XML Editors

[L. Scott M.]

First I am just starting off using Linux, trying to wean myself away
from Microsoft.

I have some XML files that I have been supporting using Microsoft
Visual Studio 2003/2005, within this enterprise they have the ability
to edit XML files as standard text and they have the ability to edit
the file in a "data grid" view. The "data grid" provides an easy way
to enter data within XML nodes. I know that VS 2003 will also
generate a schema "xsd" file from an "xml" file - have not tried with
2005. Of course it also checks the XML document for being "well
formed".

Does the Linux community have a package that can provide the same
capabilities as the MS nemisis ? Yes, I do know that cutting/pasting
works but when one is transcribing notes into a document one does not
want to worry about "tags".

Thank you for your time,
Scott M.

 

[Michael Robinson]

First I am just starting off using Linux, trying to wean myself away
from Microsoft.

I have some XML files that I have been supporting using Microsoft
Visual Studio 2003/2005, within this enterprise they have the ability
to edit XML files as standard text and they have the ability to edit
the file in a "data grid" view. The "data grid" provides an easy way
to enter data within XML nodes. I know that VS 2003 will also
generate a schema "xsd" file from an "xml" file - have not tried with
2005. Of course it also checks the XML document for being "well
formed".

Does the Linux community have a package that can provide the same
capabilities as the MS nemisis ? Yes, I do know that cutting/pasting
works but when one is transcribing notes into a document one does not
want to worry about "tags".

Thank you for your time,
Scott M.

http://www.conglomerate.org/intro.html

Does that look like it'll work?

 

[Joseph Kesselman]

I'm not familiar with the "data grid view", so I have no comments on
whether there's anything precisely equivalent. There are a lot of of
portable XML editors, including several which happily plug into or work
smoothly with Eclipse (which is in some sense the portable equivalent of
Visual Studio)... but I tend to either edit my XML entirely manually (eg
with Emacs XML mode) or entirely programmatically, so I haven't had
reason to go looking for compromises between those extremes.


Generating a schema from an XML file... "That trick rarely works". It's
certainly possible to automatically generate ONE OF the possible schemas
which describes a document, but that will generally be over-specific in
some areas and under-specific in others. There are tools which will take
a collection of XML files and attempt to derive a common schema that
covers the whole set, but success still tends to be limited; at best you
may get something that's close enough that it's worth using as a basis
for manually taking it the rest of the way.

Designing the schema first, then using it to guide creation of instance
documents, is the ideal approach. If you aren't ready to do that...
maybe you should be sticking with well-formed documents until the design
settles down?

 

[L. Scott M.]

I will take a look at it, it appears to look like it would work -
Thanks !!!!!

 

[L. Scott M.]

I'm not familiar with the "data grid view", so I have no comments on
whether there's anything precisely equivalent. There are a lot of of
portable XML editors, including several which happily plug into or work
smoothly with Eclipse (which is in some sense the portable equivalent of
Visual Studio)... but I tend to either edit my XML entirely manually (eg
with Emacs XML mode) or entirely programmatically, so I haven't had
reason to go looking for compromises between those extremes.

Generating a schema from an XML file... "That trick rarely works". It's
certainly possible to automatically generate ONE OF the possible schemas
which describes a document, but that will generally be over-specific in
some areas and under-specific in others. There are tools which will take
a collection of XML files and attempt to derive a common schema that
covers the whole set, but success still tends to be limited; at best you
may get something that's close enough that it's worth using as a basis
for manually taking it the rest of the way.

Designing the schema first, then using it to guide creation of instance
documents, is the ideal approach. If you aren't ready to do that...
maybe you should be sticking with well-formed documents until the design
settles down?

Yeah, I was not too impressed with the schema generated by Microsoft
Visual Studio either, but the concept intrigued me and does provide a
foundation to start from - especially if one hand wrote an XML
document.

I will into Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/) and Conglomerate (http://
www.conglomerate.org/intro.html), it looks like either or both may
satisfy this requirement. Heck, maybe "emacs" would work, but I am
not familiar with its abilities, it sounds text based, maybe like an
ISPF mainframe editor but with added features could support entering
of data in XML nodes....

Thanks for the pointers,
Scott M.


Here are some links to pics that kind of depict what I was talking
about....

Using the XML and Schema Designers
http://www.samspublishing.com/library/content.asp?b=Net_2003_21days&seqNum=136&rl=1
http://www.samspublishing.com/content/images/bok_0672324210/elementLinks/12fig04.jpg
http://www.samspublishing.com/content/images/bok_0672324210/elementLinks/12fig08.jpg
http://www.samspublishing.com/content/images/bok_0672324210/elementLinks/12fig11.jpg

 

[ray]

First I am just starting off using Linux, trying to wean myself away
from Microsoft.

