What's New in Oxygen XML Editor 24.1

What's New in Oxygen XML Author 24.1

March 7, 2022

Oxygen XML Author version 24.1 is an incremental release for the industry's most advanced bundle of tools used by technical writers, collaborators, and publishers everywhere. The focus of this release was to expand upon the new features and improvements that were added in version 24.0.

This release includes productivity improvements for DITA authors and publishers. Add-ons were a major focus of this release, with many of the most popular ones receiving lots of updates (including the Git Client and Batch Documents Converter). An interesting new Smart Autocomplete add-on is also available that helps writers create content by providing text completions. This release also includes various other component updates, bug fixes, and security enhancements.

DITA Authoring

Move and Rename Non-DITA Resources

Non-DITA resources that are referenced in a DITA map can be renamed directly in the DITA Maps Manager by using the Move or Rename contextual menu actions. You also have the option to update all the references of the resources during the move/rename operation.

Performance Improved When Opening DITA Maps with Content Expanded

Performance was improved when opening a DITA map with all of the referenced topic content expanded and editable. It now takes less time to open the map, even when it contains a large number of referenced topics.

DITA Publishing

DITA Open Toolkit Updates and Improvements

The DITA Open Toolkit version that is bundled with Oxygen has been updated to version 3.7.0. Lots of small extra bug fixes are also part of the updated publishing engine.

Absolute Positioning Now Supported

For CSS-based PDF transformations, the processor now supports absolute positions for inline elements. For example, you can now define custom CSS rules to display an image in a certain absolute position within the document or paragraph.

Replace Media with Links

For CSS-based PDF transformations, you can display media objects with an external link instead of graphic by using the new (show.media.as.link) transformation parameter.

Sort Glossary Alphabetically and Grouped by First Letter

It is now possible to have the glossary entries sorted alphabetically and grouped by the first letter of the word. This can be done for CSS-based PDF transformations by setting the new sort.and.group.glossentries transformation parameter to yes. By default, they are inserted based upon the document order.

Markdown

Added Support for Underlining Content

The Markdown editor now supports the ++abc++ syntax that is used for underlining content.

Security

Removed Apache Log4j Dependency

Removed the dependency on Apache Log4j to help prevent security vulnerabilities. The SLF4j API and Logback libraries are now used instead.

Add-ons

There are available a variety of add-ons for Oxygen that extend the functionality of the application. Many of the existing add-ons were updated and improved, while a new Smart Autocomplete experimental add-on is available that helps writers create content by providing text completions.

Smart Autocomplete Add-on (Experimental) Introduced

A new Smart Autocomplete experimental add-on is available that helps writers create content by providing text completions. Once the add-on is installed, a side-view becomes available where you can access its features. You can choose between a Built-in or OpenAI engine for generating the proposals for text completion. The Built-in engine analyzes all XML, HTML, or Markdown files in a project and then offers completion proposals when editing text content within the project. The OpenAI engine offers the ability to use language models provided by the OpenAI company. This engine not only offers text completion proposals, but it also contributes various configurable actions that can be used to transform selected text in the editor, and it allows you to create your own language models by using a process called fine tuning.

For more details, see the Smart Autocomplete Add-on section in our user guide.

Add-on Documentation Structure Improved

All of the add-ons are now divided into categories in the user guide (Add-ons Chapter) to make it easier to find the types of add-ons that you want to read about.

Quick Install Button Added

There is a new easier installation method for all of the add-ons. The user guide topics now have a new Install button in a Quick Installation section that can simply be dragged and dropped into the main editor in Oxygen to initiate the installation process.

Git Client Improvements

Various improvements were made to the Git Client add-on:

The History view now includes a new revision graph that helps you to understand how commits connect with one another.
The Stash dialog box now has a column that shows the creation time for each stash.
A new Checkout action was added to the contextual menu of the History view. It checks out a branch at a specific commit (either in detached head form or by creating a new branch at that commit).
The Git Staging view toolbar was simplified to only display the most common actions, while all actions are easily accessible in a new ellipsis (three vertical dots) menu. This menu also includes some new actions. For example, you now have the ability to manage remote repositories (add, edit or delete), track a remote branch for the current branch, or to edit the repository's configuration file. Most of the actions are also available in a new Git menu that was added in the main menu bar.
Performance was improved by optimizing the process of checking the status of the repository.
Integrated various bug fixes, component updates, and performance enhancements.

