Oxygen XML Author Professional V23.1

DITA Authoring

• Generate Unique IDs for Specified Elements - A new refactoring action (Generate IDs) has been added for DITA users. It generates unique IDs for elements that are defined in the action's configuration dialog box.

DITA Publishing

• Publish RNG-based Topics Faster - The publishing speed for RNG-based DITA topics has increased considerably. The output is now generated faster, which decreases the time it takes to publish your content.
• Display SVG Syntax Diagrams in PDF Output - The svg-syntaxdiagrams DITA-OT plugin is now supported, providing the means for SVG syntax diagrams to be rendered in the PDF output.
• Component Update: DITA Open Toolkit 3.6 - The DITA Open Toolkit version used for publishing DITA content has been updated to 3.6. This provides access to parameters that help to reduce the publishing time.

CSS

• Oxygen Styles Basket - The new Oxygen Styles Basket is a handy web-based visual tool that helps you to fine-tune the CSS file that is used to customize your PDF or WebHelp output. You simply pick and mix aspects from galleries to add and adjust the rules in your custom CSS file.
• Support for Custom CSS Properties - Custom CSS properties (also referred to as CSS variables) are now supported. They are user-defined CSS entities that contain specific values to be stored in one place, and then referenced (re-used) throughout a document.

Validation

• Ignore Validation Problems - Validation problems that have an ID can now be ignored using new quick fix actions.
• Ignore Schematron Validation Problems - Validation problems that are reported when validating XML with a Schematron schema can also be ignored using the new quick fix actions. For the ignore validation problems proposals to be included in the list of quick fixes, the Schematron assert or report elements must have an ID.
• Restore Ignored Validation Problems Directly in the Editor - Once a validation problem has been ignored (hence, it is added to the Ignored Problems Table), you can hover over its gray marker in the vertical ruler to access a Remove from ignored problems list quick fix link (instead of going to the preferences page to remove it). Clicking this link results in the problem being removed from the list and the problem will no longer be ignored. This quick fix is also available from the contextual menu in the Results pane.
• Customize the Color of Fatal Validation Errors - The Document Validation preferences page now includes an option to customize the color of validation errors that are marked as fatal.
• Option Added to Display Validation Problem IDs - You can select a new option called Include problem ID in description that appears in the settings drop-down menu of the Results view's toolbar to have the problem ID (as provided by the validation engine) shown in the Description column. It can be helpful when trying to debug validation issues.
• Hide Ignored Validation Problems - A new toggle option (Show Ignored Problems) has been added to the Settings drop-down menu in the Results view. If you have ignored validation problems, you can deselect this option to hide the ignored problems.

HTML/CSS

• HTML to XML Well-Formed Improvements - When HTML5 documents are converted to be XML well-formed, entity references that are allowed in the HTML5 specification are converted to the corresponding characters.

Add-ons

• Git Client Improvements - Various improvements were made to the Git Client add-on:
  • Added an Abort merge button for when conflicts result after a Pull (merge) operation. It allows you to abort the current conflict resolution process.
  • Added a set of options in the Git Client preferences page that can be used to decide whether to always switch to a newly detected working copy from a project, to never switch, or to always ask.
  • Added a Preferences action in the Settings menu that acts as a shortcut to the Git Client preferences page.
  • The Git History view now includes a text filter field at the top that you can use to conduct searches (i.e. by Date, Author, or Commit ID).
  • Updated the JGit component to version 5.10.0.
  • Integrated numerous bug fixes, UI improvements and speed improvements.
• Batch Documents Converter Improvements - Various improvements were made to the Batch Documents Converter add-on:
  • New conversions were added for converting JSON to YAML and vice versa.
  • Added a new option that allows you to convert Markdown or HTML documents with multiple headings into DITA maps with referenced DITA topics.
  • Added a new option that allows you to create DITA short description elements (<shortdesc>) in Markdown to DITA conversions.
  • Improved the Markdown to DITA conversion, allowing you to convert documents that start with a high heading level or increase the heading level with more than one unit.
  • The actions for batch converting between the various document types are now easier to access via an Additional conversions submenu located in File->Import, as well as an Import submenu located in the Append Child, Insert Before, and Insert After submenus and the contextual menu of the DITA Maps Manager.
• DITA References View Improvements - Various improvements were made to the DITA References View add-on:
  • Added a new tab where incoming references are presented for the current DITA topic.
  • Added support for translating the view's user interface in English, German, French, Japanese, or Dutch.
• XSpec Helper View Add-on Now Bundles XSpec 2.0.7 - The XSpec Helper View add-on has been updated to include XSpec version 2.0.7.

