What's New in Oxygen XML Author 24.1
Related version: 24.0
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.
There are changes in:
DITA Authoring
Move and Rename Non-DITA Resources
Performance Improved When Opening DITA Maps with Content Expanded
DITA Publishing
DITA Open Toolkit Updates and Improvements
Absolute Positioning Now Supported
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
++abc++ syntax that is
used for underlining content.Security
Removed Apache Log4j Dependency
Add-ons
Smart Autocomplete Add-on (Experimental) Introduced
For more details, see the Smart Autocomplete Add-on section in our user guide.
Add-on Documentation Structure Improved
Quick Install Button Added
Git Client Improvements
- 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
- 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
prologelement 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
New Option to Return the Results of a Search as a PDF
Component Updates
DITA Open Toolkit Version 3.7.0
macOS 12 (Monterey)
OpenJDK 17.0.2
Jackson 2.12.6
Xerces 2.12.2
XSpec 2.2.4
Official Support for eXist-db Version 6.0.1
Calabash XProc 1.3.2-100
Eclipse 4.22
Scripting
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
-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.