UML Class Diagrams in Altova UModel

Altova products have long been recognized for their rich, intuitive user interface. One example is the UModel diagram window, which includes multiple display options for class diagrams to facilitate ease of use and improve information clarity in objected-oriented models.

Class diagram style for projects that generate .NET (C# and Visual Basic) application code

UModel 2011 Release 3 includes a new option for displaying class diagrams for .NET programmers. If your project will generate source code in .NET programming languages (C# or Visual Basic), your classes may contain .NET properties that can be called from outside like attributes, but are implemented internally as methods. To better organize .NET classes, UModel offers an option to display .NET properties and methods in separate operations compartments inside classes.

This view is an optional setting in the Styles helper window for class diagram display and editing. Choosing to display separate .NET properties compartments or a single traditional UML operations compartment has no influence on code generated from the class.

Service Pack 1 Available

Just a quick note to let customers of Altova Software Version 2011 Release 3 know that Service Pack 1 (v2011r3 SP1) is now available for all Altova products. In addition to bug fixes, SP1 includes important enhancements:

 

Support in all XBRL-enabled MissionKit tools for the 2011 US GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy. Support for this latest version adds to existing options for working with US GAAP 2009, US GAAP 1.0, and IFRS taxonomies in XMLSpy, MapForce, and StyleVision.

SP1 also provides Firefox^® 5 compatibility in the Authentic Browser Plug-in, which adds to recently announced support for Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer^® 9 in the WYSIWYG XML and database content editor.

 

Please note that v2011r3 SP1 is a new product version (not a patch). All customers with a license for Altova Software v2011r3, as well as any customer with an active Support and Maintenance Package for their Altova product(s), can simply download and install this update.

Visit the Altova Team at FOSE

The Altova trade show season continues as we head to FOSE in Washington, D.C. next week, July 19-21, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

We will be demonstrating the comprehensive support found in the Altova MissionKit for healthcare and financial regulatory standards. If you are looking to build solutions for achieving compliance with HL7, HIPAA, NIEM, or XBRL, we hope you’ll stop by to see us in booth #1428! We’ll be on hand to answer any questions you may have about these topics or the numerous other features added to the latest release of the MissionKit.

As always, we would love to hear about what you are working on and what you think of the show. You can also enter our Altova product raffle for a chance to win a license for Altova MapForce 2011 Basic Edition.

We hope to see you there!

Use Built-In XPath Functions

In developing one of the Altova Online Training courses, I sorted a list of books by the authors. I realized that my author field was a string of the author’s full name, so the books were sorted by the first letter of the string, or the author’s first name. It did not fit into the course to fix the sorting, but you can easily extract the last name from a string and use it for the sorting key using XPath functions. If you then use the books’ titles for a secondary sort key, you run into an issue with titles that start with “A”, “An”, or “The”. I want to use the title for the secondary sort key, but ignore a leading definite or indefinite article.

Let's take a look at how we created this XSLT code.

The Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) transforms data to XBRL in-house

What is XBRL and how can it help your organization? Members of the Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA) found out how using the interactive XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) format can help not only larger, public companies, but also smaller, non-profit organizations like themselves.

MACPA invested in the Altova MissionKit tool suite to support their XBRL project. Using our XMLSpy XML editor; MapForce, our graphical data mapping, conversion, and integration tool; and the StyleVision visual stylesheet and report design tool, MACPA was able develop a comprehensive system that employs XBRL data for a variety of reporting functions, both internal and external.