Thursday, November 21, 2013

Liquid XML 2014 BETA - XML Schema 1.1, Visual Studio 2013 + lots more

Join the Liquid XML 2014 Beta Program for early access to great new features

We are excited to announce the Beta of the next version of our popular XML Development suite, Liquid XML 2014.

Download Liquid XML 2014 Beta

What's New in 2014?


XML Schema 1.1 Support
XSD 1.1 AlternativeThe Liquid XML Schema model now supports the XSD 1.1 standard. This adds many useful constructs including asserts, openContent and alternatives. These constructs can be modelled and edited graphically, and XML 1.1 compliant instance documents can then be validated against XSD 1.1 schemas.

Choice of XSD Engines
The XML and XSD validation processor has been completely re-written for 2014. It now supports a plugin architecture making it possible to select the validation engine to be used for XML schema and XML document validation. These validation engines also operate asynchronously providing background validation as you type. The 2014 edition supports the .Net 4.0 XSD Engine, and the Xerces XSD Engine.

Liquid XML Inline Properties
In-line XSD Properties and annotations
Although it has always been possible to view and edit the properties on each entity within an XML Schema model view via the properties window, until now only limited information has been displayed in-line. This has its drawbacks, especially if your printing the diagrams. New in 2014, all property values that have been set or inherited are shown in-line within the view, making it much easier to read the schema.

Liquid XML Studio Restrictions
Improved support for type restrictions
Type restrictions can be thought of as anti-inheritance, instead of adding to a type, it restricts the allowed content. The W3C XSD rules are very complex in this area, and up until now there was no specific support for restrictions. With Liquid XML Studio 2014 that changes and restrictions have their own editor. This makes it possible to see which entities are available in the restricted type, and also see the effective properties on each entity within it.
A template is provided making it easy to add or remove the types defined in the base by simply clicking on the +/- icons.

Visual Studio 2013 Support
The following tools are now supported within Microsoft Visual Studio 2013
- XSD Editor (1.0 and 1.1)
- WSDL Editor (1.1 and 2.0)
- XPath Query Builder
- Web Service Test Client

Improved Spell Checking
The spell checker now automatically includes all the keywords defined in the validating schemas associated with an XML document. So all the element and attribute names are automatically white-listed.

Flatten XSD function
A tool to take multiple XSDs and flatten the include XSD into a single file. This is useful when deploying an XSD as it makes it easier to work with from within an application, and some older tools.

Integrated Support for very large (TB files)
The Liquid XML Studio environment now integrates the Large File editor. The large file editor can open files over 1TB in size instantly. As the editor does not load the entire file into memory, it can operate very quickly on huge data sets.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Code Generation
Liquid XML Data Binder now provides code generation of project files for Microsoft Visual Studio 2013. Including Visual C++, C#, Visual Basic .Net and Silverlight 5.

Microsoft Visual C++ 12 Liquid Runtimes
Liquid XML Data Binder now provides runtime files for Microsoft Visual C++ 12, part of Microsoft Visual Studio 2013.

Download Liquid XML 2014 Beta

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Using the Create Sample XML Document tool

Sometime when you have a XML schema it is difficult to get started with how you XML document should look. This is where the Create Sample XML Document tool helps you.

E.g. When your XML Schema (XSD) has a target namespace set you may be unaware that your XML document must use the target namespace. This could lead to hours of frustration as the validation tells you the seemingly good XML document is invalid against your schema.

However, if you run the Create Sample XML Document tool, the sample XML document generated for you will have the correct namespaces declared giving you a head start.

See also Liquid XML product documentation Create Sample XML Document.

Friday, September 13, 2013

How to handle Oracle Fusion (SOA) XSD Imports with the 'oramds' prefix

Oracle Fusion (SOA) uses the prefix 'oramds' in schemaLocation attribute of Imports for XSD files within its Metadata Services repository (MDS).

When you export these XML Schema files to disk to edit them, XML Editor tools will report invalid paths for the imports as they will not find them on disk at the specified schemaLocation.

This can be handled in Liquid XML Studio using an XML Catalog file as follows:
 
1. Create an XML document in the Liquid XML Editor with the following contents:
  1. <?xml version="1.0"?>
  2. <catalog xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:entity:xmlns:xml:catalog">
  3.     <rewriteURI
  4.         uriStartString="oramds:/"
  5.         rewritePrefix="file:///c:/" />
  6. </catalog>
2. Save the file as to disk e.g. c:\myfolder\OracleMDSCatalogue.xml
 
3. Select the menu option Tools->Options. The options window will open, in the tree select  Environment->XML Catalogs. Then click Add and enter the path to the catalog mapping file you just created. E,g, c:\myfolder\OracleMDSCatalogue.xml.
 
Now when you open an XSD, Liquid XML Studio will internally replace "oramds:/" with "file:///c:/" so the schemaLocation attribute values will be able to be located on disk.
 
http://support.liquid-technologies.com/KB/a100/how-to-handle-oracle-fusion-soa-xsd-imports-with-oramds.aspx

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

How to create a sample XML Document from an XML Schema (XSD)

You can create a sample XML Document by opening the XML Schema (XSD) and selecting:
Tools->Create Sample XML Document

The new XML Document will include a schema location attribute to associate it with the XSD. When you click Validate, Liquid XML Studio will then will validate the XML Document using the associated XML Schema.

http://support.liquid-technologies.com/KB/a98/how-to-create-a-sample-xml-document-from-an-xml-schema-xsd.aspx

Monday, September 09, 2013

How to validate an existing XML Document against an XML Schema

To validate an XML Document against and XML Schema (XSD) you need to associate them in one of 2 ways.

