Taming Bad Input Data with FlowForce Server

Whenever you accept data from an outside source you risk encountering errors. We have blogged about this phenomenon in the past in Expect the Unexpected – Altova MissionKit Solves a Number Format Mystery and in the series of posts on Processing the Groupon API.

Bad data in an input file can cause the data transformation step of a FlowForce Server job to fail. When a FlowForce Server Job fails, further execution steps will not be performed. FlowForce Server is designed this way to prevent an error in one job step from cascading into a series of additional invalid results. Happily, FlowForce Server also includes features to help you recover from errors and keep production flowing.

In this post we will further extend the data mapping and report rendering job described in Customizing a FlowForce Server Job to gracefully handle bad data in an input file.

RaptorXML is here!

We are thrilled to announce general availability of RaptorXML®, Altova’s third-generation XML and XBRL processing engine, for download and purchase.
Named for the dinosaur famous for its incredible speed and agility, RaptorXML provides blazing-fast validation and processing of XML, XSLT, XQuery, and XBRL data. Because it’s optimized for parallel computing on multi-core, multi-CPU machines, RaptorXML can scale quickly based on the amount of data you need to process.

Interface Options

In addition to numerous hyper-performance features and strict standards conformance, RaptorXML offers flexible implementation options for developers. These include command line operations, Java and COM APIs, a Python interface, and a built-in HTTP server. The built-in HTTP server allows RaptorXML to be integrated into SOA infrastructures and accept validation jobs, XSLT transformation jobs, etc., submitted via HTTP by other services or client applications.

Workflow Integration

RaptorXML may also be run as a component of Altova FlowForce Server, which provides a user-friendly Web interface for managing workflows based on customizable time or event triggers. This way you can automate validation or XSLT processing jobs based on a variety of triggers, or even pipeline RaptorXML jobs into multi-step processes utilizing MapForce Server and StyleVision Server that start with data aggregation, validation, and conversion and end with multi-channel report generation. The possibilities are many.

Product Options

There are three versions of RaptorXML:

- RaptorXML Server supports validation and processing of: XML 1.0 & 1.1, XInclude 1.0, Xlink 1.0, XML Schema 1.0 & 1.1, XPath 1.0, 2.0 & 3.0, XSLT 1.0, 2.0 & 3.0 (subset), XQuery 1.0 & 3.0, and more.

- RaptorXML+XBRL Server supports all the features of RaptorXML Server, with the addition of processing and validating the XBRL family of standards: XBRL 2.1, XBRL Dimensions, XBRL Formula 1.0, XBRL Functions, and XBRL Definition Links.

- RaptorXML Development Edition is provided to current XMLSpy, MapForce, and StyleVision customers for testing applications locally during development, prior to deploying them to RaptorXML Server or RaptorXML+XBRL Server. RaptorXML Development Edition is for testing purposes only and has limited functionality.

A note to current customers of AltovaXML Reporting Edition: As Altova's third generation XML processing engine, RaptorXML Server replaces AltovaXML, which is being discontinued. To help existing AltovaXML Reporting Edition customers transition to the new engine and get the full value from their Support and Maintenance Package (SMP), Altova is offering all AltovaXML Reporting Edition customers with current SMP an additional license for RaptorXML Server for the remaining duration of their SMP at no cost. In fact, the value of this new RaptorXML license is significantly higher than the list price of AltovaXML. The RaptorXML Server license is for four cores and can be used in addition to the AltovaXML Reporting Edition license you currently have. To upgrade visit this page.

Free Trial

RaptorXML Server and RaptorXML+XBRL Server are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, and you can download a free trial for your preferred OS.

Come see us at TechEd in New Orleans!

Altova will be exhibiting in New Orleans, LA from June 3-6 at Microsoft TechEd in booth #429. Come on down to the Morial Convention Center and speak with our experts about our new line of cross-platform server software products: FlowForce Server, MapForce Server and StyleVision Server.

If you are attending TechEd, stop by our booth to see first-hand how these new products offer high-speed automation for projects designed using familiar Altova MissionKit developer tools. While you are at our booth mention this blog post to receive a special giveaway. We can’t wait to see you next week in New Orleans!

Customizing a FlowForce Server Job

In our earlier post titled Automate Data Mapping and Transformation with FlowForce Server, we created a job called SimpleMapAndTransform to automate data mapping with MapForce Server and creation of html reports by StyleVision Server. After the FlowForce Server job ran several times, we have accumulated many output files in the same folder we use to process input files, as well as temporary intermediate files in the workFiles folder, as seen in the image below.

In this post we will enhance the job to create more orderly results and remove unneeded temporary files.

