Altova (http://www.altova.com) today announced the release of Version 2015 of its MissionKit desktop developer tools and server software products. This release offers exciting new features including support for XQuery Update Facility in XMLSpy, JSON data mapping and conversion in MapForce, enhanced support for XBRL Table Linkbase and XBRL Formula in multiple products, performance-enhancing options for workflow automation, and much more.

“This release encompasses new functionality to make working with XML and related standards easier. We’ve gone above simply supporting these powerful standards by offering innovative implementations and graphical development options that let developers harness the full power of each technology more readily,” said Alexander Falk president and CEO of Altova. “With enhancements including a powerful new XQuery Update Facility window, JSON data mapping, and a real-time XBRL Table layout preview, we’ve addressed customer requests and provided must-have new functionality for anyone working with these technologies.”

New features in MissionKit Developer Tools include:

  • Support for XQuery Update Facility in XMLSpy: XQuery Update Facility is an extension of XQuery that allows developers to make persistent changes in XML instances using update expressions. XMLSpy 2015 provides a new XQuery Update window that makes it easy to build and execute XQuery Update expressions quickly and easily with syntax coloring, code completion and implementation hints, helpful error message reporting, and more. The XQuery Update window lets developers preview the results of their updates, which they can then apply to their file(s) with one click. In this way, XMLSpy provides an intelligent mechanism for implementing XQuery Update via a familiar find-and-replace paradigm.
  • JSON data mapping and conversion in MapForce: MapForce 2015 now supports JSON as the source or target for any data mapping project, allowing customers to define graphical data mapping projects for integrating JSON with any combination of XML, database, EDI, XBRL, flat file, Excel, and/or Web services data. JSON is an increasingly popular data format for data exchange, and this is an often-requested feature that gives MapForce users even more flexibility and power for data transformation and integration.
  • XBRL Table Layout Preview in XMLSpy: The graphical XBRL Table Linkbase editor in XMLSpy now includes a real-time preview of the XBRL table layout, allowing taxonomy authors to see the resulting table as it is built and understand the result of every edit. This simplifies the process of defining XBRL Tables significantly, further cementing XMLSpy’s status as XBRL Taxonomy Editor of choice.
  • Point-and-click XBRL Formula editor in XMLSpy:

The XBRL Table layout preview described above is also utilized in the XMLSpy XBRL Formula linkbase editor to provide a point-and-click approach to building XBRL Formulas. Developers can define fact variables for formulas simply by clicking the required data cell in the XBRL Table layout preview. This new functionality makes it significantly less complicated to develop XBRL Formulas – which are otherwise very tedious to build – making it easier for organizations to benefit from the advantages of XBRL Formula for validating business rules and calculating new XBRL facts based on reported XBRL data.

  • XBRL Table Linkbase mapping in MapForce: MapForce 2015 now includes the ability to map XBRL Table Linkbase data when it exists in an XBRL Taxonomy. This adds to robust support for mapping XBRL data to or from relational databases and other data sources and makes  mapping of common financial statement line items much easier.

New features in Altova Server Software Products include:

  • XQuery Update Facility Support in RaptorXML Server: Similar to XMLSpy, RaptorXML now supports execution of XQuery Update Facility. RaptorXML also includes enhanced support for XSLT 3.0, and significantly optimized support for EBA 2.1 (COREP/FINREP) taxonomies: COREP/FINREP taxonomies is now up to 100 times faster* for large files, i.e., those bigger than 10 MB.
  • FlowForce Server boasts a series of new administration features that will help administrators configure new installations and manage existing ones. Some of these new features include: Ability to move configuration objects from one FlowForce Server to another, ability to abort job executions, Active Directory integration and many more.
  • API for control of MapForce Server and StyleVision Server: MapForce Server and StyleVision Server now support an API that allows native execution by programs written in C# and VB.NET in Windows, from other Windows apps via a COM interface, and from Java programs in windows, Linux, and MacOS. This new API allows developers to incorporate the functionality of MapForce Server and StyleVision Server as a feature of their own applications.

These and many more features are available in the 2015 Version of MissionKit desktop developer tools and Server software. For a complete list of new features, supported standards, and trial downloads please visit one of the links above.