What's New in Oxygen XML Author 22.0
February 12, 2020
Related version: 22.1
Version 22 of the Oxygen XML Author provides numerous new features, updates, and improvements that focus on productivity, performance, efficiency, and simplicity for XML authoring, publishing, and collaboration.
This major release includes numerous productivity improvements for DITA authoring, the CSS-based PDF Publishing support and the Oxygen PDF Chemistry engine were enhanced with many new possibilities for publishing DITA content, support was added for the DITA-OT Project File, various features were added for HTML and Markdown document types, as well as updates to add-ons, new API entry points, component updates, performance and security improvements, and much more.
Version 22 also marks the release of two new products, Oxygen Feedback and Oxygen Publishing Engine. Oxygen Feedback provides a way for your community to interact and offer feedback by embedding a stylish comments area into your WebHelp Responsive output or any HTML-based website. For more information, go to: https://www.oxygenxml.com/oxygen_feedback.html. Meanwhile, the Oxygen Publishing Engine is a cost-effective bundle that offers automation support for transforming DITA content into WebHelp, PDF, EPUB, and plain HTML output from your integration scripts. It provides the DITA Open Toolkit with integrated Oxygen publishing plugins, including the responsive Oxygen WebHelp and the CSS-based PDF Chemistry engine. For more information, go to: https://www.oxygenxml.com/publishing_engine.html.
There are changes in:
DITA Authoring
New DITA Perspective
A new DITA Perspective is now available. It provides default
side-views and other UI components that are optimal for working with DITA
projects.
Media Resources Presented in DITA Reusable Components View
The DITA Reusable Components view contains a new Media
tab that displays all image, audio, and video resources used in the documentation project.
You can easily insert references to these resources within a document by using
double-click, drag and drop, or contextual menu actions.
Rename IDs for an Entire Project
If a DITA topic is open in Text mode and you click inside the
value of an @id attribute, a quick assist menu allows you to search
references to the ID attribute or rename the ID in the scope of the entire
project.
Searching for References to Topics Now Takes Relationship Tables Into Account
When searching for the references to a DITA topic, Oxygen now also reports
the virtual links that would be generated after publishing the map, based on relationship
tables.
Include DITA Maps Defined as Master Files When Searching for References
If you have enabled Master Files support for your DITA project and you invoke
an action from the DITA Maps Manager that triggers a search for
references operation, Oxygen will also search for references in the DITA
maps added to the Master Files folder. This applies to the following actions:
Rename resource, Move resource, Remove from
Disk, and Search references.
Improvements to the DITA Map Validate and Check for Completeness
When running a DITA Map completeness check, the progress dialog box now
includes a Run in Background button so that you can continue working
while the operation is processing. Also, performance was improved when the Batch
validate referenced DITA resources option is selected in the DITA Map
Completeness Check dialog box so that it does not take as long to
process.
Save Various DITA-Related Settings at Project Level
Options were added in the new Project Level Settings
preferences page that allows you to choose whether certain DITA-related settings are saved
in the project configuration file or globally. For example, you can choose to save
configured working sets for DITA media resources or DITA map completeness check settings
at project level.
Improvements to the Image Preview Feature
When the Image Preview view is visible, selecting an image in
the Project view or DITA Reusable Components view will
automatically display the resource in the view. Also, you can now preview images
referenced in a key definition by double-clicking them in the DITA Maps
Manager.
Automatic Validation Reports Broken Links
When you open a DITA topic in the main editing area, the automatic validation
will now report broken links if the links are to elements inside the same DITA
topic.
Action to Insert a Key Definition with Keyword
An action was added for DITA map document types that opens a dialog box where
you can choose the name of a key and its keyword value and inserts the key definition at
the current position within the map. The action is available on the toolbar and in the
contextual menu (in the Insert submenu).
