• 2025

    26.1
    Version 26.1 - March 25, 2024
  • 2024

    26.0
    Version 26.0 - October 11, 2023
  • 25.1
    Version 25.1 - March 16, 2023
  • 2023

    25.0
    Version 25.0 - October 13, 2022
  • 24.1
    Version 24.1 - March 7, 2022
  • 2022

    24.0
    Version 24.1 - March 7, 2022
    Version 24.0 - October 18, 2021
  • 23.1
    Version 23.1 - March 4, 2021
  • 2021

    23.0
    Version 23.1 - March 4, 2021
    Version 23.0 - November 19, 2020
  • 22.1
    Version 22.1 - May 19, 2020

What's New in Oxygen Publishing Engine 24

October 18, 2021

Related version: 24.1    

Oxygen Publishing Engine version 24.0 encompasses all of the improvements and new customization possibilities implemented in Oxygen XML WebHelp and Oxygen PDF Chemistry. This latest release offers new transformation parameters and components to help you customize your WebHelp output. For PDF output, you can now control the security parameters for the Chemistry processing, and more components in the PDF output can be customized (using CSS properties). Various bug fixes and important component updates were also implemented.

There are changes in:

WebHelp Output

Publication TOC Synchronized with Current Topic

The viewport for the publication table of contents was improved to bring the currently selected topic into the visible area by automatically scrolling it into position, thus making navigation easier.

Collapse/Expand Buttons Added to the Topic and Publication TOC

The topic TOC (the table of contents that is displayed on the right side of the topic page) and the publication TOC (contains links to all the topic pages and is displayed on the left side of the topic page) now contain collapse/expand buttons.

Control the Placement of Titles for Tables and Figures

New transformation parameters (webhelp.figure.title.placement and webhelp.table.title.placement) can be used to control whether the titles of tables or figures appear at the top or bottom of the component.

Expand the Top Menu When Clicking or Hovering Over a Menu Item

A new transformation parameter (webhelp.top.menu.activated.on.click) was added for controlling the behavior of the top menu. When activated (set to yes), clicking an item in the top menu will expand the submenu (if available). You can then click on a submenu item to open the item (topic). You can also click outside the menu or press ESC to hide the menu.

Compliance with HTML5 Validation Rules

The WebHelp Responsive output was updated to comply with HTML5 validation rules.

Deprecated Feedback PHP Mechanism Replaced with the New Commenting Platform

The deprecated Feedback PHP version from WebHelp DITA and DocBook distributions is no longer supported. To install a commenting component on WebHelp pages, use the subscription-based Oxygen Feedback commenting platform.

Smoother Menu Transitions

The transition from one menu item to another is now much smoother by having the delaying time increased for the menu to be hidden once the mouse cursor exits its boundaries.

Exact Highlights Following a Phrase Search

When using phrase search functionality and opening a resulting link, the matching phrase is now highlighted in browser instead of the composing words separately.

Component Update: Updated to DITA Open Toolkit Version 3.6.1

The DITA Open Toolkit version bundled with Oxygen WebHelp Responsive has been updated to version 3.6.1.

PDF Output

Control the Security of the Publishing Processing

It is now possible to control the security context of the publishing processing through Java security policy files. The Oxygen Publishing Engine requires two security policy files (ope.policy and chemistry.policy) since it uses two processes. For more details, see OPE: How to Secure the Publishing Process.

Control Copyright Metadata

Three new CSS properties (-oxy-pdf-meta-copyright, -oxy-pdf-meta-copyrighted, -oxy-pdf-meta-copyright-url) were added to provide the ability to control the copyright information in the PDF output.

Custom Metadata Fields

You can use the -oxy-pdf-meta-custom property to define custom metadata fields and it now supports multiple values (for example: -oxy-pdf-meta-custom: "First" "First-Value", "Second" "Second-Value").

Control How the PDF Reader Presents the Document

A new set of CSS properties can be used to control how the PDF Reader (e.g. Acrobat Reader) presents the PDF document. For example, you can specify the zoom level, whether or not the toolbar and menu is visible, which side panels should be visible by default, the page sequence presentation (one page or scrolled), and more. For more details, see How to Control the PDF Viewer.

Generate PDF in Compliance with PDF/UA Standards

Support was added for the pdf.accessibility DITA parameter. When set to yes, the PDF output will be generated in compliance with the PDF/Universal Accessibility standard (also known as ISO 14289). For more details, see How to Create Fully Accessible Documents.

Protect PDF Files with Security Permissions

You can restrict the permissions for people using your PDF files by using some new transformation parameters. For example, you can restrict users from printing or copying the PDF content, or require a password to access the PDF document. For more details, see How to Protect PDF Files with Security Permissions.

Support Added for the 'visibility' CSS Property

The visibility CSS property is now applied during the PDF transformation (previously, the property was applied in the editor, but had no effect in the transformation). For example, you can use visibility: hidden to hide something, such as the title for a block element.

Border Styling Improvements

More support was added for styling borders. For example, you can try various combinations of CSS rules that apply to certain aspects of borders, such as the border style (solid or dotted lines) or the transparency of the border colors.

Rotate Table Cells

For CSS-based PDF output, you now have the possibility of rotating table cell content by using the transform CSS property. For more details, see Tables - Rotating Cell Content.

Component Update: Apache FOP 2.6

Updated the Apache FOP used by the Chemistry processor to version 2.6.

Zendesk

Publish and Upload Articles to Zendesk

A new xhtml-zendesk transformation type is now supported and it allows you to publish DITA topics to XHTML output and upload them directly as articles to the Zendesk Help Center. For more details, see OPE: Zendesk Publishing Customizations.

Other

Dynamically Convert Non-DITA Resources to DITA During Publishing

It is now possible to dynamically convert various types of non-DITA resources to DITA during the publishing process. This support is enabled for a particular resource referenced in a DITA map by specifying the type of conversion using the @format attribute on the particular <topicref> element. For details, see OPE: Dynamic Word/Excel/HTML/Markdown to DITA Converter.

Component Updates

DITA Open Toolkit Version 3.6.1

The DITA Open Toolkit version bundled with the Oxygen Publishing Engine has been updated to version 3.6.1.

Apache FOP 2.6

Updated the Apache FOP used by the Oxygen Publishing Engine to version 2.6.

Apache Commons Compress Library 1.21.

Updated the Apache Commons Compress library to version 1.21.

ICU4j Library 69.1

Updated the ICU4j library used by the Oxygen Publishing Engine to version 69.1.