For a complete list of updates added in the Git Client, see https://github.com/oxygenxml/oxygen-git-plugin/releases.

Batch Documents Converter Improvements

Various improvements were made to the Batch Documents Converter add-on:

You can now convert HTML documents exported from Atlassian Confluence into DITA.
You can now convert one or multiple DocBook documents into DITA and an option called Create DITA maps from DocBook documents containing multiple sections can be used to convert all sections into individual DITA topics and referenced in a new DITA map.
A new preferences page was added to provide options for configuring the mappings between elements for certain types of conversions. For example, you can use the Word styles mapping option to customize the mapping between Word elements and styles to the corresponding HTML elements when converting from Word to XHTML, DITA, or DocBook.
A better handling of tables that contain cell spans when converting Markdown documents to DITA.
Various small bug fixes and conversion improvements.

For a complete list of updates added in the Batch Documents Converter, see https://github.com/oxygenxml/oxygen-resources-converter/releases.

OpenAPI Tester Add-on Improvements

The OpenAPI Tester add-on was updated to version 1.1 and its improvements include:

You can now use the testing tool for OpenAPI documents represented in YAML format, as well as in JSON format.
Added basic support for the OpenAPI 3.1.0 Specification (except for webhooks).
The layout of the view was improved.
Various bug fixes and improvements.

DITA Prolog Updater Add-on Improvements

Various improvements were made to the DITA Prolog Updater add-on:

A new option was added for controlling where to store the options from the Add-on preferences page (either in global options or in project-level options).
Fixed an issue where the prolog element was inserted in documents that do not allow it.

XSpec Helper View Add-on Now Bundles XSpec 2.2.4

The XSpec Helper View add-on was updated to include XSpec version 2.2.4.

Other

New Setting To Control Initial View Mode for Tracked Changes in the Author Visual Editing Mode

A new Initial display mode setting was added in the Preferences > Editor / Edit Modes / Author / Review preferences page to control the initial display mode for tracked changes in the Author visual editing mode.

New Option to Return the Results of a Search as a PDF

A new Include the contents of these binary files option was added in the Preferences > Open/Find Resource preferences page and it returns the results of a search in the Open/Find Resource dialog box/view as a PDF, if the PDF contains the searched text.

Component Updates

DITA Open Toolkit Version 3.7.0

Updated the DITA Open Toolkit version that is bundled with Oxygen to version 3.7.0.

macOS 12 (Monterey)

Oxygen has been fully tested on macOS 12 (Monterey), which is now officially supported.

OpenJDK 17.0.2

Some of the installation kits bundle OpenJDK as the Java Runtime Environment and this was updated to version 17.0.2.

Jackson 2.12.6

Updated the third-party Jackson libraries to version 2.12.6 to fix a security vulnerability.

Xerces 2.12.2

Updated the Xerces library to version 2.12.2.

XSpec 2.2.4

Updated the built-in XSpec framework to version 2.2.4.

Official Support for eXist-db Version 6.0.1

Oxygen has been tested and officially supports eXist-db version 6.0.1.

Calabash XProc 1.3.2-100

Updated the Calabash engine to version 1.3.2-100. The bundled Calabash XProc engine is now integrated with the Saxon 10 library.

Eclipse 4.22

Updated the Eclipse plugin to support version 4.22.

Scripting

The all platforms distribution of Oxygen is bundled with a scripts sub-folder that contains scripts for automating and running various utilities from a command line interface. To run any of these scripts, you need to purchase a scripting license.

The main focus for this release was various additions and improvements for the Batch Converter script.

Use Custom Settings File for Batch Converter Script

When using the Batch Converter script, you can use a new argument (-cs converterSettingsFile) to specify a file that contains settings for the conversion. It can be an .xpr file that contains project options or an XML file that contains global options.

Batch Converter Script Now Has Option for DocBook to DITA Conversions

You can now convert HTML documents exported from DocBook into DITA using the Batch Converter script.

Batch Converter Script Now Has Option for Confluence to DITA Conversions

You can now convert HTML documents exported from Atlassian Confluence into DITA using the Batch Converter script.

Batch Converter Script - Other Improvements

Other improvements made to the Batch Converter script include:

A better handling of tables that contain cell spans when converting Markdown documents to DITA.
Various small bug fixes and conversion improvements.

XML Author