DITA Publishing
Introducing Oxygen Feedback - The New Comment Management Platform
Version 22 marks the release of a new product called Oxygen
Feedback. It is a modern comment management platform that provides a simple and
efficient way for your community to interact and offer feedback. It can be embedded into
WebHelp Responsive output or added to any HTML-based website. An add-on is also available
that contributes a side view where you can see all the comments from your output directly
in Oxygen. For more information, go to: https://www.oxygenxml.com/oxygen_feedback.html.
Transform Individual DITA Topics to CSS-based PDF Output
A new transformation scenario called DITA PDF - based on HTML5 &
CSS can be used to transform a single DITA topic to CSS-based PDF output. It
automatically detects the current root map to resolve keys properly and detects the
current profiling condition set for proper filtering. Similar to the DITA Map version of
this transformation scenario, you can use a publishing template or custom CSS to style the
output.
More Chapter TOC Styling Options for PDF Output Using CSS
When publishing to CSS-based PDF output, the
args.chapter.layout parameter now supports the new value:
MINITOC-BOTTOM-LINKS. It allows you to position the child topic links under
the chapter description. For more details, see: Table of
Contents for Chapters.
New Parameter to Control Margins for Blocks Elements in PDF Output
When publishing to CSS-based PDF output, a new parameter
(drop.block.margins.at.page.boundary) can be used to control whether or
not the top and bottom margins for block elements should be discarded when the element is
located at the top or bottom of a page. The default is to discard the
margins.
New Parameter to Control how Titles are Displayed
When publishing to CSS-based PDF output, a new parameter
(args.css.param.title-layout) can be set to the table
value to prevent long titles from wrapping to the next line, under the chapter number,
without indentation. Instead, this value causes the chapter number to be in one table
cell, while the wrapped text is in another cell and offers an indented look in the
output.
Hyphenation Improvements for Tables in PDF Output
When publishing to CSS-based PDF output, hyphenation is now active by default
for content inside tables to prevent content from bleeding outside cells. For more
details, see How to Enable/Disable Hyphenation for Tables.
Common HTML5 Structure for Both CSS-based PDF and WebHelp Output
You can now use the same customization CSS for styling the content for both PDF
(based on HTML5) and WebHelp Responsive output.
Added Support for Topic Grouping and Reuse in CSS-based PDF Output
The DITA map topicgroup element is now supported in CSS-based
PDF output. It allows topic grouping and reuse without affecting the publication
structure.
Flag Content Using a DITAVAL File
When publishing to CSS-based PDF output, it is now possible to mark certain
content to flag it or draw attention to it. This is done by defining a flag in a DITAVAL
file. For details, see Flagging
Content.
Show Change Bars for Insertion and Deletion Changes in XSL-FO based PDF output
When publishing to XSL-FO based PDF output, it is now possible to also show
change bars for track change insertions and deletions. For details, see Show Track Changes
and Comments in PDF output.
XQuery Added as a Syntax Highlighting Language for DITA Code Blocks
When setting an @outputclass attribute on code blocks, a new
language-xquery value is available to style the code block content with
XQuery syntax highlighting.
Extra DITA Open Toolkit Plugins
A variety of DITA Open
Toolkit open source plugins can be separately installed to directly use Excel,
JSON, or ASCIIDoc content in a DITA Project, embed LaTeX or UML diagrams in topics, or
dynamically create graphs from DITA tables.
DITA-OT Project
Support for the DITA-OT Project Configuration File
Oxygen supports editing, validating, and publishing the new DITA Open Toolkit
project configuration file. This configuration file can also be used with the
master files support to configure a context for project-wide resource modifications.
Contexts defined in the project file are also presented in combo boxes in the DITA
Maps Manager toolbar.
CSS Styles for Visually Editing a DITA-OT Project File
When working with a DITA-OT project file in the Author visual editing mode, you
can switch to the Edit style in the Styles toolbar
drop-down menu to edit the file using form controls and inline buttons. There is also a
View as YAML style that shows a visual representation of the document
in YAML.
