Visual Net Server is a software platform for  development of semantic-based knowledge and content systems. It allows you to extract and annotate knowledge from a number of different formats and information sources. The key features are:

• Converts any format to XML.
• Advanced parsing technology transforms unstructured data and text into semantically encoded documents that can be interpreted by other software programs.
• Integrates data from different sources.
• Superior performance with caching technology.

Using Visual Net Server you can jump-start your knowledge management and content driven projects and be productive immediately. Visit the Visual Net Server web for a detailed product description.

Usage

·         Re-purposing of content. Interpret PDF-documents to extract ads that is stored in a searchable database.

·         Compile and integrate heterogenous data. Interpretation and analysis of web sites, web services and Word documents ito extract and compile TV-Guides.

·         Re-use and enhance content use. Parse and analyse building/construction descriptions to enhance them with a semantic encoding that is used for structured storage in a database. The content can be re-used in an interactive search application.

·         Personalise content and presentation. Parsing and analysis of Word documents to create interactive and personalaised manuals and technical documentation.

Description

Visual Net Server includes ready-to-go solutions for on-the-fly conversion of a large number of different data sources into XML - this includes SQL, Word, HTML web pages, and delimited files. This means your end-users can continue to produce their content using familiar tools like MS Word. A new built-in text parser also makes it possible to translate virtually any text file format into XML.

Through an easy-to-use, point-and-click graphical interface developers can incorporate any data source and work with it directly as if it was in native XML format. Therefore there is never any need to produce or store content in an XML format. Users can continue working with their existing content production systems but still take advantage of all the benefits XML offers.

The built-in cross-media engine makes it possible to publish and deliver content to different output format such as web pages, XML documents, Flash, Word, Quark XPress and text files. Visual Net Server fully supports XSL-T for rendering XML but also offers its own easy-to-use template language. This allows designers to continue working with familiar HTML-editors and animation tools and still be able to present XML data without having to go through the painful process of learning and mastering XSL-T.

Visual Net Server analyses and semantically encode components that can be delivered in many output formats.

The development environment is fully integrated with JavaScript and VBScript allowing developers to take advantage of their existing skills and get a head start in XML development. Visual Net Server has an open architecture and allows developers to extend the functionality using and integrating their own COM-components.

Visual Net Server supports HTTP, FTP, file and mail as protocols for fetching and integrating content into the application as well as delivering content to end consumers.

The SOAP (Structured Object Access Protocol) for communicating and sharing data with between different web services is also supported. This makes it easy to integrate external web services without the problems of agreeing protocols and data structures with external parties. XML Schemas can be applied to validate the incoming data to ensure the integrity of your application.

The media component architecture of Visual Net makes it easy to re-use content and program logic. An easy-to-use graphical user interface gives an overview of your application. The graphical tool automatically produces templates both for fetching content and presenting it, reducing your learning time to a minimum. Many examples and a built-in on-line tutorial makes you an XML wizard within hours.

Visual Net applications are structured using re-usable components.

The innovative three-layered caching architecture makes XML a viable alternative for sites with many visitors and a high load. The front-end cache handles massive amounts of simultaneous user requests, the back end cache avoids unnecessary round-trips to the data sources, while the middle-tier cache avoids unnecessary server processing and XML transformations. The need for investments in additional hardware is greatly reduced when the number of visitors to a site increases.

Functions

System Requirements

·         Windows NT/2000

·         IISAPI

·         MSXML3 or MSXML4