Oxygen XML Forum

I'm familiar with, and like, the "standalone" Oxygen XML Author Windows desktop application.

I'm aware of, but I have not used, the Oxygen XML Author Eclipse Plugin and Oxygen XML Web Author.

I have studied the Oxygen XML Feature Matrix.

The matrix row for "Find and replace in all project files" indicates that the Eclipse plugin and Web editions do not support that feature.

I'm curious about that.

I can't find a corresponding row for "Find and replace in the current ditamap" (specifically, ditamap, as opposed to project file).

In the Eclipse plugin and Web editions, can I perform a "find and replace" operation across all topics in a ditamap? I think the answer is "No", but I thought I'd check. Could you please confirm that?

I recently read a statement somewhere (sorry, I don't want to say where, or by whom) that implied that, by the end of 2021, Oxygen XML Web Author will have all of the features of Oxygen XML Author (the Windows application). That is, an updated feature comparison matrix would indicate parity between the two. I would be amazed if that were true. Do you (the Oxygen developers) have any comment about that?

Hello,

The "Find in project" action is not supported in Eclipse, because Oxygen Projects are not supported in Eclipse. "Find in the current DITA Map" is also not supported in the Eclipse version.

Regarding Web Author, the "search in current ditamap" feature is not supported yet, mainly because of its performance implications - Web Author usually works with a CMS (or versioning system such as Git) and it reads the files one by one from the CMS - searching in all files would take some time. Moreover, CMS-es usually have specific widgets to search in a ditamap.

Regarding feature parity between Author and Web Author - they are both evolving products and both gain new features with every release. The feature gap is continuously shrinking, however, the two products are designed for different audiences:

• Web Author is designed to allow reviewers and technical writers with little or no XML knowledge to write structured content.

• Author is designed as a productivity tool for technical writers and developers with at least moderate XML knowledge

With this distinction in mind, some features will never be ported to Web Author, such as, filter search results by using an XPath expession.

Best,
Cristian

Thanks very much for the reply.

I value the rich feature set of the standalone Oxygen XML Author Windows application.

Your reference to content management systems resonates with me. I've been reading about IXIASOFT CCMS. I gather that Oxygen XML Web Author is integrated with IXIASOFT CCMS Web, and that the Oxygen Eclipse plugin is integrated with IXIASOFT CCMS Desktop.

I'm familiar with using the standalone Oxygen XML Author Windows application in an environment where the DITA source is stored in a Git repository.

Can you offer me any insight into the workflow for using the standalone Oxygen XML Author Windows application in an environment where the DITA source is stored in IXIASOFT CCMS (that is, TEXTML, rather that Git)?

I haven't found any references so far in the IXIASOFT documentation to using the standalone Oxygen XML Author Windows application.

IXIASoft is indeed our partener and they offer a complete solution for managing DITA content. Our products are just a part of this solution. We are familiar with the general aspects of this solution, but I am sure that they know the solution in more detail and would be very happy to answer any of your questions.