Enhanced Validation and Content Completion for DITA-OT Project Files
When editing a DITA-OT project file, Oxygen provides validation with
enhanced Schematron rules that report invalid references to non-existing contexts as well
as content completion according to the associated schema and it is enhanced with proposals
for ID references and available transformation types.
Built-in Transformation Scenarios for a DITA-OT Project File
Two new transformation scenarios were added specifically for publishing a
DITA-OT project file. The Publish DITA-OT Project (all deliverables)
transformation scenario processes all deliverables defined in the project file, while the
Publish DITA-OT Project (select deliverables) transformation allows you
to choose a deliverable.
DITA Maps Manager Detects Context Maps Defined in a DITA-OT Project File
You can add a DITA-OT project file to the Master Files folder and the root map
drop-down menu and the Profiling/Conditional Text drop-down menu on the DITA Maps Manager
toolbar will contain the context DITA maps defined in the project file. When selected, the
application gathers the keys from the context DITA map and applies the filters specified
in that context.
HTML
Content Completion Improvements for HTML Documents
Content completion proposals are available for CSS and JavaScript code that is
embedded in an HTML document. Also, after an unclosed tag, the content completion now
presents proposals for the siblings.
Format and Indent HTML Documents
Support was added to Format and Indent HTML documents,
including embedded CSS and JavaScript content. The structure of the document will be
preserved after the action is performed.
XPath Support for HTML Documents
You can use the XPath Toolbar or XPath Builder
View to quickly query HTML documents using XPath expressions. Both components
also offer content completion to help you compose query patterns.
Emmet Snippets
Oxygen supports Emmet snippet expansion. With Emmet, you can type
abbreviations, similar to CSS selectors, and expand them into full-fledged HTML code. For
details, see: Oxygen Emmet
Plugin.
Support for Editing HTML Documents in Author Mode
An HTML document can now be opened and edited in Author mode
even if it is not XML well-formed. When the document is modified, it is converted to
proper XML structure, while remaining HTML-valid.
Editing Improvements for HTML Documents
The HTML editor received various productivity improvements. For example, HTML
documents have the same toolbar and contextual menu actions available as XHTML, the
Smart Paste feature now works for HTML documents, and you can associate
a CSS directly in an HTML document to customize the rendering.
Minify (Compress) HTML Documents
An action was added to Minify (compress) HTML document. Minification is the
practice of removing unnecessary white spaces, without affecting the functionality of the
document. While a minified HTML document gains execution performance, it loses some
readability.
Code Templates for HTML Documents
A set of built-in code templates were added for HTML documents to make it
easier to insert HTML code.
Markdown
Markdown Editor Now Supports Lightweight DITA
A new option was added to export a Markdown document to a Lightweight DITA
topic (XDITA). The right-side preview panel also now includes an XDITA
tab so that you can see the Lightweight DITA representation of changes made in the
left-side text editor.
Validate Markdown Documents with Schematron
It is now possible to validate Markdown documents with Schematron. There are
two ways to do this. You can specify a Schematron file to validate converted HTML or DITA
content in a new Markdown preferences page or as a fallback, you can
create an association using a catalog mapping.
DITA Keys are Resolved in Preview Pane
Keys that are defined in the root DITA map are now resolved and displayed
properly in the DITA and XDITA preview
tabs.
Add-ons
Improvements to the Git Add-on
The Oxygen Git Support add-on has a new History
side-view, a Show Blame action was added for presenting more details
about a revision, and a Pull (rebase) action was added to the
toolbar.
Oxygen Emmet Add-on
The Oxygen Emmet add-on provides the means for high-speed coding and editing in
Text mode or Author mode via a content assistance
mechanism. It can be used for HTML, XSL, and other XML formats. For details, see: Oxygen Emmet
Plugin.
