A set of new features is now available for the Test Bed’s RDF, XML, JSON and CSV validators, for which a new milestone release (1.4.0) is now published.

Release 1.4.0 is now the latest available milestone release for the Test Bed’s RDF, XML, JSON and CSV validators. Milestone releases complement the validators’ continuous delivery model that provide rapid access to latest changes, by offering stable versions for users hosting validators on their own infrastructure. The latest milestone release bundles several new features that have been incrementally made available in the previous weeks. The main ones of these are summarised below.

Generic configuration by default

Validators are normally expected to be configured with one or one “domains” that capture your validation needs including validation artefacts and configuration options. To facilitate experimentation all validators now come preconfigured by default with a generic configuration that validates content using artefacts provided as part of the input. These configurations match the online generic validator instances per syntax type (see here for XML, RDF, JSON and CSV).

Foreseeing a generic setup by default avoids previous blocking startup errors, and makes it simpler to start experimenting with validators using their base Docker images (see for XML, RDF, JSON and CSV) before completing their configuration.

JSON validator support for latest schema specifications

The JSON validator has received a significant upgrade to provide support for the latest JSON Schema specification, supporting now Draft 2019-09 and Draft 2020-12. This extends the validation options for JSON content to cover potentially complex needs such as the validation of tuples and schema extensions. Note that the validator remains fully backwards compatible, with schemas of earlier draft versions remaining fully supported.

New validator configuration options

All validators’ configuration properties have now been extended with additional options to further customise their use. Specifically:

• Hidden validation types: Certain validator types or options can now be configured as hidden on the validators’ user interface. Such hidden types can still be used through the validators’ machine-to-machine APIs allowing for better promotion of latest specification versions and support for validations that we want to have available but not promoted.
• Dynamic interface labels: You may now configure different labels for each combination of validation type and option that will be displayed once selected. This allows a single validator to support a diverse set of options which potentially different meanings.
• Extended report metadata: XML and JSON reports can now be configured with additional custom metadata related to the specific validator instance and the selected validation type. In addition, the XML validator now allows the inclusion of Schematron rule IDs in all reports.
• Simplified on-premise deployments: Deploying validator instances on-premise now benefit from a simplified proxy configuration allowing for easier integrations.

Besides these points new security enhancements are in place for all validators enforcing a strict content security policy. Nonetheless you may still define script extensions for validators as trusted sources when these are part of your configuration.

Technology upgrades

Besides feature updates, this release provided an opportunity to upgrade the key technology stack of all validators. The Java version used to launch validators is now upgraded to Java 17, the latest Java Long Term Support (LTS) version, and the underlying Spring Boot framework to version 3. In addition, the published images on the Docker Hub have been redefined to significantly decrease their size compared to earlier releases.

Validator release references

The table below provides the relevant reference links for each validator. For the detailed list of updates introduced by the latest release check the change history links.

Remember that you can automatically receive updates for new milestone releases by either subscribing to the Test Bed community and configuring your notification preferences, or by subscribing to the validators’ GitHub repositories.

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