Software Review: Microsoft Expression Studio 2 - Expression Web 2

Written by T. Michael Testi

This is the first of a series of three reviews that will cover what is contained in the Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Collection. Expression Studio is the latest version of Microsoft's development design set. In Studio 2, there are five programs that are geared to Web and application developers and designers. The products include Expression Web, Expression Blend, Expression Design, Expression Media, and Expression Encoder. The goal is define what each product does and provide information of what it can do for you.

What do you need to run Expression Studio 2? On Windows you need an 1GHz or faster processor, Windows XP SP2 or Vista; on Mac, a PowerPC® or multi-core Intel processor, Mac OS X v10.4.11 – 10.5.4 (Leopard), 1GB RAM, 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) with a 24-bit video card, 2GB hard drive space, and DVD-ROM Drive.

Here I will look at Microsoft Expression Web 2. Expression Web is a HTML Editor and general Web design program that was developed to replace Microsoft FrontPage. It is targeted toward professional Web site developers. It allows the authoring of Web pages using XML, CSS, ASP.NET, XHTML, XSLT, and JavaScript. Differing from FrontPage, it uses its own rendering engine, and contains accurate standards compliant rendering.

In Expression Web 2, you have an editing screen that toggles between design screen, straight code, and split screen with the editing screen at the bottom. While it retains some similarities to FrontPage, it really is totally different under the hood. Instead of inserting jacked up tags and code, it really builds nice CSS-based code that is easy to maintain. It is also pretty easy to build larger sites by using templates.

So what is new with Expression Web 2?

• PHP Support – now will let you work with PHP sites and provide the standards-based features to this platform. You can just open up a PHP page and start creating. You get syntax color coding and full InteleSence control to help you choose functions and global variables, as well as tool tips that provide information about parameters. Once you have PHP on your system, you can also preview your pages locally without having to upload to a server.

• ASP.NET Support – has been enhanced as well to not only support ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, but AJAX support as well. AJAX is the essential technology for creating a modern state of the art site in which the full page refresh is no longer needed and gives it a more responsive, dynamic feel. You can now work with any ASP.NET Control as well.

• Photoshop Support – will let you import a Photoshop PSD file and choose what layers are converted. You can also re-edit the file in Photoshop and easily update your Web optimized graphic file. When you insert the PSD file, Expression Web will optimize it for Web use, and any time you change the PSD file, it will automatically re-optimize it using the update from source functionality.

• Silverlight, Flash, and Windows Media Support – gives you the ability to add rich Internet applications to your Web pages by using a simple insert command, or via drag and drop. Expression Web will make sure that your content is standards-based when it is added to your page. You can use Flash, Windows Media, or Microsoft's new cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering rich media, and interactive applications.

I found that Expression Web 2 was very intuitive and easy to use. I especially like the fact that it creates pretty efficient Web sites and doesn’t add a lot of bloat like FrontPage used to. The opening up to non-Microsoft platforms is great. The ability to work with PHP and Photoshop are an enormous plus, as are the updates to work with the latest and greatest Visual Studio (2008).

If you order the Expression Studio 2 Subscription, you not only get the five products in the Studio, you also get a copy of Microsoft Windows Vista, and a copy of Microsoft Visual Studio Standard Edition as well, along with a year worth of updates.

One thing that I had a problem with is that I installed the demo, signed up for the subscription, and they sent me a set of permanent disks. The problem I had was that I then had to uninstall the demo to install the live version. It would have been better if I could have just put in a key, but in the overall scheme, not a biggie. On the upside from this problem was that I called tech support, and the person was very helpful in explaining what I needed to do.

I think that if you are into Web development, and especially if you work with Microsoft products, then I can easily recommend Microsoft Expression Web 2.

 

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Expression Studio,Expression Web,Web Development

Software Review: XMLSpy 2008 From Altova

Written by T. Michael Testi

MLSpy 2008 is the latest version of Altova's integrated development environment (IDE) for XML. XMLSpy allows programmers to create XML-based applications and Web services in a more dynamic and easier to understand environment. The version that I am reviewing is XMLSpy 2008 release 2 which came out on May 7, 2008 and it is based on the Enterprise version. There is also a Professional version and if you would like to view the differences between the two, you can check out the feature comparison list.

What is XMLSpy 2008? It is a XML development environment for designing, editing, and debugging enterprise class applications that involve XML, XML Schema, XSL/XSLT, XQuery, SOAP, WSDL, and Web service technologies. Its aim is to be a productivity enhancer for J2EE, .NET, and database developers. Along with being an XML editor, it offers a code generator, file converters, a debugger, a profiler, and integration into Visual Studio .NET and Eclipse.

