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The Stylus Scoop February 2006 - Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes

Dear Stylus Studio Friends,

Everyone's talking about XQuery, but when that person is the XQuery co-inventor, Jonathan Robie, it makes sense to listen. We're especially pleased to bring you a full interview with Mr. Robie in this month's Scoop. It's quite a, well, scoop, even by Stylus Scoop standards.

Also this month: Can six minutes change your life? It can if you watch Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes –- the world's fastest introduction to XML tools. And as usual, we've got new tutorials on building XML workflow applications, podcasts on building B2B applications, and more -– all this from the world's most informative XML developer newsletter, the Stylus Scoop. Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Ivan Pedruzzi, Stylus Studio Product Manager

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Table of Contents, February 2006

• Interview with XQuery Co-Inventor, Jonathan Robie
• Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes!
• Building XML Workflow Applications, by Dr. Michael Kay
• Podcast: Business-to-Business Data Integration with SOA
• True Stylus Studio Stories: Stylus Studio Overachieves

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Stylus Studio Queries XQuery Co-Inventor, Jonathan Robie

Jonathan Robie is a co-inventor XQuery, and the XQuery Technology Lead for DataDirect XQuery, a high-performance, embeddable Java component that enables XQuery access to all the major relational databases, which first shipped in September 2005. If you've ever even thought about using XQuery, or are curious to learn what the XQuery buzz is about, this interview with Jonathan Robie qualifies as a compelling read. Just look at the topics it covers:

• How to get started with XQuery
• Using XQuery to access relational databases as XML
• How XQuery provides extensibility for data integration
• Running an XQuery from inside SQL, and SQL from XQuery
• Upcoming features in XQuery
• Why XQuery is succeeding

Read the interview, and learn how to simplify relational and XML data integration today.

Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes (As Seen on TV)

You heard of this thing, 8-Minute Abs? You know, the exercise video. Well this new Stylus Studio video tutorial is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 6 ... Minute... XML tools – Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes! Think about it. You're looking for XML tools, you see a boring, costly 2-hour training course – and sittin' there, one click away, is this other video, for free – Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes! Which one are you going to pick? And sometimes, less is more -- we guarantee just as complete a workout as the 2-hour folks – Learn Stylus Studio in 6 Minutes covers the following topics:

• Using the File Explorer to access to local and network directories
• Organizing your XML development projects with the Project window
• Working with XML files using different XML editing views
• Validating XML using MSXML, System.XML, Apache Xerces, and others
• Creating new documents from scratch with XML document wizards
• How to create XSLT from HTML using the XSLT designer.
• Converting legacy data to XML with Convert to XML.
• Keeping track of changes with XML differencing
• Converting EDI, EDIFACT, and generating XML Schema from XML files
• Using the XML Schema Editor to modify and design XML Schema
• Editing and executing XML applications using the XQuery and XSLT Editor
• Evaluating XSLT performance and optimizing XQuery applications using Stylus Studio's powerful profiling tools.
• Developing XQuery FLOWR expressions with the XQuery Mapper
• Generating Java code to deploy your applications
• Integrating Web services in your XML applications.

Wow! All this in just 6 minutes*, and free, too? Watch this powerful new XML workout video today. It will change the way you build XML applications forever.

* (for full effect, read the following silently with a speeded-up voice) Actual running time is 6 Minutes and 44 seconds. This video tutorial has been produced at a slightly higher frame rate to accelerate your XML learning experience.

Building XML Workflow Applications, By. Dr. Michael Kay

In a new article entitled Building XML Workflow Applications, Dr. Michael Kay argues that the bulk of the application logic required for typical XML workflow applications can be written in high-level XML processing languages, notably XSLT and XQuery, with individual components linked together in a pipeline processing framework. By writing the logic in these high-level languages (rather than in, say, Java or C#), you gain the benefits of flexibility and adaptability -- the ability to change the application, quickly and easily, to respond to changing business needs. XML gives you this flexibility in terms of data design; don't lose it by writing applications that freeze the data structure into Java or C# classes. Building XML Workflow Applications covers the following topics:

• Modeling workflow applications
• Choosing a centralized or decentralized architecture
• The life-cycle of a document
• Finding resources using directory services markup language (DSML)
• Writing workflow applications

Read the article online today for free!

Podcast: Business-to-Business Data Integration with SOA

Stylus Studio has jointly produced a new Podcast entitled B2B Data Integration in a SOA World. The one-hour podcast features ZapThink analysts Jason Bloomberg and Ron Schmelzer, as well as expert guest Jerry King (VP of DataDirect's XML Products Group) and Patrick Smith (Director of product management at Xenos). The podcast covers the following topics:

• How XQuery can simplify today's data integration challenges
• Why SOA doesn't solve the semantic challenge
• How to approach data integration in the context of SOA
• Understanding the work required for successful data integration

You can listen to the podcast online or download it to your iPod for free today. (And if you bop your head up and down while you listen, no one will know you're rocking out to B2B.)

True Stylus Studio Stories:

In Network World Magazine's February 6, 2006 newsletter, Mark Gibbs writes: "DataDirect could be accused of being overachievers - Stylus Studio is a smorgasbord of tools... The user interface of the Integrated Development Environment is beautiful." Mark Concludes: "This is a huge product and appears to cover perhaps the broadest selection of XML data manipulation abilities I've come across from a single vendor." XML developers can read the full article online today.

Tell us why you use Stylus Studio! Email us and we'll respond!

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