I have some XML files that I have been supporting using Microsoft
Visual Studio 2003/2005, within this enterprise they have the ability
to edit XML files as standard text and they have the ability to edit
the file in a "data grid" view. The "data grid" provides an easy way
to enter data within XML nodes. I know that VS 2003 will also
generate a schema "xsd" file from an "xml" file - have not tried with
2005. Of course it also checks the XML document for being "well
formed".

Does the Linux community have a package that can provide the same
capabilities as the MS nemisis ? Yes, I do know that cutting/pasting
works but when one is transcribing notes into a document one does not
want to worry about "tags".

Thank you for your time,
Scott M.

I don't know what distribution you're using (it is often helpful to
include that), but I've installed an XML editor on my laptop - don't
recall the name. I'd suggest you start up your package management tool and
search for 'xml' or 'xml editor' and see what pops up. There were a couple
in Ubuntu repositories.

 

[ray]

I don't know what distribution you're using (it is often helpful to
include that), but I've installed an XML editor on my laptop - don't
recall the name. I'd suggest you start up your package management tool and
search for 'xml' or 'xml editor' and see what pops up. There were a couple
in Ubuntu repositories.

Just checked - it is 'kxml'.

 

[L. Scott M.]

I don't know what distribution you're using (it is often helpful to
include that), but I've installed an XML editor on my laptop - don't
recall the name. I'd suggest you start up your package management tool and
search for 'xml' or 'xml editor' and see what pops up. There were a couple
in Ubuntu repositories.

Sorry about that installed SUSE 10.2 on my machine....

Just spent half the night messing with "conglomerate", guess I am
missing something, plus reading one of their numerous "read me files"
it said that 0.9.1 not to expect too much......

duh, I had gone through the "Package Groups", "Search" in YaST on XML
brought up a whole slew of stuff, there went an evening.

Really love the learning curve, getting a "tar" file then trying to
figure out where to put it, which switch to use, where to put the
install and then oops mistyped something, where did it
go.......... F@$% %^&&^$#^%# ........... oops that is how one
archives it tape, figure this all out but cannot compile or
something..........
..........then after four hours, a noble guide informs this lost soul
that it is on their machine already, even found "conglomerate", check
the boxes, pull the CD's and away we go, I hope.... It is midnight
there are a few more hours left....

Would like to find a brain dead site, for example this "tar"
thing.....
Copy files to or restore files from an archive medium. Options need
not be preceded by "-" (though they may be). The exception to this
rule is when your are using a long-style option. - Linux In a
Nutshell page 429. I then got to read three pages of options all to
figure out how to use "tar", my GUI Archive Manager would export, but
then the question was to where, my local user, root, under /usr/
bin....... where is the "politically correct" rule of thumb location
for downloaded apps ?

Installing as I type here, thanks oh great masters of the "tar" and
the "grep" - seriously thanks, lets see how this goes,

Scott M.

 

[L. Scott M.]

Okay, I like the KXML Editor, interesting in that I am using GNOME yet
this is a KDE tool....
"conglomerate" has a little ways to go, maybe it can be configured
but....

Thanks again,
Scott M.

 

[L. Scott M.]

Okay, I like the KXML Editor, interesting in that I am using GNOME yet
this is a KDE tool....
"conglomerate" has a little ways to go, maybe it can be configured
but....

Thanks again,
Scott M.

Still a tabular format would be helpful where the elements containing
data vs elements would be displayed like a table - for example the
"row / node" "NAME" would look like this:

FIRST MIDDLE LAST
Scooby none Doo
Name none Changed

<XMLROOT>
<PEOPLE>
<NAME>
<FIRST>Scooby</FIRST>
<MIDDLE>none</MIDDLE>
<LAST>Doo</LAST>
</NAME>
<NAME>
<FIRST>Name</FIRST>
<MIDDLE>none</MIDDLE>
<LAST>Changed</LAST>
</NAME>
<ADDRESS>
<LOCATION01>222 Normal Street</LOCATION01>
<CITY>Mayberry</CITY>
<STATE>NC</STATE>
<ZIP>55555</ZIP>
<TYPE>STREET</TYPE>
</ADDRESS>
</PEOPLE>
</XMLROOT>

 

[George Bina]

oXygen XML Editor offers you all you asked for:
- editing in source mode
- editing in grid mode
- generate schema from XML files
and a lot more, see
http://www.oxygenxml.com

Best Regards,
George

 

[Joe Kesselman]

Still a tabular format would be helpful where the elements containing
data vs elements would be displayed like a table

Suggestion: Edit as a table, then write a bit of code to import that
into XML. The fact that XML is your shared/portable representation does
always not make it the best representation to use when actually working
with the data.

