Altova (http://www.altova.com), creator of XMLSpy, the industry leading XML editor, today announced the availability of Altova Software Version 2012, which delivers new features across the product line and the Altova MissionKit, its integrated suite of XML, database, and UML tools. Version 2012 adds support for HTML5 and CSS3 in XMLSpy and StyleVision, enhanced ETL capabilities in MapForce, new options for advanced styling in StyleVision, and support for Model Driven Architecture (MDA) in UModel, plus new, Java-friendly options in multiple MissionKit tools.
“The numerous improvements for creating sophisticated, highly-interoperable Web sites and apps in HTML5 are driving its rapid adoption. Now more than ever, developers need an intelligent editor for writing HTML code alongside CSS3 and other supporting technologies,” said Alexander Falk, President and CEO for Altova. “We’ve extended the XMLSpy HTML editor with support for this latest version of the standard to allow developers to work with HTML5 using all the advanced code-editing features they’ve come to rely on in XMLSpy. Altova Software Version 2012 also delivers several new features developed in response to feedback from our customers, including increased Java-friendly options across the product line, and support for streaming reading of files for ETL applications created in MapForce. We’re particularly excited about the addition of Model Driven Architecture support in UModel, which makes this advanced yet affordable UML modeling tool even more attractive to software architects.”
Some of the new features available in the Altova MissionKit 2012 include:
· HTML5 and CSS3 support. Use of HTML5 is increasing rapidly as developers utilize its improved functionality in their Web pages and apps. XMLSpy 2012 includes intelligent support for editing HTML5, offering context sensitive entry helpers, code completion, source folding and bookmarking, and an integrated Browser View for testing HTML pages in multiple browsers. Intelligent CSS3 editing is also now available for coding advanced CSS stylesheets.
For designers who wish to generate HTML from XML, XBRL, and database sources using a graphical, drag and drop design paradigm, Version 2012 of StyleVision supports HTML5 in addition to HTML4. StyleVision 2012 also includes new features for choosing CSS files via XPath and other advanced styling options.
· Streaming reading of files for ETL. MapForce 2012 includes this crucial feature for ETL (Extract/Transform/Load) applications. When executing data mapping projects, the built-in MapForce engine can now read extremely large XML, CSV, and FLF files and create correspondingly large output streams. MapForce can even theoretically read an entire relational database in a single pass and generate an XML or other output file at once.
These new streaming input capabilities add to existing support for streaming output, allowing MapForce to be used for the most demanding ETL tasks.
· Support for MDA. UModel adds important support for Model Driven Architecture in Version 2012. In MDA, the UML model of a software project is considered to be platform independent and can be fully described without concern for the details of any specific programming language.
UModel 2012 allows users to transform models between C#, Visual Basic, Java, databases, and XSD. In fact, model transformation can even be applied to projects that are reverse engineered from existing source code. For instance, an existing Java application can be reverse-engineered to create a UModel project, that can then be transformed to generate C# classes. Many other possibilities are enabled by this advanced functionality.
· JDBC database driver support. Due to the aging ODBC drivers, JDBC is now becoming the preferred universal connection method for a number of major non-Microsoft databases including Oracle and IBM DB2. Connecting to a database via JDBC is an option in Version 2012 of all database-enabled MissionKit tools: XMLSpy, MapForce, StyleVision, UModel, DatabaseSpy DiffDog, and Authentic. ADO and ODBC continue to be supported.
· New, native Java API. MissionKit tools now include a totally revamped, native Java API in addition to the existing COM API. The Java API gives Java developers an easier way to automate MissionKit tools and integrate their functionality into custom applications.
· FTP and HTTP support for diff/merge. DiffDog is a powerful diff/merge tool for files, folders, and databases. Version 2012 lets users access files and folders on FTP and HTTP servers. For example, a local file or folder can be compared against the corresponding one on a remote server, or two files or folders that both reside remotely can be compared. Useful functionality includes detailed file-pair comparisons, folder synchronization, file extension filters, and more.
Above are just a few highlights of the new functionality released in the MissionKit 2012. View a complete list here: http://www.altova.com/whatsnew.html
To download a 30-day free trial of any Altova product, visit: http://www.altova.com/download-trial/
Availability and Pricing
Version 2012 of the Altova product line is available for purchase in the Altova Online Shop: https://shop.altova.com with prices starting at $59 (USD) per product. For optimum savings, customers can choose the Altova MissionKit, which includes up to eight Altova products for less than the price of two.* Altova recommends the purchase of its Support and Maintenance Package (SMP) with all software purchases. Learn more at: http://www.altova.com/support_package.html