Plugin to Integrate Oxygen XML Editor or Web Author with a CMIS Server
A plugin is available that provides the ability to integrate any CMIS-enabled
server with Oxygen XML Editor/Author or Oxygen XML Web Author. The plugin is available at:
https://github.com/oxygenxml/oxygen-cmis-plugin.
More Types of Conversions Added to the Batch Converter Add-on
The Oxygen Batch Converter add-on now supports additional
conversions from Microsoft Word to various XML document types. The additional types of
conversions include: Word to XHTML, Word to DITA,
Word to DocBook 4, and Word to DocBook
5.
DITA Outgoing References View Add-on
The new DITA Outgoing References View add-on contributes a side view
that shows all outgoing references for the current DITA topic. This side-view includes
contextual menu actions for opening an outgoing reference or showing the definition
location.
Improvements to the DITA Prolog Updater Add-on
The Oxygen DITA Prolog Updater add-on has a new setting to
control the number of revised dates saved in the document.
Support for Rendering EMF Images
An add-on is available that adds support for rendering EMF images in
Author mode. For more details, go to https://github.com/oxygenxml/oxygenxml.emf.support.
Other
Built-in Support for the Chinese Language
The Chinese language was added to the list of built-in supported languages for
the interface.
Create Custom XML Markup Correction Rules for the AutoCorrect Feature
There is now an option in the AutoCorrect preferences page
that will include XML markup correction rules specified in a configuration file for each
XML document type. You can also create your own custom rules. For more details, see the
Include text-to-markup corrections based on the current document type
option in the AutoCorrect Preferences Page topic.
Security Improvements
Security improvements were added for all Oxygen products to help protect
against XXE attacks and vulnerabilities. For example, Oxygen comes with a built-in
firewall that controls the access to external resources and a warning is issued for
documents that are detected as coming from an untrusted source.
CSS Level 3 'calc()' Function Now Supported
The Author mode now supports the CSS level 3
calc() function. It allows complex computation including arithmetic
operators and percentage values.
Support for ::marker Pseudo Class
Support was added for the ::marker CSS pseudo-element. It can
be used to take control over how the number for a list item is computed.
Choose Various Settings to Save at Project Level
A new Project Level Settings preferences page was added where
you can choose whether certain settings are saved in the project configuration file or
globally.
Hide all Toolbars
A new Hide all toolbars toggle action was added in the
Window menu. If toggled on, all toolbar buttons are hidden to give you
more vertical room in the interface. You can use this action along with the
Maximize Editing Area action to create a full-screen editing
environment.
NVDA Officially Supported
The NVDA screen reader is now officially supported as part of the accessibility
support in Oxygen. For more details, see Using the NVDA Screen Reader with Oxygen.
API
Show or Hide Certain Views in a Specified Perspective
The Workspace Access plugin extension now supports an optional
perspective element inside the view element. It allows
a plugin-contributed view to be shown or hidden for a specific perspective.
Decide if a UI Perspective is Allowed
The ro.sync.exml.ComponentsValidator.isPerspectiveAllowed(int)
method was added in the API and it can be used to decide which UI perspectives are
available in Oxygen.
Open or Reload a Project
The ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.standalone.project.ProjectController
API class now has the new loadProject(File) method that can be used to
open a project file. The new method can also be used to reload the current project by
using the getCurrentProjectURL() method to create the file object to pass
as its parameter.
Save Complex Persistent Objects
The new WSOptionsStorage.setPersistentObjectOption(String,ExternalPersistentObject)
API can be used to save complex objects using Oxygen's persistent storage.
Decide Where to Add Profiling Attributes
The shouldAddProfilingDirectlyOnElement(AuthorElement) method was
added in the ro.sync.ecss.extensions.api.ProfilingConditionalTextProvider
API and it can be used to decide if profiling attributes should be added to the given
element or to an XML fragment that will wrap the content of the element.
Control how URLs are Compared
The new RelativeReferenceResolver.getEditorLocationKey(URL) API
method can be used to control how URLs are compared by removing parts of the URL that are
not important for the comparison.
