NiXPS
Thursday, July 26, 2007
  NiXPS v1.0 Explained - Part 2 - Inspecting XPS files with the Inspector tool
I've put the second part of my NiXPS v1.0 Explained series online.
This entry gives more detail on the use of the Inspector, a vital tool in NiXPS.
It allows you to get a lot of detail about pages and documents, and even gives you direct XML editing capabilities in the XPS file.

Good reading!

ps. Following parts are planned:
 
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
  NiXPS v1.0 Explained - Part 1: A general overview of the UI
The coming weeks, I'm presenting an in-depth overview of the NiXPS application.
These documents will make up the manual of the NiXPS v1.0 application, and will be accessible on the support section of our website.

Following parts are planned:


Part 1 is available on the website. It gives detailed information about the UI of the application, and the various ways to use the functionality. Take a look here.
 
Thursday, July 19, 2007
  Library news
Following the release of our NiXPS v1.0 application, we've been working on finishing the first release of our NiXPS library.
The library offers a convenient C++ interface to read an XPS file, modify it in various ways, potentially combining it with other XPS files, and write it back out.
The NiXPS application uses the same underlying technology, so all modifications that are possible with the application, are possible via the API:

Efficiency and choice were 2 of our main development goals.
This results in a library that is extremely efficient in reading and processing XPS. We went to great lengths to prevent unnecessary processing, and tried to ensure modifications are performed as local as possible, so the XPS file is only modified in places where it is necessary. Blazingly-fast-with-a-laser-like-focus kind of describes it ;-).

And regarding choice: XPS is Windows, but also Mac here @ NiXPS. Fully cross platform from the start. Other platforms are in the works.

You can apply for an evaluation version here, the documentation of the api can be consulted here.
 
Monday, July 16, 2007
  XPS goes to the standards body ECMA
I'm back from my holiday, catching up on mails and events to get back up to speed.

Some important XPS related news came in a few days back: ECMA announced that they are going to form a technical committee, TC46, with the aim of standardizing of XPS.
This is important as it illustrates that Microsoft puts their money where their mouth is: XPS is an open standard.

Also of note is the chairman of this committee, Mr. Martin Bailey of Global Graphics Software Ltd.
Global Graphics is a pioneer in XPS technology, and Mr. Bailey as CTO of Global Graphics is an expert on the technology. He has written a few documents in the XPS FAQ over at the Global Graphics site, these are a must read for everyone interested in XPS.
 
Monday, July 09, 2007
  Holiday Season
Nick is currently enjoying a holiday in Tuscany with his wife and son. He keeps in touch with his laptop and mobile internet connection, but I still received a nice old fashioned postcard from him while I was programming here on my own:


Thank you Nick! Maybe it was just to make me jealous, though, he knows I am a great Italophile too. However, I will get a nice little bit of holiday when he returns too, albeit at home.

In the mean time we are finishing the first version of the NiXPS library. The functionality is frozen, what remains to be done is some documentation and some final polishing. So I better stop dreaming of Tuscan hills in the sun and delicious olive oil and a glass of Chianti wine and get back to work.

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