What's New in Oxygen XML Web Author 21.1.1
Version 21.1.1 of the Oxygen XML Web Author is the latest minor release for the innovative web-based authoring tool. The focus of this release was to make editing even more efficient, enable easier navigation of a DITA project, and to make it possible to compare different versions of a file or different files.
Some examples of improvements added in this version include drag and drop actions for moving, inserting, and uploading content, a new DITA Map view that presents DITA map content such as a table of contents, the addition of a file comparison tool to see the differences between two files or versions, various new customization options, URL parameters, APIs, and much more.
DITA
New DITA Map View
A DITA Map view was added to present a DITA map like a table
of contents. The view is opened with a toolbar button and Web Author automatically tries
to find the appropriate root map for the current document based on history, but you can
also select the map using a browsing tool or a URL parameter. The map is also used to
resolve the keys and referenced in the current document opened in the
editor.
Open Topics from the DITA Map View Without Reloading the Entire Page
You can open topics and submaps from the DITA Map view by
simply double-clicking them (or single-tap on mobile devices). The documents are loaded in
the main editing pane without reloading the entire web page.
File Comparison Tool
Compare File with its Latest Repository Version
A file comparison tool was added that can be used to show differences between
the current document and the latest version of it that was saved in the repository. If you
are using a Git file repository integration, it automatically does a three-way comparison
between the current document, its latest version from the repository, and the original
base revision.
Integrate File Comparisons into Your Workflow
The file comparison tool can be integrated into existing workflows using URL
parameters to show differences between document versions at each step.
Editing
Drag and Drop Functionality for Images, Blocks of XML Content, URLs, and Static Text
Drag and drop functionality was added to make it easier to move or insert
content and resources. For example:
- You can drag an image file from another document, web page, or the system file browser and drop it into your current document and Web Author will insert it as a reference to the image file.
- You can drag a selected block of content from another web page and drop it into your document and it will be converted to valid markup and inserted.
- You can drag/drop a topic from the DITA Map view to insert a link.
- You can also move blocks of content such as list items, sections, or other markup using drag/drop actions.
Added More Convenience-Related Editing Features
More editing features were added for convenience and efficiency. For example,
keyboard shortcuts are now displayed next to actions in the contextual menu and when
hovering over toolbar buttons.
Other
Upload Files to Your Repository Through Simple Drag/Drop Actions
When using Web Author with any of the file repository types that include the
Web Author file browsing functionality (Git, WebDAV, Perforce, Alfresco, and others), if a
file is not already in your repository, you can drag the file from your system file
browser and drop it into the Web Author file browser and it will upload the file to the
repository.
Automatically Back up Documents Stored in Perforce
Documents opened from a Perforce server will be automatically backed up as
shelved files at a specified time interval. In case of any failure, to
restore the unsaved changes, a user just has to reopen the last edited file.
Plain Text Editor for Git Integrations
Besides the enhanced support for XML and Markdown files, Web Author now offers
support for editing any file with a text-based format from a Git repository.
Customization and Administration
Display Link to a Web Page With More Details in Validation Messages
You can customize the validation messages that users see when in the Validation
side panel to include a link to a web page with more information about the specific
validation problem. If you are using Schematron, this can be done by specifying a URI in
the @see attribute for the particular Schematron rule. For other types of
schema, you can add the link by using the ro.sync.document.DocumentPositionedInfo.setAdditionalInfo(URL)
API method.
Load Multiple CSS Resources in One Request
A new plugin extension (WebappCSSResource) allows you to
reference a CSS stylesheet in a plugin's descriptor file for styling the Web Author
interface and all CSS resources declared in all plugins will be loaded in one
request.
New URL Parameters for the File Comparison Tool
A new diffUrl parameter can be used in conjunction with the
url parameter to specify files to compare with each other in the file
comparison tool. You can also use the diffBaseUrl parameter to specify
the URL of the original base file for the purposes of performing a three-way file
comparison. In addition, the leftEditorLabel and
rightEditorLabel URL parameters can be used to specify the label for
the file on the right side or left side of the file comparison tool (normally, the file
name is displayed for the labels).
New URL Parameter to Compact the XML Tags
A new compactTagsMode URL parameter can be used to compact the
tags (for example, multiple tags presented on the same line). Otherwise, each block
element is presented on a separate line.
Retrieve Information About the Current Document
It is possible to retrieve information about a document by invoking Java
operations from JavaScript code. For example, you can invoke an operation to retrieve the
names of the elements that are allowed at the current cursor location. For more
information, see the JS Tutorial: Retrieving Information About the Current Document by Invoking Java
Operations from JavaScript Code.
API
Load Preview of a Document
The sync.api.Editor.loadPreview API method was
added and it allows you to load the preview of a document inside a specific element. For
example, you could use it to add a preview in a dialog box where you can select content
references.
Choose the Layout for Opened Documents
The sync.api.Workspace.getEditingSupportManager API method was added
and it can be used to specify a layout that will be used when a document is loaded. You
can choose which views or toolbar actions are presented for a specific content type. For
example, you can decide a specific layout when the editor loads an image, or a different
layout for a Markdown document, or XML document.
Scroll to a Particular Element
The sync.api.SelectionManager.scrollSelectionIntoView API method
was added and it can be used to navigate to a selection so that it is displayed in the
visible area.
Customize Information Rendered in the DITA Map View
Web Author supports the use of two API extensions from Oxygen XML
Editor that can be used to customize nodes within the DITA Map view.
- The ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.standalone.ditamap.TopicRefTargetInfoProvider API can be used to provide titles for topic references. This should be implemented as an optimization by a CMS that already has the titles of the topics cached in the database. By default, Web Author fetches each topic from the CMS, parses it, and extracts the title.
- The ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.editor.page.ditamap.DITAMapNodeRendererCustomizer API allows you to customize the rendering of information in the DITA Map view (for example, titles for topic references). This method is called after Web Author computes the title for topic references.