One of the other main features XMLSpy includes is the ability to edit XML documents in multiple formats. I personally think that this is one of those kinds of features that once you get used to it, it's hard to work without XMLSpy. You can look at your XML document as a text doc, a grid format, and as a WYSIWYG view. Next it has a built-in well-formedness checker and validator. If there is something wrong with your document, you don't have to wait till it fails and then try to figure out what is wrong with it; XMLSpy does it for you.

You also have intelligent editing such that if a schema is associated with your XML document, the auto-completion feature of Text View provides help in editing. There are structural editing features like line numbering, indentation, bookmarks, as well as expandable and collapsible element to aid in navigation.

You can create schemas quickly and easily, there is support for XInclude and XPointer, a built-in XQuery 1.0 processor, and you can transform your XML document as well. You have debuggers, project management, database import, and the ability to compare XML files. If you are using Java, C++, or C# to manipulate data in XML, you can generate code containing class definitions for the schema. That is a lot already.

So with all this, what's new with XMLSpy 2008 Release 2?

• Very large file support – has been enhanced to work with much larger files. These result in a reduction of memory consumption by up to 75-80% as compared with the prior version when opening and validating XML documents in text view. This now means that you can work with files 4 to 5 times larger than before. This will be very beneficial to those with databases and other large applications.

• Detailed find-and-replace in XML Schema editor – now adds to the robust find-in capabilities that already exist in XMLSpy by adding the ability to find-in Schemas. Here you can find within single schemas and across complex multiple schemas as well.

• Enhanced XSLT details in info window – now places an XSLT tab in the XMLSpy info window which provides information for developers working with XSLT stylesheets. This tab allows you to view the associated schema and XML Instance files as well as any included or imported XSLT documents. The toolbar buttons allow you to organize some or all of the files into an XMLSpy project or even add the files to a ZIP archive.

• New XSL Outline entry helper window – complements the XSLT tab and aids in the optimization of XSLT development. When working with a XSLT 1.0 or 2.0 stylesheet, it lists the templates and functions in the current XSLT file as well as those in any included or imported file. Here you can view or edit each template's mode, priority, and associated comment directly in the XSL outline window.

• Support for Java, C#, JavaScript, and VBScript in XSLT 1.0/2.0 engines – now allows those who embed program code in Java, C#, JavaScript, or VBScript to add advanced functionality to their XSLT stylesheets. Now, not only can you take advantage of XMLSpy's XSLT editing and transformation capabilities, but you can also test, perfect, and optimize them using the XSLT debugger and XSLT profiler.

• Support for SOAP 1.2 – now allows you to create and test Web Services messages using SOAP1.2 by checking the appropriate box in the SOAP request settings dialog.

• Project generation for Visual Studio 2008 – gives you the option to generate a Visual Studio 2008 project file when generating C# or C++ code in XMLSpy.

• Visual Studio integration extended to include Visual Studio 2008 – now offers seamless support into Visual Studio 2008.

XMLSpy 2008 is available from Altova. It is $1090.00 USD for the Enterprise version and $539 for the Professional version. Still unsure, you can download a 30 day trial version as well.

If you work with XML with any regularity then you need to do yourself a favor and check out XMLSpy 2008. Right out of the box it will begin to save you time and money in making sure that your data is correct and allowing you to see your data in a whole new way. As you progress in your learning of XMLSpy 2008, you will find yourself using more and more of the toolset and becoming even more productive. I highly recommend XMLSpy 2008.

 

Technorati Tags: Altova,XMLSpy,XML,Web Services,Visual Studio,SOAP,Software,Programming

Book Review: Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way Using HTML and CSS by Ian Lloyd

by T. Michael Testi (Blogcritics.org , PhotographyToday, ATAEE)

Trying to create a web site can be a pretty daunting task, especially if you have never done it before. When my son's swim team asked me to do theirs, I was a bit intimidated. I was a application programmer and I had worked on some website stuff, but the web is a different beast. The questions were many: what tools do I need? how do I layout my pages? do I use tables? HTML tags to directly apply formatting?

One could use FrontPage or a similar product to automatically generate the web site, but that was never my style. I would have to go old-school. I wish I would have had Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way back then.

Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way is geared for the absolute beginner to web site design. However, you should be comfortable with a computer, you should use the web a lot, have seen a lot other sites, have a good grasp on what you want for your own site. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and it is the language that generates web pages. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and it is what is used to format those pages.

Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way is set up into eleven chapters and an appendix. Chapter 1, "Setting up Shop," explains what tools you will need to get going. While you can buy tools to use, the author shows you how you can also get them for free.

