[ANN] Validate, Search and Transform XML with XML Hammer 1.0 rc-2

[Edwin Dankert]

I am very pleased to announce the release of the second release-
candidate of version 1.0 of the XML Hammer application.

The XML Hammer application is a free and open-source tool that
simplifies elementary XML actions like checking for well-formedness,
validation, transformation and xpath searches using any JAXP
implementation.

This release fixes all previously outstanding issues and also adds out-
of-the-box support for RelaxNG schema validation.

The main bugs fixed are:

* Improved console output,
* .sh file no longer calls javaw,
* again possible to add items to the class-path.

To download this version please go to:
http://www.xmlhammer.org/downloads.html

Issues can be reported by either sending an e-mail directly to me [1],
sending an e-mail to the mailing-lists [2] or by using the issue
tracking [3] system.

Kind regards,
Edwin Dankert

[1] edankert at gmail dot com
[2] http://www.xmlhammer.org/mail-lists.html
[3] http://www.xmlhammer.org/issue-tracking.html

 

[Peter Flynn]

I am very pleased to announce the release of the second release-
candidate of version 1.0 of the XML Hammer application.

This looks very useful, but the Open action wants an XML Hammer Project
file...but there is no New action to create one.

///Peter

 

[Joe Kesselman]

I am very pleased to announce the release of the second release-
candidate of version 1.0 of the XML Hammer application.

Haven't looked at the tool yet, but I love the name. <grin/>

 

[Peter Flynn]

Haven't looked at the tool yet, but I love the name. <grin/>

I did once consider XML Spanner for an application which used PIs to
mark start and end points for visual styles spanning across markup
boundaries, like GRiF used to do

///Peter

 

[Edwin Dankert]

Thank you very much for the comment.

An XML Hammer project can be either of the 5 types of projects
(XML Parser, XPath Search, XSL Transform, Schema Validator or
Stylesheet Validator) which can be created using either the
file -> new menu-option or the toolbar button.

Do you think it is confusing to use a generic name for these
projects?

Kind regards,
Edwin

 

[Peter Flynn]

Thank you very much for the comment.

An XML Hammer project can be either of the 5 types of projects
(XML Parser, XPath Search, XSL Transform, Schema Validator or
Stylesheet Validator) which can be created using either the
file -> new menu-option or the toolbar button.

It wasn't obvious to me how I would check a file for well-formedness or
validity, when there is no File | Open action. I think I may have
misunderstood what this tool is for.

Do you think it is confusing to use a generic name for these
projects?

I think it is...a user is file-centered, and expects to open a file and
then do something to it. Asking them to open the action first, and the
file afterwards, is counter-intuitive.

When I open a new XML Parser (I think I am beginning to understand you
now: you mean a new instance of a parser), it asks me to specify the
input documents using a filter or a URI. Again, there is no File | Open
action. I eventually managed to get it to validate the XML documents in
a directory, but I'm not clear what advantage this program offers over

$ for f in *.xml; onsgmls -wxml $f; done

I couldn't get the radiobutton for SAX to work, and there is no explicit
option for "validate according to external DTD", although it clearly did
the work correctly on the file group I specified.

I think this is a very good tool for a certain class of developer. I'm
just probably not in the target beam for it.

///Peter

 

[Edwin Dankert]

I think it is...a user is file-centered, and expects to open a file and
then do something to it. Asking them to open the action first, and the
file afterwards, is counter-intuitive.

I think I understand where you're coming from, the idea however was
that when you select the New -> XML Parser option, you wouldn't
really
specify an action, instead, I wanted people to see it as creating a
new 'project' which they can configure to their liking.

When I open a new XML Parser (I think I am beginning to understand you
now: you mean a new instance of a parser), it asks me to specify the
input documents using a filter or a URI. Again, there is no File | Open
action. I eventually managed to get it to validate the XML documents in
a directory, but I'm not clear what advantage this program offers over

$ for f in *.xml; onsgmls -wxml $f; done

I hope the advantages could be:
[1] Configure the same as above using a User Interface,
[2] The configuration can be saved and reused,
[3] Potentially allows to specify more options,
[4] Works with any JAXP 1.3 Processor,
[5] Added functionality like XML catalog support.
[6] Previously created configurations can be run from the
command-line as well.

I couldn't get the radiobutton for SAX to work,

I don't understand how the radio-button could not work?

Could it maybe look like it does not work because you expect
different options to appear?

SAX and DOM provide the same basic set of options, it however uses
a SAX or DOM Parser in the background when 'running' the 'project'.
(note: it is possible using the 'project properties', to specify more
specific DOM and SAX options as well)

and there is no explicit option for "validate according to external
DTD", although it clearly did the work correctly on the file group
I specified.

Thanks for pointing this out ... 'Internal' was meant to represent:
the DTD specified by the DOCTYPE declaration in the XML document.
However I had forgotten about the meaning in the XML spec of
'internal' and 'external' DTD subsets, which makes my use of the
word very confusing.

I will change this.

I think this is a very good tool for a certain class of developer. I'm
just probably not in the target beam for it.

I hope people will find it handy.

Thanks,
Edwin

 

[Peter Flynn]

I think I understand where you're coming from, the idea however was
that when you select the New -> XML Parser option, you wouldn't
really specify an action, instead, I wanted people to see it as
creating a new 'project' which they can configure to their liking.

I think that was my misunderstanding, but it's down to my own
work-pattern. I regularly parse and validate XML documents, but they are
all unique instances. I simply don't have a need to create a project
just to validate a document. But many others will have.

I don't understand how the radio-button could not work?

It would not select when I clicked on it. I assumed that there must be a
component missing (like I needed to download Yet Another SAX Parser).

Could it maybe look like it does not work because you expect
different options to appear?

No, it simply didn't respond to clicking. This was using J2RE
1.5.0_08-b03 under Ubuntu Edgy.

Thanks for pointing this out ... 'Internal' was meant to represent:
the DTD specified by the DOCTYPE declaration in the XML document.
However I had forgotten about the meaning in the XML spec of
'internal' and 'external' DTD subsets, which makes my use of the
word very confusing.

It's a confusing business we're in

///Peter