DeltaXML tools have been designed to provide the publishing industry with the necessary ability to manage changes in XML documents.

The publishing industry has increasingly embraced the XML data standard, and there is a pressing need for identifying and processing the changes in XML documents. Few documents in any publishing environment are static pages. Documents are constantly being added to and edited in the course of their production and distribution. Whilst there are many powerful editing tools for the online and realtime editing of documents in a non-XML format, there are relatively few robust tools which can examine and compare and manipulate the changes which occur in XML documents.

DeltaXML provides a solution for showing changes to XHTML, DocBook, OpenDocument and other XML document formats.

DeltaXML uses a unique method of representing changes to any XML file, in XML. The change file - the delta - has the same look and feel as the original inputs and can therefore be processed using the same tools and with much of the same logic as your core data. Rigorous standards compliance, uncompromising performance and support for features such as Keyed and Orderless comparisons has led to DeltaXML being used in the publishing industry to achieve real and tangible benefits.

For example, Xcential has used Corel's XMetaL authoring environment to produce a solution for the State of California to track changes to legislative documents. Xcential selected DeltaXML to provide change identification for the XML documents, and Mark Peters, CEO of Xcential, has this to say about DeltaXML: "For its speed, simplicity and flexibility, DeltaXML has shown itself invaluable in our legal publishing and redlining modules."

For it's versatility in handling changes to large scientific and technical publications, DeltaXML has been adopted by companies such as Boeing, Jouve Aviation, Wolters Kluwer and Springer Verlag.

In the area of loose leaf publications, Stephen Reed from Hobbs the Printers spent a long time looking at available technologies to meet his requirement, and he has this to say: "DeltaXML was the only solution we found that could do everything we needed to do. No other solution could deliver."

Online Publishing

DeltaXML is enabling online publishers to provide feeds which identify changes and update, providing a more useful service to customers and an important differentiator for the publisher.

Document Merging and Synchronization

DeltaXML also has applications in document synchronization and merging. Take the scenario where a master or base document is being modified by two different users simultaneously. The first modified document is Edit 1 and the second modified document is Edit 2. Using The DeltaXML synchronization tools, intelligent merge logic can be applied to resolve the edits from Edit 1 and Edit 2, using the base document as a reference and identifying any conflicts. This applies to generic XML inputs, so you can use it for any structure of XML. And of course, because the output is in XML, it can be adapted to match your specific requirements.

This technology is currently being applied to reduce the cost of maintaining multiple translations of documents and in enabling multiple editors to work in parallel on one large document using the OpenDocument format (with OpenOffice.org) - see the DeltaXML OpenDocument merging product for ODT and OpenOffice.org.

Advantages of using DeltaXML

The advantages of DeltaXML for the publishing industry go beyond the obvious benefits of accurate identification of changes to XML files.

• There are advantages in handling large documents. Technical and legal documents can stretch to hundreds of pages and only DeltaXML can handle these quickly and accurately.
• There are advantages in being able to do more. DeltaXML is enabling processes that simply were not possible before. For Hobbs, printing loose leaf publications, DeltaXML has enabled publishing of only the changed loose leafs with significant cost savings and profit advantages.
• There are advantages in testing publishing systems. Regression testing always requires software to compare new results with expected results - DeltaXML does this quickly and accurately showing where there are problems and ignoring changes that are not important.

New advantages are being realised by our customers all the time - from savings in propagation and processing of data to new profit opportunities opened up in better management of publishing workflows. Companies in both the corporate and commercial publishing industry currently using DeltaXML include:

• Boeing
• Wolters Kluwer
• State of California Legislative Counsel
• Springer Verlag
• Jouve Aviation.
• Klopotek and Partner
• Daimler Chrysler
• Thomsons

DeltaXML identifies changes between XML documents and reports the changes in XML. The comparison is XML-aware and gives the user control over what constitutes a 'change'. The solution is domain independent and the result set can easily be processed. With support for very large files (hundreds of megabytes) and its focus on performance, DeltaXML is enabling the publishing industry and many others to raise their game to new levels.

If you are interested in learning how DeltaXML can help your business please call us to discuss how we can fulfill your requirements.