Oxygen XML Web Author V21.0

DITA

• Automatically Insert Key References - When you insert cross references, file references, links, or references to reused content in DITA documents, Web Author automatically inserts key references if a key is available for the target of the reference.
• New Action to Insert Links and Variables Defined as Keys - A new DITA Keys toolbar action was added that opens a dialog box where all the keys defined in the current DITA map are collected. You can filter the list or search for a specific key and you can insert links to topics defined with a key or insert variables defined with a key.
• Profiling Improvements - The URL parameter (dita.val.url) can be used to specify a DITAVAL filter file for resolving keys whose values depend on profiling conditions and Web Author now grays out the content that is excluded by the DITAVAL filter to make it easy to identify the profiled content. Web Author also now supports custom profiling attributes defined in DITA specializations.
• DITA 1.3 Key Scopes - Support was added to provide the ability to use DITA 1.3 key scopes. They allow you to reuse a topic in multiple places within the same DITA map, but with different content in each instance.

File Repository Integrations

• Perforce Helix - Web Author now includes a plugin that provides the ability to integrate Web Author with a Perforce Helix version control system. It provides an interface for browsing the files in Perforce depots, opening the files in the editor, and submitting changes.
• Connector for Alfresco, SharePoint On-Premise, or FileNet - Web Author now includes a generic CMIS connector plugin that provides the ability to integrate Web Author with various types of content management platforms (such as Alfresco, SharePoint On-Premise, or FileNet). It provides an interface for browsing files, opening the files in the editor, and submitting changes.

Markdown Support for Git Integrations

• Markdown Editor - When you open or create a Markdown file, Web Author detects that type of document and the editor becomes a simple Markdown editor with syntax highlighting and it supports basic Markdown rules. This support is currently available when Web Author is integrated with a Git repository, IBM Content Navigator, and WebDAV. For more information, see Other Supported Document Types.
• Markdown Templates - Web Author now includes a new document template for creating Markdown documents. It is a very simple template with just a few lines of structure already included, but it gives you the ability to quickly create a new Markdown document.

Table Support Improvements

• Table Design Improvements - Numerous design improvements were implemented for working with tables. For example, it is now easy to select and move an entire row or column by using an inline widget that appears to the left of the row where the cursor is located or above its column. Various rendering issues were also resolved and improved.
• Table Modification Improvements - You now have the ability to make a rectangular selection of multiple cells within a table to perform copy/paste actions and to perform other toolbar or contextual menu actions on the selection (for example, Join or Split cells).
• Table Properties Dialog Box for DITA - When working with tables in DITA documents, a Tables Properties action is now available in the contextual menu. It can be used to modify numerous properties for an existing table (for example, horizontal alignment, separators, or frame properties). You can also modify properties for specific rows, columns, or cells.

Character Picker Plugin

• Other Languages Supported - The web-author-charpicker-plugin now supports other languages other than the default. Searching for characters By Name can be done for another language if a properties file is added for that language (for example, fr_unicodechars.properties) in the lib folder. Also, the categories and subcategories shown in the By Category or Hex Code tab can be translated by editing the translation_categories.xml file from the i18n folder.
• Remove Categories - An option was added in the plugin that gives you the ability to remove categories in the By Category or Hex Code tab.

Other

• URL Parameter to Specify Spell Check Language - A new URL parameter (spell.check.language) was added to provide the ability to specify the default language that the spell checker will use for the particular document.
• Performance Improvements - Some important performance improvements were made for DTD-based documents.
• Content Completion in Text Mode - When editing documents in Text mode, you now have access to basic content completion functionality as long as the document has an associated DTD schema.
• Use Additional Languages for the Spell Checker - A plugin is now available on GitHub (Web Author LanguageTool Plugin) that provides the ability to use additional languages for the spell checker. The supported languages are: Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and simplified Chinese.

API

• API: Return an Extended Selection - The previously existing API sync.api.Selection.prototype.extendTo was deprecated and replaced with sync.api.Selection.prototype.extendedTo. It returns an extended selection.
• API: Integrate a Custom Spell Checker - A new API was added (WebappSpellCheck.setSpellcheckingEngine(String lang, SpellcheckingEngine checker)) that can be used to integrate a custom spell checker (for example, to use a custom spell checker for another language).