Configure Editor Actions Based on the Content Type
A new getContentType method was added to the ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.editor.WSEditor API and it
provides the ability to retrieve the content type. For example, it is useful if you want
to contribute an editor action for a specific type of document.
Contribute Multi-Line Tooltips
A new installMultilineTooltip(JComponent) method was added to
the ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.standalone.ui.OxygenUIComponentsFactory
API and it provides the ability to contribute a tooltip with multiple lines.
Control the Addition or Removal of Comments
Two new methods were added to ro.sync.ecss.extensions.api.AuthorDocumentFilter:
addCommentMarker() and removeMarker(). They can be
used to intercept when a comment is added or removed.
Get Notified when Editor is Reloaded
A new editorReloaded(URL) method was added to the ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.listeners.WSEditorListener API and
it is triggered when a document is reloaded.
Create New Editor
A new createNewEditor(URL, String, String, String) method was
added to the ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.Workspace API and it can be used
to create a new "untitled" editor.
Reset Cache When DITA Maps Manager is Refreshed
A new clearCache() method was added to the ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.standalone.ditamap.TopicRefTargetInfoProvider
API and it can be used to reset the cache when the reload action (F5) is used in the DITA
Maps Manager.
Access Text Content for a Node
A new getContentIterator method was added to the ro.sync.ecss.extensions.api.node.AuthorNode API and it allows
iteration over the text content of a node.
Expand Ask Editor Variable
A new expandEditorVariables method was added to the ro.sync.exml.workspace.api.util.UtilAccess API and it allows
for the expansion of ask editor variables.
Accept or Deny Access to Certain Hosts
A new ro.sync.exml.plugin.workspace.security.TrustedHostsProviderExtension
plugin extension can be used to accept or deny access to certain web hosts.
Component Updates
Eclipse 4.12, 4.13, 4.14
Updated the Eclipse plugin to support versions 4.12, 4.13, and
4.14.
DITA Open Toolkit 3.4
The DITA Open Toolkit version bundled with Oxygen was updated to
3.4.
Saxon 9.9.1.5
Updated the Saxon library that is distributed with Oxygen to version
9.9.1.5.
Xerces 2.12.0
Updated the Apache Xerces library to version 2.12.0.
EpubCheck 4.2.2
Updated the EpubCheck library to version 4.2.2.
eXist 5.0
Oxygen officially supports the eXist database version 5.0.
TEI Schemas 3.6 and TEI Stylesheets 7.48
Updated the bundled TEI schemas to version 3.6 and the TEI stylesheets to
version 7.48.
XSpec 1.5.0
Updated the XSpec library to version 1.5.
JSON Everit Validation Engine 1.12.0
Updated the JSON Everit validation engine to 1.12.0.
Apache PDFBox 2.0.16
Updated the Apache PDFBox library to version 2.0.16.
Apache FontBox 2.0.16
Updated the Apache FontBox library to version 2.0.16.
Apache HTTP Client 4.5.9
The Apache HTTP Client libraries have been updated to version
4.5.9.
Rhino 1.7.11
Updated the Rhino JavaScript library to version 1.7.11.
Calabash 1.1.30-99
Updated the Calabash engine to version 1.1.30-99.
Apache Ant 1.10.7
Updated the bundled Apache Ant libraries to version 1.10.7.
Apache FOP 2.4
Updated Apache FOP to version 2.4.
Apache Batik 1.12
Updated the Apache Batik SVG toolkit to version 1.12.
focheck 0.7.4
The bundled focheck framework that is used for enhanced XSL-FO
validation was updated to version 0.7.4.
Apache XML Security 2.1.4
Updated the Apache XML Security library to version 2.1.4.
JavaScript ECMAScript 6
Limited support was added for JavaScript version ECMAScript 6.
Guava 28.1
Updated the Guava Google Core Libraries to version 28.1.
Lucene 8.4.1
Updated the Lucene libraries to version 8.4.1.