Chapter 2, "Your First Web Pages," will teach you what makes a web page. You will learn about XHTML — the latest version of HTML — and about the basic requirements for creating a properly formed web page.

Chapter 3, "Adding Some Style," will introduce you to CSS. You will learn how to apply CSS to add color, change fonts, and generally improve the appearance of your page.

Chapter 4, "Shaping up with CSS," builds on chapter three to teach you about border styles and more advanced page layouts. You will even learn how to position elements using CSS.

Chapter 5, "Picture this! Using Images on your Web Site," teaches you all about image. You will learn about inline images, background images, as well as learning how to make images accessible for your blind surfers.

Chapter 6, "Tables: Tools for Organizing Data," will show you when it is proper to use tables, and especially when they should not be used. You will learn how to use CSS to make your tables more visually appealing.

Chapter 7, "Forms: Interacting with your Audience," will teach you about the proper use of forms to collect data from your user. Lloyd also shows how to use a free service to have data emailed to you!

Chapter 8, "Getting your Web Site Online," is all about getting your site hosted, uploaded, and presenting it to the world. Here the pros and cons are examined to see what approach will be right for you.

Chapter 9, "Adding a Blog to your Web Site," will show you how to do just that: create your own blog. You probably have an idea of what a blog is; a way to interact with other people. Whatever you think about this review, you can tell me in the comments. If you think I should have said more, or didn't like something that I said, you can tell me. I can then turn around and respond. Neat stuff!

Chapter 10, "Pimp my Site: Cool Stuff you can Add for Free," will have you spicing up your site with carefully executed cosmetic touches that won't break the bank.

Chapter 11, "Where to Now? What you Can Learn Next," will summarize the skills that you have learned as well as to provide a listing of sites that can take you to the next level.
The Appendix is an XHTML Reference guide that provides information on the elements that you are likely to use.

What I like about Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way is its quick and easy pacing, subtle humor, and straightforward manner. While this may be a beginners book, even the more seasoned of us learned, or perhaps I should say un-learned, quite a number of things along the way.

Book Review: XQuery by Priscilla Walmsley

by T. Michael Testi (Blogcritics.org , PhotographyToday, ATAEE)

As increasing amounts of data are stored, processed and exchanged using XML, the ability to access that data in an efficient, organized, and streamlined manner becomes ever so necessary. In the traditional data world, the standard is by using a SQL query, and as of January 2007 in the XML world, we officially have XQuery.

Written by Priscilla Walmsley, XQuery is for query writers who are familiar with XML basics, but perhaps not skilled in other XML-related technologies. It is both a tutorial as well as a reference book. It covers namespaces, schemas, built-in types and regular expressions. It also covers XQuery's support for filtering, sorting, and grouping data as well as how to use FLWOR expressions, XPath and XQuery tools for extracting and combining information.

While the book breaks out into 25 chapters and three appendixes, I will break it down in to its six functional areas. The book is approximately two-thirds's tutorial and one-third reference. It uses a running example that reflects many XML structures.

Chapters 1-2 are a high level overview of XQuery. In these chapters the author goes through what XQuery is, what it can do and lays out the example structures that will be used thought the book. She explains the design of the language as well as the data model.

Chapters 3-9 explore how to write fairly sophisticated queries with out using namespaces and schemas. Here she gets in to the building blocks that will be used to create your queries; that is, things like keywords, whitespace, function calls, and variables. You will learn to navigate input documents using paths, adding elements and attributes to results, selecting and joining using FLWOR's expressions, sorting and grouping, as well as advance queries.

Chapters 10-15 provide advanced concepts for those who want to take advantage of modularity. You will also look at XML namespaces, types, nodes and atomic values as well as learning about queries, prologs, and modules. You will get into schemas, static typing and the overall principles of query design.

Chapters 16-23 introduce advanced concepts for those who want to work with specific types of data, like numbers, strings, dates, URI's and processing instructions. There is discussion on working with other XML components such as documents, text nodes and CDATA as well as implementation -specific features such as serialization parameters.

Chapters 24-25 describe XQuery's relationship to SQL and XSLT by comparing SQL syntax with XQuery syntax and showing how to combine the two when it would be advantageous. The author also goes into XPath and XSLT and how they compare to XQuery.
There are three Appendixes; A which contains a built-in function reference, B covers the built-in types, and C provides a listing of error messages.

There is a lot of information contained in XQuery and it is obvious that Priscilla Walmsley both knows her topic, and is quite clear, concise and well versed on presenting the information in a logical style. While the book is aimed at the XQuery novice, it's usefulness as a desk reference makes it one of those books that you get to learn the topic, but keep forever.