Altova Announces Version 2008 Release 2 of its Software Product Line

Very Large File Support. XMLSpy v2008r2 containsa number of advanced optimizations for very large file support, resulting in areduction of memory-consumption by up to 75-80 percent compared to the previousversion when opening and validating XML documents in Text View. XMLSpy userscan now open and work with files that are about four to five times larger thanthose supported in the past, providing a huge benefit for developers workingwith large amounts of data in the context of database applications, financialservices, data gathering, and enterprise data integration. In this latestrelease, XMLSpy v2008r2 also provides multiple features for optimizing XSLTdevelopment, including new entry helper windows and support for Java, C#,JavaScript, and VBScript in the XSLT 1.0/2.0 and XQuery engines. This enhancedfunctionality equips XMLSpy and AltovaXML users with the first universal XSLTengines to support all these programming dialects. XMLSpy s support forseamless integration with and code generation for Visual Studio has beenextended in v2008r2 to include support for Visual Studio 2008. A complete listof new features is available on the Altova Web site.

Extended OOXML Support. With OOXML functionalityalready available in XMLSpy, Altova now expands that support across itsMapForce, StyleVision, and DiffDog products.

MapForce v2008r2 supports the OOXML data formatin Microsoft Excel 2007. Users can now map Excel 2007 data to and from XML,databases, text, EDI, and Web services, and then convert data instantly orautogenerate an application for recurrent transformations. As Microsoftcustomers continue to upgrade to the newest version of the Office suite,support for Excel 2007 will become an indispensable feature for sophisticateddata integration projects and applications.

In StyleVision v2008r2, new OOXML support allowsdesigners and developers to create stylesheets to publish XML and database datain Word 2007. StyleVision s drag-and-drop stylesheet design interfacesimultaneously generates output in HTML, PDF, RTF, Word 2007, and Authentice-Forms, plus the corresponding XSLT stylesheets. Support for Word 2007 (OOXML)in StyleVision allows users to design stylesheets for an even larger network ofusers, and to prepare their designs for the growing number of users convertingto OOXML now and in the future. In addition, Altova has reduced the price ofStyleVision considerably to further ease the transition for developers workingwith the new OOXML formats.

For DiffDog v2008r2 users, detailed differencesin OOXML file pairs and other ZIP archive pairs are now displayed. Users canperform extensive comparisons of OOXML files and ZIP archives, identifydifferences, and merge changes with accuracy and efficiency.

Expanded Modeling Capabilities. UModel v2008r2now supports the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), allowing users tocreate BPMN diagrams to illustrate a business process prior to development.UModel s support for BPMN will aid users in developing, documenting, andimplementing standards in large organizations or complex industries with manyinteracting business entities. UModel v2008r2 also includes updated codegeneration and reverse engineering support for Java 6.0, C# 3.0, and VisualBasic 9.0, including accurate parsing of new language constructs introduced inC# 3.0 and VB 9.0 that directly support XML. This added functionality makesUModel the first UML tool to support C# 3.0 and VB 9.0.

Access to Global Resources. Direct access toglobal resources is now available within XMLSpy, MapForce, StyleVision, andDatabaseSpy, providing increased integration between these tools. This newfunctionality will be especially useful for customers with multiple Altovaproducts, such as those using the Altova MissionKit product bundle. Globalresources support allows users to define, share, and access file, folder, anddatabase resources across multiple projects and multiple software tools. Thiswill allow MissionKit users to, for example, access and work with the output ofa MapForce data mapping project as it is produced on-the-fly in XMLSpyand/or StyleVision. Countless other scenarios of tight integration between XMLSpy,MapForce, StyleVision, and DatabaseSpy are possible. Users will also be able todefine a target deployment environment on-the-fly within XMLSpy, MapForce,StyleVision, and DatabaseSpy projects, specifying ancillary files, directories,data sources, databases, etc. This means a project can be thoroughly tested inmultiple environments without having to be redesigned before it goes live.Support for global resources only adds to the numerous otherproductivity-enhancing features of the Altova MissionKit, which bundles up toeight Altova XML, data integration, and data management tools for less than theprice of two.