Altova StyleVision adds dynamic charting

Released: Sep 13, 2010

Updates in this release

Updates in 2011

  • Charts as a new design element
    The addition of charting to StyleVision's general purpose reporting capabilities - including support for modular designs, conditional templates, dynamic publishing, creating electronic forms, multiple output formats, and more - makes for an advanced and highly scalable decision support tool for XML, database, and XBRL content. As with all StyleVision designs, charts can be rendered for multi-channel output in HTML, RTF, PDF, Word 2007+, and as electronic forms. Users can now insert different configurations of the following charts/graphs in their template designs: 2D & 3D pie charts and bar charts, category line graphs, value line graphs and gauge charts. The Chart Configuration dialog enables users to easily select chart type, title, size, and data using string entries and/or XPath expressions. Chart data is selected using XPath statements. Users can input the statements directly into the dialog or they can get some assistance with XPath syntax using StyleVision's built-in XPath Builder to define the chart context node, series name (or z-axis), x-axis, and y-axis. Styles and properties can be defined using the All settings... option in the Chart Configuration dialog, and/or by using the StyleVision entry helper windows. Using advanced features like editable variables in Authentic and XPath predicates lets users create forms that can be manipulated by end-users for the desired result.
  • Chart wizard for XBRL files
    Adding to its XBRL rendering capabilities, StyleVision now allows users to generate charts in their XBRL reports using a comprehensive wizard.  Charts are created by simply dragging a financial statement or other parent node to the design pane and choosing Create XBRL Chart to start the XBRL Chart Wizard. Users can customize the data rendered in their charts by selecting the desired category or series values (Concept and Period are default) in the properties dialogs. The Period Properties dialog gives options on how to handle XBRL periods, which convey the relevant instant or intervals of time for XBRL reporting. As with the charting feature mentioned above, chart styles and properties can be controlled using the All settings button in the Chart Wizards and/or by using the StyleVision entry helper windows, where users can select chart type, background color, fonts, alignment, etc.
  • Scripting & toolbar editor for Authentic
    StyleVision includes an integrated scripting environment that allows users to interact with XML and database reports using forms, event handlers, and macros created in the Scripting Editor interface. Scripting adds new options for creating Authentic applications.
  • Multi-channel output of HTML/CALS tables
    HTML and CALS provide standard tags for representing the structure of tables and are often used common documentation projects as well as in XML industry standards such as DocBook, DITA, and more. Support for HTML/CALS tables means that StyleVision will automatically recognize values dictating table structure such as column number, row height, etc., and apply them to rendered output (v2011 adds support for rendering HTML/CALS tables in HTML, RTF, PDF, AND Word 2007+ - previous releases have supported output to Authentic e-Forms).
  • Assigning styles to HTML/CALS tables
    StyleVision users can now also use the design interface to assign additional presentation styles to HTML and CALS tables such as column and row attributes like width and alignment, font attributes, background color, and more. This enables customers to add information that may be missing from the source format. For instance, in the example below styles have been applied to the table caption, header, and row margins.
  • Multiple assignments to HTML/CALS tables in a single schema
    There are some situations in which different elements can be assigned in the same schema to represent HTML/CALS tables. For example, the DocBook specification uses both the <table> and <informaltable> elements as tags for CALS tables. StyleVision allows users to differentiate between these data structures and define separate styles to each using the Edit HTML/CALS tables dialog.
  • Ability to import existing XSLT files
    Instead of having to design templates from scratch to access StyleVision functionality, users will now be able to base their designs on existing XSLT files that were designed for HTML output or XSLT files with XSL:FO commands for output in PDF. Users will simply specify the XSLT file and schema source and the template will be loaded into the design pane where it can be used for multi-channel publishing and/or to add additional styles using StyleVision's graphical user interface. Any changes to the underlying XSLT code can be previewed or saved at any time.
  • Support for Apache FOP 1.0
    StyleVision now supports the latest version of the XSL:FO processor Apache FOP 1.0.

For more information visit:
http://www.altova.com/Version2011_Launch_090810.html