Xpress Author is an XML authoring tool designed to facilitate the creation and effective use of extensive knowledge resources, which have many unique characteristics:

• Created through the efforts of hundreds or thousands of authors, media contributors, and production workers.
  
  
• Topically complex, with an extensive taxonomy that guarantees relevance and accuracy in retrieval.
  
  
• Exhibits element and entity relationships that support dynamic assembly of smaller packets of knowledge into contextually accurate documents.
  
  
• Subject to a continuous, high volume of new and revised content that must be reconciled with the existing state of the knowledge base.
  
  
• Mandates the implementation of highly complex document structures and extensive metadata.
  
  
• Must be disseminated through multiple communication channels and platforms as accurate, timely, relevant, and comprehensive information uncorrupted from the proper authoritative source.
  

Each knowledge worker involved in the creation and maintenance of content in a complex, mission critical environment addresses a specific area of expertise and has little time to struggle with new technology. When given the choice, knowledge workers overwhelmingly opt to use their current authoring tool - Microsoft Word. They would also like to use Word without concern for the technical aspects of XML.

This is exactly what Xpress Author for Microsoft Word provides. Xpress Author is an add-on product that seamlessly combines with Microsoft Word and does not affect Word functions - except when the author chooses to create an XML document. Then, Xpress takes over to create an environment where Word menus and functions look and operate normally, and content is presented as the user works - without the distraction of XML tags, structures, or rules. Xpress Author ensures that content is valid as it is authored - not sometime after the fact

Based on more than three years of research and development and the rigorous application of the latest generation of Microsoft .NET development tools, Xpress Author resides in Word as a C# add-in that appears as a seamless part of the Word environment. Xpress Author monitors every keystroke, mouse click, and menu choice - invisibly tracking and mapping complex XML Schemas and rules to the content that is being developed in the Word user interface. Xpress Author delivers high-end XML authoring in Word through a host of features, including:

• A configurable, non-linear mapping between the XML Document Object Model (DOM) and the Word interface. Attributes may be selectively displayed on the Word interface. Allows for security markings or other information to be displayed with the authored content.
  
  
• Xpress Author maps element classes to the proper Word GUI look and feel for a comfortable Word authoring experience. The author does not need to know what an XML element is, which element should be used or how to insert it.
  
  
• Continual monitoring of the user's activity and dynamic activation of menu and toolbar functions only when they will create XML that conforms to the DTD or Schema in use. When the user inserts an element, Xpress Author automatically creates mandatory parent or child elements and transparently places the user within the proper element.
  
  
• A powerful data pipe for structured and unstructured data. Users may create external references to graphics or text using drag-and drop from a Content Management System or they may reference external data sources for runtime creation of virtual documents.
  
  
• Automation of metadata tasks so that the organization can gain search accuracy and efficiency without overburdening users. This includes pre-filling of metadata, automatic inheritance, dynamic roll-up from element to document level, and more.
  
  
• Application Interface - API provided for third parties to supply business logic to the authored content. This allows for Xpress Author to easily interface with the current generation of XML or Web Service based servers, providing flexibility for Content Management or Workflow solutions and supporting integration with legacy products through their traditional Application Programming Interfaces.

Some of the key architectural components of Xpress Author include:

• Event Monitor – watches for user interface events related to Microsoft Word and forwards them on to the Logic engine for further evaluation and processing.
  
  
• Logic Engine – manages the evaluation of the action and content related to the user interface event. The engine depends on schema and layout manager, Xpress Object Model, and the User Experience Manager to successfully perform its evaluation. Once content has been processed and is deemed worthy of passing along to the Microsoft Word document instance, the Word Object Model is invoked and updated.
  
  
• User Experience Manager – provides information related to how the document is permitted to be structured and presented.
  
  
• Word Object Model – manages the instance of the Word document and provides the primary means by which Xpress Author controls document content in the MS Word application.
  
  
• Configuration and Extensibility – provides for user configuration without programming and external development interfaces via the .NET framework.