Showing posts with label XML Editors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label XML Editors. Show all posts

Saturday, August 25, 2012

XML Editors


If you are serious about XML, you will benefit from using a professional XML Editor.

XML is Text-based

XML is a text-based markup language.

One great thing about XML is that XML files can be created and edited using a simple text-editor like Notepad.

However, when you start working with XML, you will soon find that it is better to edit XML documents using a professional XML editor.

Why Not Notepad?

Many web developers use Notepad to edit both HTML and XML documents because Notepad is included with the most common OS and it is simple to use. Personally I often use Notepad for quick editing of simple HTML, CSS, and XML files.

But, if you use Notepad for XML editing, you will soon run into problems.

Notepad does not know that you are writing XML, so it will not be able to assist you.

Why an XML Editor?

Today XML is an important technology, and development projects use XML-based technologies like:
  • XML Schema to define XML structures and data types
  • XSLT to transform XML data
  • SOAP to exchange XML data between applications
  • WSDL to describe web services
  • RDF to describe web resources
  • XPath and XQuery to access XML data
  • SMIL to define graphics
To be able to write error-free XML documents, you will need an intelligent XML editor!

XML Editors

Professional XML editors will help you to write error-free XML documents, validate your XML against a DTD or a schema, and force you to stick to a valid XML structure.
An XML editor should be able to:
  • Add closing tags to your opening tags automatically
  • Force you to write valid XML
  • Verify your XML against a DTD
  • Verify your XML against a Schema
  • Color code your XML syntax


At http://www.nabeeljamil.blogspot.com/ we have been using XMLSpy for many years. XMLSpy is our favorite XML editor. These are some of the features we especially like:
  • Now available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions
  • Easy to use
  • Context-sensitive entry helpers
  • Syntax coloring and pretty printing
  • Built in validation & well-formedness checking
  • Easy switching between text view and grid view
  • Graphical XML Schema editor
  • Database import and export for all major databases
  • SharePoint Server support
  • Built in templates for many XML document types
  • Chart creation for displaying XML data
  • Intelligent XPath 1.0/2.0 auto-completion
  • XSLT 1.0/2.0 editor, profiler, and debugger
  • XQuery editor, profiler, and debugger
  • SOAP client and debugger
  • Graphical WSDL 1.1/2.0 editor
  • XBRL validation & taxonomy editing
  • Support for Office 2007 / OOXML
  • Code generation in Java, C++, and C#
  • New! HTML5 and CSS3 support

XMLSpy is just one of the six tools in the Altova MissionKit® XML software suite.
Read more about the Altova MissionKit for XML Developers.