Open XML SDK, XMLSpy Standard Edition, and custom markup

Where the heck did August go? A few links from the last month ...

Open XML SDK V2. The first CTP of V2 of the Open XML SDK is now available for download. Eric White has all the details, including descriptions of the new features and before/after code examples showing how the strongly typed DOM can simplify Open XML development. This release also includes several handy tools to streamline Open XML development:

• The OpenXmlDiff utility identifies differences in the markup in two Open XML documents.
• The Open XML Class Explorer helps you determine which strongly typed class to use for a specific task, and includes the text of the relevant section of the ECMA-376 spec for each class.
• The Open XML Document Reflector takes a target document as input, and with a few clicks it shows you the C# code needed to generate that document (or a section of it) with the Open XML SDK. This tool will be a huge time-saver for those who need to write code to generate documents to match a template defined by others.

Entry-level version of XMLSpy. Alexander Falk announced the launch of the new Standard Edition of XMLSpy, which offers the most frequently used XML editing features of XMLSpy in a low-cost alternative. You can find a detailed feature comparison here, and ordering/pricing information here.

Custom XML markup in practice. While I was on vacation last month, Rick Jelliffe took a look at Wrapping with foreign elements in Word 2007 and OpenOffice Writer.