[Possibly a FAQ - but one I can't find documented]

[Guest]

I'm intending to write an extremely specialised application that will
use XML to describe data structures for exchanging complex structures.
At this stage the exact structure of the XML documents is not finalized
- though I have an XML Schema definition for the current proposed
format.

I would like to make it extremely easy to edit the XML documents -
though at this stage I do not intend to provide a bespoke editor...
this may be an option in the future. What are my options when looking
for a (preferably free) generic XML editor which guides construction of
syntactically valid XML as defined by the XML schema?

 

[Peter Kruse [Si]]

Hi,

You could give Epic, XMetal, or XML Spy a try.
There are evalution copies available for free download.

Greetings,
peter

 

[Malte]

I'm intending to write an extremely specialised application that will
use XML to describe data structures for exchanging complex structures.
At this stage the exact structure of the XML documents is not finalized
- though I have an XML Schema definition for the current proposed
format.

I would like to make it extremely easy to edit the XML documents -
though at this stage I do not intend to provide a bespoke editor...
this may be an option in the future. What are my options when looking
for a (preferably free) generic XML editor which guides construction of
syntactically valid XML as defined by the XML schema?

I use oxygenxml, which, while not free, is inexpensive. Runs on top of
Java, so it is also platform independent, which is a must for my purposes.

 

[RedGrittyBrick]

I'm intending to write an extremely specialised application that will
use XML to describe data structures for exchanging complex structures.
At this stage the exact structure of the XML documents is not finalized
- though I have an XML Schema definition for the current proposed
format.

I would like to make it extremely easy to edit the XML documents -
though at this stage I do not intend to provide a bespoke editor...
this may be an option in the future. What are my options when looking
for a (preferably free) generic XML editor which guides construction of
syntactically valid XML as defined by the XML schema?

It is a FAQ.

Two free XML editors worth looking at are Vex and Morphon.
One is WYSIWYG(ish) - using a CSS stylesheet. The other is WYSIWYM. Both
use DTD/Schema to control what elements are available for insertion at
any given point in the document.

 

[Peter Flynn]

I'm intending to write an extremely specialised application that will
use XML to describe data structures for exchanging complex structures.
At this stage the exact structure of the XML documents is not finalized
- though I have an XML Schema definition for the current proposed
format.

I would like to make it extremely easy to edit the XML documents -
though at this stage I do not intend to provide a bespoke editor...
this may be an option in the future. What are my options when looking
for a (preferably free) generic XML editor which guides construction of
syntactically valid XML as defined by the XML schema?

Picking an editor is one of the hardest tasks, and was indeed in the
FAQ until the amount of available software got so huge that it became
impossible to handle in a FAQ. I duck the issue at
http://xml.silmaril.ie/developers/software/

*All* XML editors guide construction of valid or at least well-formed
XML -- that's their purpose in life, so in theory any one of them will
do the job. The problem is the "extremely easy" constraint, which is
difficult to satisfy for any known meaning of "easy" (it's my PhD
topic, and I haven't found one yet that I could call "easy"

Others in this topic have made good suggestions, and there is a recent
comparative paper on choosing an XML editor from Thijs van den Broek at
http://ahds.ac.uk/creating/information-papers/xml-editors/

Also have a look at Saqib Ali's article at
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/free_issues/issue_03/practical_applications_xml/
and list of editor links at http://www.xml-dev.com/blog/#19.

Maybe I should put Editors back into the FAQ...

///Peter