Altova (http://www.altova.com), creator of XMLSpy, the industry leading XML editor, today announced the availability of Version 2011 Release 2 (2011r2) of the Altova MissionKit, its integrated suite of XML, database, and UML tools. Release 2 includes updates to the entire MissionKit suite as well as Altova’s standalone products and expands upon the cutting-edge chart and report creation functionality introduced in Version 2011 of XMLSpy, StyleVision, DatabaseSpy, Authentic, and AltovaXML. Customers will find advanced features including several new chart types – stacked bar, area, stacked area, and candlestick – and customizable chart features including chart overlays, background image and color gradients, variable axis label positions, and more, providing even more options for analyzing and reporting database and XML data. Version 2011r2 also includes additional resources for working with XML Schemas in XMLSpy, functionality for direct file output (data streaming) for ETL projects in MapForce, support for comparing and merging Microsoft Word documents in DiffDog, and much more.  
 
“We’ve received very positive responses from our customers to the new chart and report creation functionality introduced in the Altova MissionKit 2011, and with this latest release, we’ve added more advanced chart types and report creation options to deliver a complete, flexible set of tools for analyzing database, XML, XBRL, and other types of data in innovative and eye-catching ways,” said Alexander Falk, President and CEO for Altova. “We’ve also added numerous customer-requested features across our tool suite, including data streaming in MapForce for advanced ETL projects; a powerful new way to compare and merge Word documents; customized XML Schema, XBRL, WSDL, UML, and data mapping documentation generation; and support for the latest BPMN specification, to name a few. These new enhancements to the Altova MissionKit give users the functionality they need to continually meet the industry’s ever-changing demands in an efficient and productive manner.”
 
Some of the new features available in the Altova MissionKit 2011 Release 2 include:
 
• XMLSpy 2011r2 – XMLSpy 2011r2 provides numerous important new features that are simply not available in other XML editors. It’s now possible to embed an external file – such as an image – as encoded text directly in an XML document, giving users the option to package all required data from various external files together in one document. Release 2 also adds to XMLSpy’s powerful XML Schema, WSDL, and XBRL documentation generation capabilities by enabling users to customize documentation templates using StyleVision, allowing anything from simply adding their company’s logo and branding to completely changing the way the documentation is presented. XMLSpy 2011r2 also ships with several new ready-made documentation templates that may be used as-is or modified further in StyleVision. New, advanced capabilities for creating charts to analyze XML data include support for area and candlestick charts, chart overlays, background images and color gradients, configurable axis label positions, and more. XML Schema developers will benefit from a new option for sorting schema elements by name or by kind, support for refactoring XML Schemas via the powerful Find in Schemas functionality, and intelligent support for changing element types and base types.
 
• MapForce 2011r2 – In Version 2011 Release 2, the MapForce data mapping tool  delivers on a multitude of customer-requested features. Support has been added for direct file output for data streaming. This ability to stream XML, CSV, and FLF file output gives ETL (extract, transform, and load) projects a huge performance boost. Also in response to frequent user requests, the if-else data processing component in MapForce has been redesigned to accommodate for any number of variables. This feature, which is equivalent to a switch statement in many programming languages, lets users easily control the flow of data in their mapping projects by matching a value to a selected criterion.
 
EDI mapping projects are even more flexible in MapForce 2011r2, with the ability to define a single mapping to accommodate multiple incoming/outgoing EDI messages, as well as support for the IATA PADIS EDI format. For database mapping projects, users now have the option to execute SQL commands before writing mapping results to database tables.
 
Documentation of mapping projects is also enhanced in MapForce 2011r2. Integration with StyleVision gives users the option of generating custom documentation reports for in-depth verification and analysis of mapping projects, and several new sample report templates are included.
 
• StyleVision 2011r2 – StyleVision delivers the new chart and report generation capabilities listed under XMLSpy above, including new chart types, overlay charts, and advanced appearance options, bringing even more power and flexibility to database, XML, and XBRL report generation in this unique tool. The latest release also introduces a frequently requested feature: users can now configure and include any barcode from the BarCode4J library in their reports and electronic forms. Another powerful new feature available in the visual stylesheet and report design tool allows users to generate ASPX (ASP.NET) Web applications based on XML or database source data. This enables users to easily deploy dynamic Web sites with design and functionality dictated in StyleVision templates. Several other enhancements were also added in v2011r2, including support for generating multiple output files from a single design template (such as a separate file for each record in a database), the ability to define reusable XPath expressions for use anywhere in stylesheet designs, support for PDF bookmark trees, and more.
 
• UModel 2011r2 – Several new productivity-enhancing features have been added to the UModel UML modeling tool in Version 2011 Release 2. UModel users can now generate code in C#, Java, or Visual Basic directly from a state machine diagram with little or no additional modeling infrastructure. This new code generation feature will help to accelerate the design-built-test cycle for UML modelers. Building upon its existing support for the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) 1.0, UModel 2011r2 now supports the BPMN 2.0 specification, including all new process types and elements. UModel also supports the BPMN model exchange with other BPMN tools through the XMI specification and provides a convenient migration path for users who must maintain existing diagrams that were created under the earlier version. In addition, like XMLSpy and MapForce, UModel now supports customizable project documentation templates that can be modified using StyleVision.
 
• DiffDog 2011r2 – The release of 2011r2 delivers a powerful new feature for comparing Microsoft Word documents using DiffDog, Altova’s diff/merge tool. Now the same user-friendly interface and diff/merge options that have made DiffDog so popular for comparing XML and source code files, folders and directories, and even databases are available for comparing and merging Word documents. Word documents are shown side-by-side in DiffDog with easy to understand difference indicators, and users can easily edit the files or merge changes in either direction. This new functionality will be a huge benefit to any Word user who needs to manage document changes and versions over time.
 
 
A complete list of all the new features added in the Altova MissionKit 2011 Release 2 is available at: http://www.altova.com/whatsnew.html.