What's New in Oxygen XML Author 19.0
Version 19.0 of the oXygen XML Author brings you a variety of new features and
improvements that focus on productivity, efficiency, and simplicity.
This major release includes numerous productivity improvements for DITA, updated support
for DocBook 5.1 features, enhancements to the search mechanism in WebHelp, a new built-in
CSS to PDF processing engine called Chemistry, additional features for the Markdown editor,
and much much more. As usual, this version also contains numerous new API and component
updates.
There are changes in:
DITA
Fast Create Multiple Topics at Once
The new
Fast Create Topics feature
allows you to quickly create multiple new topics at once and you can specify their
hierarchical structure within the DITA map at the time of creation. A common use-case for
this feature is when you need to insert a new chapter or section with multiple topics and
you have the structure and titles planned out in advance.
DITA Reusable Components View
The
DITA Reusable Components
view collects all of the keys that are defined in the root map and presents them
in a dynamic table allowing you to easily find the key you need, using filters and several
sorting options. Once you find a key, you can insert it as a link or variable reference,
using the contextual menu, or you can drag and drop or double-click on a key to create a
key reference in the fastest way possible.
Convert between DITA Topic Types
A new feature was added that allows you to convert an existing
DITA topic to a
different topic type. For example, you can convert a DITA Task to a DITA Topic
and vice versa. Behind the scenes, Oxygen will map the structure of the original DITA
topic to a structure that fits the new topic type.
Introducing Chemistry - Built-in CSS-based PDF Processor for Publishing DITA to PDF
Our early access
CSS-based PDF
processing engine, called Chemistry, is available to make it easier to obtain customized PDF
output using CSS. To use it, modify the built-in
DITA Map to PDF WYSIWYG
transformation scenario and in the
Parameters tab, change the
css.processor.type parameter to "
chemistry". Because
this is experimental/early access functionality, we will appreciate your
feedback.
Master Files Support for DITA
The
DITA master files
support allows Oxygen to automatically determine dependencies between files.
Now you can define DITA maps as master files and when you move or rename resources,
Oxygen will automatically update the references to those resources. It even works when
you move multiple resources.
Improved DITA Map Validation
Some DITA processors do not work correctly if resources are located outside of
the folder that contains the DITA map. The
Validate and Check for Completeness
action contains a new option, called "Report references to resources outside of
the DITA map folder" that check for such resources.
Content Completion for IDs in Text Mode
When inserting DITA
conkeyref and
keyref
attributes in Text mode, you need to specify an ID pointing to a specific element in the
referenced topic. Now the
Content Completion Assistant presents all the element IDs from the referenced
topic, thus you can easily select a correct ID value.
DocBook
Support for DocBook 5.1
Oxygen DocBook framework was updated to support DocBook 5.1. This includes
new file templates for
Assembly and
Topic documents, updated CSS for visual authoring, schemas, and XML catalogs for
the 5.1 specification.
Publish Tracked Changes and Comments to PDF Output
Multimedia Support in DocBook
Markdown Editor
Improved Markdown DITA Profile
Markdown can be used directly in DITA-based systems, and Oxygen provides a
variety of features to help you in this case. The DITA preview shows how the Markdown will
look when used in a DITA system and code templates allow you to insert DITA-specific
fragments such as various topic types, sections, or examples.
See the Structure in the DITA and HTML Preview
Visual Author Editor
Create Custom Form Controls Using HTML and JavaScript
Create your own custom form controls without having to use the Java-based API.
You now have the ability access the Oxygen environment by using the built-in
oxy_browser form control that loads HTML and executes JavaScript. For
example, you could change attributes values, insert XML fragments, or open a new editor
without having to use an API.
User-Defined Placeholders
When an element is empty, Oxygen presents a placeholder text to inform the
user what should be added inside that element. You now have the ability to
specify this placeholder text directly within a document, using a processing
instruction, thus helping authors understand what content they should include in that
particular element inside that specific document.
WebHelp
Search Auto-Completion
Keywords and documentation titles are displayed while you are typing in the
search field in WebHelp output. This improvements helps you to construct better
search queries.
Phrase Search Support
The
WebHelp search engine was improved by adding the ability to do phrase searches.
By entering a phrase inside quotes, you can search for documents that contain that exact
phrase, rather than single keywords.
Improved Sorting for Search Results
Show Missing Terms for Search Results
When you search for multiple terms, some of them may not appear in some of the
results. The
WebHelp search results now display the terms that were not found in that
particular document next to each result.