Scripting

• The all platforms distribution of Oxygen is bundled with a scripts sub-folder that contains scripts for automating and running various utilities from a command line interface. To run any of these scripts, you are required to purchase a special scripting commercial license.
  • New Command-Line Script for Comparing Files - A new command-line script (compareFiles) is now available that can be used to compare two specified files in one of three available output formats. You can also add numerous options as arguments and filter the results according to your needs.
  • New Command-Line Script for Comparing Directories - A new command-line script (compareDirs) is now available that can be used to compare two specified directories in one of six available output formats. You can also add numerous options as arguments and filter the results according to your needs.
  • New Command-Line Script for Running XML Refactoring Operations - A new command-line script is now available that can be used to execute XML Refactoring Operations. The xmlRefactoring script requires a special scripting commercial license and it helps to reduce the time and effort required to perform various structure management tasks.
  • Batch Convert JSON to YAML and YAML to JSON - The Batch Converter script (batchConverter) now supports converting multiple JSON documents to YAML or multiple YAML documents to JSON.
  • Create a Short Description Element from First Paragraph when Batch Converting Markdown to DITA - A new argument (-csd) has been added for the Batch Converter script. When set to true, it creates a short description element from the first paragraph before the headings.
  • Convert Sections into Separate Topics when Batch Converting Markdown or HTML to DITA - The argument (-ss) used for converting sections into separate topics in the Batch Converter script can now be applied on Markdown to DITA or HTML to DITA (previously, it was only available for Microsoft Word to DITA conversions). When set to true, it converts multiple headings from a Markdown or HTML document into separate individual DITA topics that are also referenced in a newly created DITA map.
  • New Extended Version of the XML Instance Generator Script - The XML Instance Generator command-line script now has an extended version with additional arguments. For example, the -s argument can be used to specify an XML schema file to be used for the file generation, -r specifies the root element, -o specifies the output directory, -i specifies the number of XML files to be generated, and more.

Other

• Set Shortcuts to Show Side-Views Contributed by Plugins - In the Menu Shortcut Keys preferences page, shortcuts can now be assigned to the actions that show side-views contributed by plugins.
• Resolve Editor Variables in Projects Created from Templates - Editor variables can now be resolved in project resources created from a project template (by default, the variables are not resolved). This feature can be activated using the expandEditorVariablesIncludeFilter property in the .properties file that corresponds to the project template. If a subset of the included resources needs to be excluded, the expandEditorVariablesIncludeFilter property can be used.
• New Document Wizard Now Includes a "Popular" Category - The New Document wizard now includes a Popular category. It contains a collection of popular framework templates. This category can be customized using properties files for the framework templates.
• Custom Frameworks Created With a Script Are Automatically Loaded - If you create a custom framework using an extension script, you no longer need to compile it. You just need to save the script inside the framework directory and Oxygen will automatically load it for you.
• See History of Recently Closed Files in the "Switch Editor Tab" Dialog Box - You can now see the history of your recently closed files in the Switch editor tab dialog box. This feature allows you to switch to a particular editor tab by selecting it from a filterable list of currently open files, and it now also includes recently closed files.
• Special Oxygen Distribution for Apple Silicon - An Oxygen distribution is available for Apple macOS aarch64 (Apple Silicon). It does not have a Java runtime bundled. It requires OpenJDK (or similar) 11 - 15 for the macOS aarch64/ARM64 architecture to be installed. It is recommended to use Zulu JDK FX 11 or 15 for macOS ARM 64-bit (.dmg installer).

API

• Remove Multiple Highlights at Once - The new AuthorHighlighter.removeHighlights(Highlight[]) API can be used to efficiently remove multiple user highlights at once.
• Create a Process and Keep a Reference to It - The WorkspaceUtilities.createProcess(ProcessEventHandler, String, File, String, boolean) API method has been added and can be used to start a process and keep a reference to it. This reference can later be used to stop the process.
• Replace the URL Input Fields with Labels in the Diff Tool - Two new methods were added in the DiffAndMergeTools interface that can be used to replace the URL input fields at the top of each editor in the Diff tool with labels.
  • openDiffFilesApplication(String leftLabelText, URL leftURL, String rightLabelText, URL rightURL) - For 2-way comparisons.
  • openDiffFilesApplication(String leftLabelText, URL leftURL, String rightLabelText, URL rightURL, URL ancestorURL, boolean showAncestorURLPanel) - For 3-way comparisons. This method can also be used to choose whether or not to show the base URL.

Terms of Use Changes

• DocBook WebHelp Classic with Feedback Transformation Deprecated - The DocBook Webhelp Classic with Feedback transformation scenario is now deprecated. WebHelp Classic for DocBook can now be integrated with the new Oxygen Feedback commenting platform instead.
• API Method 'createXQueryUpdateTransformer' Removed - The XMLUtilAccess.createXQueryUpdateTransformer method has been removed due to licensing limitations. This means that it is no longer possible to create XQuery update transformers from third-party add-ons.

Component Updates

• Updated the Apache Commons Codec library to version 1.14.
• Updated the Apache Log4j library to version 2.14.
• Updated the Calabash engine to version 1.2.5-99.
• Updated the Eclipse plugin to support version 4.18.
• The Everit library has been updated to version 1.12.2.
• Updated the JSON-Java (org.json) library to version 20201115.
• Updated the Java Architecture for XML Binding library to version 2.3.3.
• Updated the 9.9 version of the Saxon transformer add-on to support Saxon version 9.9.1.8 and the 10.x version to support 10.3.
• Updated the bundled Java Native Access (JNA) libraries to version 5.7.0.