Automate Data Mapping and Transformation with FlowForce Server

Altova FlowForce Server, launched on April 29, 2013, includes numerous enhancements over earlier beta releases and one of the most exciting new features is the implementation of StyleVision Server. Now a FlowForce Server job can automate a complete data transformation workflow by executing MapForce Server for data mapping and pipelining results to StyleVision Server to render a variety of output formats.

This post describes a straightforward FlowForce Server mapping and transformation job as illustrated in these messages from the FlowForce Server Log, with the most recent step at the top of the list:

New Server Products for Data Transformation

On the heels of our RaptorXML announcement earlier this month, we are very excited to tell you about the availability of three more new products that round out the Altova server software product family.

These high-performance server products are optimized for multi-CPU servers and are highly complementary when used together for defining and managing information pipelines. Cross-platform support is immediately available for Windows and Linux, with MacOS support expected just around the corner in May. Supported languages include English, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

Let’s take a look at each of these new products in detail.

FlowForce Server

After receiving valuable customer feedback during the beta period, we have announced general availability of FlowForce Server, a powerful new tool for managing multi-step, enterprise-level data aggregation, processing, and reporting tasks.

The straight-forward FlowForce Web browser interface makes it easy to configure and monitor jobs, whether they require a single step, or multiple cascading steps starting with data aggregation and conversion, and completing with multi-channel report generation.

Announcing RaptorXML, the Hyper-fast XML and XBRL Server

 

We are very excited to be at the XBRL 26 Conference in Dublin, Ireland today to announce a brand new server product in the Altova family of XML and XBRL tools!

Altova RaptorXML is a hyper-fast XML and XBRL validation and processing server. It’s Altova’s third-generation XML and XBRL engine, built completely from scratch to help organizations efficiently validate, process, transform, and query the vast and ever-increasing amounts XML and XBRL data being generated as a result of XBRL compliance regulations and myriad other big data trends.

RaptorXML is written to be highly scalable for today’s multi-CPU and multi- core computers and servers. This, along with high performance code optimizations and an extremely low memory footprint, has helped make RaptorXML a lightning-fast XML and XBRL server that can meet the demands of today’s data processing applications.

Simply put: we architected RaptorXML to combine the performance benefits afforded by modern parallel computing environments with strict compliance to the latest versions of all relevant XML and XBRL standards.

RaptorXML includes support for the very latest versions of all relevant standards and has been submitted to rigorous regression and conformance testing. The server will be available in two versions, both of which are available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS platforms.

RaptorXML Server supports validation and processing of:

• XML 1.0 & 1.1
• XInclude 1.0
• Xlink 1.0
• XML Schema 1.0 & 1.1
• XPath 1.0, 2.0 & 3.0
• XSLT 1.0, 2.0 & 3.0 (subset)
• XQuery 1.0 & 3.0
• And more

RaptorXML+XBRL Server supports all the features of RaptorXML Server, with the addition of processing and validating the XBRL family of standards:

• XBRL 2.1
• XBRL Dimensions
• XBRL Formula 1.0
• XBRL Functions
• XBRL Definition Links

Developers creating solutions using Altova MissionKit XML development and XBRL development tools will be able to power their server applications with RaptorXML for hyper-performance, increased throughput, and efficient memory utilization, giving them the opportunity to validate and process large amounts of XML or XBRL data cost-effectively. 

Check out the complete list of supported XML and XBRL standards and more details on this groundbreaking new server product.

RaptorXML will be available to download and purchase in May.

Exciting New Project Management Tools

We’re excited to announce some powerful new features for project management debuting in MetaTeam this week. Seasoned project managers and team leaders will find new support for interactive Gantt charts both familiar and a welcomed addition to the powerful team and project collaboration tools they’ve  already  been working with in MetaTeam.

 

 

This release also adds important and oft-requested support for Microsoft Project integration including import/export functionality, new options for specifying completion criteria, and improved work package definition.

Read all about it over on the MetaTeam blog or give MetaTeam a try now.

Editing, Converting, and Generating JSON

As the use of JSON as a data transport protocol increases, I thought it would be useful to take a look at JSON support in XMLSpy. There’s been much debate about advantages of JSON vs. XML, but when you boil it down, there are simply some cases for which JSON is the best choice, and others where XML makes more sense. This article on the XML Aficionado blog unpacks this topic quite well.
While you might need to choose between JSON and XML depending on the development task at hand, you don’t have to choose between code editors – XMLSpy supports both technologies and will even convert between the two. Let’s take a look at how that works.

Web Interface Simplifies Automation of Data Transformations

FlowForce Server is a new product designed to provide automation of data transformations performed by dedicated high-speed servers. FlowForce Server can start jobs based on a variety of triggers, runs multiple jobs simultaneously, and can even run multiple instances of the same job, depending on workflow.

Monitoring all these complex activities is critical to success in a busy production environment. The FlowForce Server Web interface includes customizable views into operations, simplifying management from anywhere on the network.