Search Results Pagination
The
results presented after a search action are now divided and presented in
multiple pages.
Moved from WebHelp Mobile to WebHelp Responsive
The
WebHelp Mobile publishing output for DITA and DocBook has
been deprecated because of the better alternative provided by the new
WebHelp Responsive
system, designed for flexibility and modern features.
Other
Drag&Drop or Copy/Paste to Reference Media Files in DITA, DocBook, and
XHTML
You can now
drag (or copy)
media files from your system explorer (or the Oxygen
Project view) and drop (or paste) them into DITA, DocBook, or XTML
documents, and Oxygen automatically creates the corresponding XML markup to reference
those multimedia files.
3-Way Directory Comparison Tool Redesigned
The
3-Way
Directory Comparison tool was redesigned to provide a set of merge actions that
you can select to automatically integrate changes made by others with your local
changes.
Automatic Spell Checking in Review Comments
Shorter Startup Time
The startup time when you start Oxygen has been improved by up to
25%.
Improved Editing Support for Java Properties Files
Oxygen now has better editing support for Java properties files with
automatic unescaping and escaping of characters that are outside of the ISO-8859-1
range.
Support for Media Objects in XHTML
API
A detailed list of all changes to the Java API can be found
here.
Set the Default Action for Double-Clicking Callouts
Get Application Name and Type
Added new API,
ApplicationInformationAccess.getApplicationName(), that
returns the name of the application. It is usually the title shown in the title bar of the
main application (for example, Oxygen XML Editor, Oxygen XML Author, etc.) Also
added the
ApplicationInformationAccess.getApplicationType() API that
returns the application type (for example, XML Editor, XML Author, etc.)
Custom Attributes Editor API Improvements
The
CustomAttributeValueEditor API has been improved and it now
also works by pressing an "Edit" button in the Attributes view and the in-place attributes
editor.
Provide Actions to be Contributed in Content Completion
A new method,
getContentCompletionActions(AuthorAccess, int), was added to
the
AuthorActionEventHandlerBase API and it can be used to provide a list
of actions that will be contributed to the list of proposals in the Content Completion
Assistant.
Create UI Tables Similar to the Ones in oXygen
The new
ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.standalone.ui.Table class was
added that allows you to create table UI elements that have the same look and feel as
those in Oxygen and you can incorporate them in your own custom views and
panels.
Notification when URLs and Files are Pasted/Dropped in Text Mode
Group Actions in a Drop-Down Menu Button
Get License Registration Name
Results Panel Manager
Added the
ResultsManager API, and it can be used to present messages
and problems in a results panel, select results, listen to result selections, get all
results (or selected results), remove results, and customize the contextual menu in the
results panel.
Component Updates
Exist 3.0
Oxygen now supports working with the latest Exist 3.0
database.
Saxon Updated to 9.7.0.15
The Saxon library was updated to the latest Saxon 9, version
9.7.0.15.
DITA OT 2.4.4
Oxygen now comes bundled with the old stable DITA OT 1.8 and the new
DITA-OT 2.x version, which is now updated to DITA-OT 2.4.4.
DITA For Publishers Plugins Updated to 1.0.0RC26
The DITA For Publishers Open Toolkit plugins (used to generate EPUB output and
convert MS Word documents to DITA) have been updated to version 1.0.0RC26.
DocBook XSLT Stylesheets 1.79.2
Updated the DocBook XSLT stylesheets to version 1.79.2.
EpubCheck 4.0.2
The EpubCheck tool that is used to validate Epub files was updated to version
4.0.2.
DITA OT OOXML Plugin 1.2
Updated the com.elovirta.ooxml DITA OT plugin that is used to
convert DITA to OOXML to version 1.2.
Calabash 1.1.15
The bundled Calabash XProc engine has been updated to version
1.1.15.
jQuery 3.1.1
Updated to latest jQuery version (v3.1.1).
XSpec 0.5.0
Updated XSpec framework to the latest version (0.5.0).
Neko 1.9.22
Updated the Neko library that is used to convert HTML to XHTML to version
1.9.22.
Apache Ant 1.9.8
The Apache Ant library that comes bundled with Oxygen was updated to
version 1.9.8.
Markdown Plugin for DITA OT 1.2.3
Updated the Markdown plugin for DITA OT to version 1.2.3.
TEI Schemas 3.1.0 / TEI Stylesheets 7.42.0
Updated the TEI schemas to version 3.1.0 and TEI stylesheets to version
7.42.0.