v2006r3 of the Altova XML product line are a real boon to our customers," said Tim Hale, Director of Marketing for Altova. "The new features, like CSS support in StyleVision, hyperlinked error messaging in XMLSpy, and Visual Studio and Eclipse integration for MapForce, increase XML development capabilities to the point that this release is a must for progressive developers." New in StyleVision 2006 Altova StyleVision (http://www.altova.com/products_xsl.html) features a unique visual design interface for creating stylesheets to transform XML and database data into multiple output formats, such as HTML pages, PDF (Portable Document Format) The de facto standard for document publishing from Adobe. On the Web, there are countless brochures, data sheets, white papers and technical manuals in the PDF format. reports, RTF (Rich Text Format) A document format from Microsoft for encoding text and graphics. It was adapted from IBM's DCA format and supports ANSI, IBM PC and Macintosh character sets. documents, and Altova Authentic(R) electronic forms. What's more, it can create all of these output types from a single design. StyleVision 2006 represents a significant upgrade from its previous 2005 version. The complete set of new features includes: --User Interface Enhancements - Offers numerous usability improvements including windows that can be customized, floated, and docked as required; support for working with multiple designs at one time; and a new Design Tree window for viewing and expanding all the specifics of a design in one place. Also includes a new Style Repository window that makes it easy to organize and apply styles including those from external CSS files, and a Local Properties window for viewing and editing the properties for each element and output format as a design is created. --CSS Support - Provides support for cascading stylesheets, enabling users to specify more precise visual styling rules to transform XML and database content into HTML pages. Users can import existing CSS files into the new Style Repository Entry Helper and apply the CSS styles easily using drag-and-drop functionality. --Multiple Source Stylesheet Design - Enables the design of stylesheets that use multiple sources, such as two or more XML files, an XML file and a database, etc. Allows users to combine data from multiple sources and output it simultaneously in HTML, RTF, and PDF formats. --JavaScript Support - Adds interactivity to HTML pages with a built-in JavaScript editor A JavaScript editor is computer software that allows the editing of program source code for the JavaScript language with features that make it easier to produce correctly functioning objects and functions. for composing JavaScript code that StyleVision can automatically insert into the corresponding XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) Software that converts an XML document into another format such as HTML, PDF or text. It may also be used to convert one XML document to another XML document with a different set of XML tags (different schema). 1.0 or 2.0 stylesheet. New in Authentic 2006 Altova Authentic 2006 is a free XML and database content editor that allows business users to directly access and edit XML documents and databases through a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Pronounced "wiz-ee-wig." It refers to displaying text and graphics on screen the same as they will print on paper or display on a Web page. interface. Available in Desktop and Browser editions, Authentic presents non-technical users with electronic forms that enable them to enter and view valid XML and/or database data without being exposed to the underlying technology. These Authentic forms are created by designers using Altova StyleVision 2006, and all of the usability enhancements to StyleVision, described above, will result in easier electronic forms design and richer Authentic forms for end users. New in Altova XMLSpy 2006 Altova XMLSpy (http://www.altova.com/products_ide.html) is the world's best-selling XML editor An XML editor is a markup language editor with added functionality to facilitate the editing of XML. This could be done in plain text in a text editor, with all the code visible. and integrated development environment See IDE. integrated development environment - interactive development environment (IDE) for modeling, editing, transforming, and debugging XML-related technologies. In addition to its advanced XML, XML Schema The definition of an XML document, which includes the XML tags and their interrelationships. Residing within the document itself, an XML schema may be used to verify the integrity of the content. , DTD (Document Type Definition) A language that describes the contents of an SGML document. The DTD is also used with XML, and the DTD definitions may be embedded within an XML document or in a separate file. , XSLT 1.0/2.0, XPath 1.0/2.0, XQuery, WSDL (Web Services Description Language) An XML-based language for defining Web services. Developed by Microsoft and IBM, WSDL describes the protocols and formats used by the service. , SOAP, and code generation capabilities, new features included within XMLSpy 2006 release 3 include: --New XSLT 2.0 and XQuery Profilers - Monitor XSLT 2.0 or XQuery code as it runs and records how long each process takes. Developers can promptly see which parts of the code take the longest time to process and optimize it more easily by focusing on problem areas. Helps create more efficient and robust code quickly. --Enhanced Error Handling - Presents detailed messages about each error in a new validation window, including hyperlinks to errors and relevant troubleshooting information. Makes project management and problem resolution considerably faster and more effective. --Tracepoints in XSLT debugger - Allows you to trace the output of any instruction node to verify that your XSLT code is producing the desired output. This feature helps developers perfect their XSLT code more efficiently than ever before. --Improved Restriction Handling for XML Schema Development - Simplifies the process of deriving by restriction to create new complex types. The XMLSpy graphical schema editor makes the process easier and prevents users from creating illegal or invalid restrictions. New in MapForce 2006 Altova MapForce 2006 (http://www.altova.com/products_mapforce.html) is a powerful data integration and Web services implementation tool that can convert between XML, database, flat file, and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) The electronic communication of business transactions, such as orders, confirmations and invoices, between organizations. Third parties provide EDI services that enable organizations with different equipment to connect. formats and to map data to WSDL operations. It converts data on-the-fly and also auto-generates data integration code in XSLT 1.0/2.0, XQuery, Java, C++, and C# for royalty-free use in custom data management and Web services applications. With release 3, MapForce 2006 has been enhanced even further with the following new features: --Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio Microsoft Visual Studio is Microsoft's flagship software development product for computer programmers. It centers on an integrated development environment which lets programmers create standalone applications, web sites, web applications, and web services that run on any platforms .NET and Eclipse - Integrates seamlessly with the popular multi-purpose IDEs, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and Eclipse, allowing developers to directly harness all the data mapping Data mapping is the process of creating data element mappings between two distinct data models. Data mapping is used as a first step for a wide variety of data integration tasks including:
--Enhanced EDI Transaction Set Editing - Allows users to easily modify and extend existing standard EDI transaction sets (i.e. EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange For Administration Commerce and Transport) An ISO standard for electronic data interchange (EDI) that was proposed to supersede both X12 and TRADACOMS as the worldwide standard. See EDI. and ANSI (American National Standards Institute, New York, www.ansi.org) A membership organization founded in 1918 that coordinates the development of U.S. voluntary national standards in both the private and public sectors. It is the U.S. member body to ISO and IEC. X12 messages) to meet business requirements. --More Versatile Visual Function Builder - Enables visual creation of data processing data processing or information processing, operations (e.g., handling, merging, sorting, and computing) performed upon data in accordance with strictly defined procedures, such as recording and summarizing the financial transactions of a functions that can operate on entire XML tree XML documents have a hierachial structure and can conceptually be interpreted as a tree structure, called an XML tree. This tree structure can not be divided into just root, nodes and leaves as normal tree structures. fragments, allowing for better modularization and scalability of mapping projects. --Options for Handling Empty Flat File Values - Provides ability for developers to choose whether empty fields in flat files are rendered as empty elements or not rendered at all in the data results of the mapping target. New in AltovaXML AltovaXML 2006 (http://www.altova.com/altovaxml.html) is an XML standards processor that includes the same engines that drive Altova's award-winning XMLSpy, MapForce, and StyleVision development tools. Developers can use the very engines that have helped make Altova software the industry's leading XML development toolset in their own applications royalty-free. AltovaXML 2006 includes the Altova XML validating parser A routine that analyzes a continuous flow of text-based input and breaks it into its constituent parts. See parse. (language) parser - An algorithm or program to determine the syntactic structure of a sentence or string of symbols in some language. , XSLT 1.0 engine, schema-aware XSLT 2.0 engine, and schema-aware XQuery 1.0 engine, as well as COM, Java, and .NET interfaces so that it can be used within a variety of different applications. V2006r3 brings significant performance and memory optimizations to the AltovaXML engines, including an average speed increase of 75% in XSLT 2.0 processing. This increase was determined in Altova's internal tests where a large number of XML files of various sizes and levels of complexity were processed. User results may vary depending on these and other factors. For additional information on what's new in the Altova product line, please visit: http://www.altova.com/whatsnew.html. Availability Altova XMLSpy 2006, MapForce 2006, and StyleVision 2006 are available individually or together as part of the Altova XML Suite 2006, which also includes SemanticWorks(TM) 2006, a visual RDF/OWL editor for the Semantic Web A collaboration of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and others to