Option 1 - Open the XML Document and click:
Tools->Attach Schema

This will add a schema location attribute to associate the XML document with the XSD.

Option 2 - Open the XML Document and click:
Tools->Schema Used to Validate XML

This will add an internal association within Liquid XML Studio, but will not change the XML Document.

When you click Validate, Liquid XML Studio will then will validate the XML Document using the associated XML Schema.

http://support.liquid-technologies.com/KB/a99/how-to-validate-an-existing-xml-document-against-an.aspx

Thursday, September 05, 2013

Visual C++ 11.0 XP Liquid Runtime

Liquid XML Runtime for Visual C++ 11.0 XP is now included in the latest Liquid XML 2013 point release (11.0.12).

Microsoft added a new option to Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 to allow you to target XP in your C++ build. To Deploy on Windows XP, all DLLs need to be built with the XP flag set. The new Liquid XML runtimes allow you to do this.

Note: You will need to manually change the setting in the generated C++ project file for XP. Also, you will need to select the XP version of the LIB and DLL Liquid Runtime files.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Creating a Super Schema


When generating code with Liquid XML Data Binder, you may need to include common base schemas that are used many child XML schemas.

In order to avoid having to build these base schema libraries multiple times, you can create a 'Super Schema' that includes all of the child schemas.

Please see the Liquid XML Knowledge Base:
Super Schema Knowledge Base Article

Thursday, August 22, 2013

XML Summer School

XML Summer School will be held on the 15th to 20th Septem­ber this year at St Edmund Hall, Oxford Uni­ver­sity, and we are pleased to say Liquid XML will be available for those attending.

"The XML Sum­mer School is a unique event for every­one using, design­ing or imple­ment­ing solutions using XML and related tech­no­lo­gies. The philo­sophy guid­ing the school is to help del­eg­ates learn at the bound­ary of proven tech­no­logy; teach­ing proven tech­niques guar­an­tees that del­eg­ates can use what they learn when they go back to the office."

More details can be found at http://xmlsummerschool.com/

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

XML Schema Refactoring Tools

Liquid XML Studio XSD Editor includes a range of XML Schema refactoring tools. This can be extremely useful when working with XML Schema, especially if you have generated an XSD using XML source data with the inferring tools.

Rather than having to edit your XSDs manually, the Refactoring menu provides automated tools for making global changes to your element and attribute definitions. Such amendments can alter the way in which the structural definitions within your XSDs are organised, making them accessible for reuse.

XSD Refactoring Tools

Friday, July 19, 2013

Adding xml to an ‘Any’ Element

Sometimes you will need to add an XML fragment into another XML document. A good example of this would be while constructing a SOAP request.

A simple solution to this would be to just build a string value and use the ToXml() method to add the xml fragment from your object model.

E.g. This C# example shows inserting an XML message part into a OpenTravel webservice SOAP request:

string soap = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?><SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" xmlns:xsd=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" xmlns:SOAP-ENV=\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/\"><SOAP-ENV:Body><tns:OTA_VehLocSearch xmlns:tns=\"http://www.opentravel.org/OTA/2003/05\" xmlns=\"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">";

soap = soap + liquidObj.ToXml();

soap = soap + "</tns:OTA_VehLocSearch></SOAP-ENV:Body></SOAP-ENV:Envelope>";

 

However, sometimes you will have the entire structure in your Liquid XML generated Object Model, where the above XML message part is represented as an ‘Any’ element within the XSD. In the scenario, you will need to use the ‘Element’ object within your code.

E.g.  This C# example shows inserting an XML message part as a generic Element object:

Envelope env = new Envelope ();

Element elm = new Element();

elm.FromXml(liquidObj.ToXml());

env.AnyElement.Add(elm);

env.ToXml();



From Knowledge Base Article:
Adding xml to an ‘Any’ Element

Friday, April 19, 2013

New XML Glossary

Please check out our new XML Glossary, an excellent place to learn XML terminology.

XML Glossary:
http://www.liquid-technologies.com/xml/Overview.aspx

DTD Glossary:
http://www.liquid-technologies.com/DTD/Overview.aspx

We appreciate any feedback and suggestions you might have to help us grow and improve this new section of our website.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Announcing Liquid XML 2013

We are pleased to announce the launch of Liquid XML 2013.

New Features Include:
  • Background Validation
  • Spell Checker
  • XML Document Visual Navigation Aids
  • WSDL 2.0 Visual Studio plugin
  • XML Data Binder Code Generation and Liquid Runtimes for Visual Studio 2012
  • XML Data Binder Code Generation and Liquid Runtimes for Smart Devices with Mono for Android and MonoTouch
  • Fixes and Improvements
Download Liquid XML 2013 today and try it FREE for 30 days.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Last call for Liquid XML 2013 Beta Testers

Liquid XML 2013 Beta Testers Wanted
Hi, we are putting the finishing touches to the new major release of Liquid XML 2013 and this is your chance to get an early view of what's new and also help us ensure the final release is as bug free as possible.

Liquid XML 2013 contains many exciting new features that have been requested by our users including Background Validation, a Spell Checker, new XML Document Outline Tree and Code Generation and Runtimes for Visual Studio 2012, Visual C++ 11.0, .Net 4.5, iOS and Android!!

If you are interested in becoming a BETA tester, please register your interest by visiting Beta Page.

Regards

     Liquid XML Team