provide a standard for defining data on the Web. The Semantic Web uses XML tags that conform to Resource Description Framework and Web Ontology Language formats (see RDF and OWL). , and SchemaAgent(TM), a unique XML Schema Management tool. The products are all immediately available for purchase from the Altova Online Shop at: https://shop.altova.com. The products may be downloaded for 30-day free trials from http://www.altova.com/download.html. Altova Authentic 2006 Desktop and Browser editions and the AltovaXML standards processor are also immediately available. They are offered under free software licenses and can be downloaded and used for no charge from: http://www.altova.com/download.html. Pricing Existing Altova customers with a valid Support and Maintenance Package (SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessing) A multiprocessing architecture in which multiple CPUs, residing in one cabinet, share the same memory. SMP systems provide scalability. As business increases, additional CPUs can be added to absorb the increased transaction volume. ) are eligible to update their Altova XML Suite or individual covered products to v2006r3 free of charge. Current software license key codes for SMP covered products will unlock the new software versions. Customers who purchased StyleVision 2005r4 or the Altova XML Suite on or after October 3, 2005 are able to update to the new StyleVision 2006 at no additional cost. The StyleVision license key codes that customers received when they purchased StyleVision 2005r4 or the XML Suite 2006 will unlock StyleVision 2006. --Altova XMLSpy 2006 is available for purchase in two editions: Professional and Enterprise, with (USD USD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) prices for a single-user license starting at $499 and $999 respectively. --Altova MapForce 2006 is available in three editions: Standard, Professional, and Enterprise, with (USD) prices for a single-user license starting at $249, $499, and $999 respectively. --Altova StyleVision 2006 is available in two editions: Professional and Enterprise, with (USD) prices for a single-user license starting at $499 and $999 respectively. --Altova Authentic 2006 is available in two editions: Desktop and Browser, under a free software license. --AltovaXML is offered under a free software license with no key code required for activation. --Altova XML Suite 2006 is available in two Editions: Professional and Enterprise, with (USD) prices for a single-user license starting at $990 and $1,740 respectively. By purchasing an XML Suite, customers get the corresponding editions of XMLSpy 2006, MapForce 2006, and StyleVision 2006, plus SemanticWorks 2006 and SchemaAgent 2006 - all at a 50% savings off the price of the five products purchased individually. (a) --The Altova Support and Maintenance Package (SMP) can be purchased for 25% of the product price for a one-year period or 20% of the product price per year for a two-year period. Altova SMP provides free major software upgrades, maintenance releases, and priority technical support for the duration of the support period. SMP renewals are available beginning 90 days prior to expiration. About Altova Altova accelerates application development and data management projects with software and solutions that enhance productivity and maximize results. As an innovative, customer-focused company and the creator of XMLSpy and other leading XML, data management, UML, and Web services tools, Altova is the choice of over 2 million clients worldwide, including virtually every Fortune 500 company. Enabling customers ranging from vast development teams in the world's largest organizations to progressive one-person shops, Altova's line of software tools fulfills a broad spectrum of business needs. Altova is an active member of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C (World Wide Web Consortium, www.w3.org) An international industry consortium founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee to develop standards for the Web. It is hosted in the U.S. by the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT (www.csail.mit.edu/index.php). ) and Object Management Group (OMG (1) See Object Management Group. (2) "Oh my God!" See digispeak. OMG - Object Management Group ) and is committed to delivering standards-based platform-independent solutions that are powerful, affordable, and easy to use. Altova was founded in 1992 and has headquarters in Beverly, Massachusetts and Vienna, Austria. Visit Altova on the Web at www.altova.com. Altova, XMLSpy, MapForce, StyleVision, SemanticWorks, SchemaAgent, Authentic, and AltovaXML are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Altova GmbH in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft and Visual Studio are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of and reference to other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Note to Editors (a) The Altova XML Suite 50% savings is based on the price of purchasing all five products separately. The 50% price comparison and price calculation are edition specific and relate to the purchase of either Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition software and not a combination of individual Enterprise or Professional Edition products. Prices displayed on the Altova Online Shop pages already take this discount into account - it is not in addition to the quoted prices, but already reflected in the prices listed on the site. |
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