 

[Simon Brooke]

oXygen XML Editor offers you all you asked for:
- editing in source mode
- editing in grid mode
- generate schema from XML files
and a lot more, see
http://www.oxygenxml.com

Seconded. Not free, not open source, but an excellent product nevertheless.
Good integration with the Eclipse IDE, if you use that.

--
(e-mail address removed) (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GP/CS s++: a++ C+++ ULBVCS*++++$ L+++ P--- E+>++ W+++ N++ K w--(---)
M- !d- PS++ PE-- Y+ PGP !t 5? X+ !R b++ !DI D G- e++ h*(-) r++ y+++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

 

[s. keeling]

["Followup-To:" header set to alt.os.linux.]

Sorry about that installed SUSE 10.2 on my machine....

Really love the learning curve, getting a "tar" file then trying to
figure out where to put it, which switch to use, where to put the

Assuming "blah.tar.gz" or "blah.tgz":

i) To see what's in it:

tar tvzf blah.tgz # add "| less" if more than a
# screenful.

ii) To extract it:

cd /some/where/safe # Ie. "cd" takes you $HOME, "mkdir dwn"
# creates $HOME/dwn, now "cd dwn"

tar xzf /path/to/blah.tgz # dumps contents into $HOME/dwn

Or, to pull a single file out of blah.tgz, just name that file
on the end of the command line. You get the name from the
"tvzf" output.

Copy files to or restore files from an archive medium. Options need

iii) Create compressed tar file:

cd
tar czf blah.tgz dwn # archives and gzips all contents of
# $HOME/dwn into $HOME/blah.tgz

not be preceded by "-" (though they may be). The exception to this
rule is when your are using a long-style option. - Linux In a
Nutshell page 429. I then got to read three pages of options all to
figure out how to use "tar", my GUI Archive Manager would export, but
then the question was to where, my local user, root, under /usr/
bin....... where is the "politically correct" rule of thumb location
for downloaded apps ?

Either in your $HOME if they're just for you, or in /usr/local if for
system wide use.

Installing as I type here, thanks oh great masters of the "tar" and
the "grep" - seriously thanks, lets see how this goes,

"tar" is quite versatile, which means a lot of options for special
cases. Most people will never need to use the more obscure ones. One
relatively obscure one they might need or want is "bzip
compression/decompression", which is the "j" (or --bzip2) switch
instead of "z" (or --compress, --uncompress). bzip arguably does
better compression than gzip, though it may also be more resource
intensive (better compression == slower).

As for XML, I've done a bit with it but only in text editors (emacs)
which isn't what you're looking for. I think I prefer to avoid XML
for now.

 

[ray]

Sorry about that installed SUSE 10.2 on my machine....

YMMV but I've found Suse to be somewhat difficult to work with and very
slow on normal software installs, updates, etc. I find that Debian derived
systems like Debian, Ubuntu, Elive suit me much better.

 

[L. Scott M.]

oXygen XML Editor offers you all you asked for:
- editing in source mode
- editing in grid mode
- generate schema from XML files
and a lot more, seehttp://www.oxygenxml.com

Best Regards,
George

Yes, oXygen (http://www.oxygenxml.com) sounds like just what I want
with the grid views and the price is reasonable (especially compared
to MS solutions).

Folks thanks again for all your assistance and options,
Scott M.

 

[jamesdrak]

Liquid XML Studio contains a comprehensive graphical XSD editor, and
best of all its FREE. We've been using it for quite a bit as our
company won't stump up the cash for xmlspy. Its done pretty much
everything we've wanted it to, and our schemas are pretty complex. I
think the url is http://www.liquid-technologies.com.

Cheers James

 

[L. Scott M.]

Liquid XML Studio contains a comprehensive graphical XSD editor, and
best of all its FREE. We've been using it for quite a bit as our
company won't stump up the cash for xmlspy. Its done pretty much
everything we've wanted it to, and our schemas are pretty complex. I
think the url ishttp://www.liquid-technologies.com.

Cheers James

http://www.liquid-technologies.com/Download.aspx
http://www.liquid-technologies.com/Purchase.aspx

Not sure what registration means but it seems to be a thirty day
trial....

 

[L. Scott M.]

Here is a demo of oXygen's XML editors grid functionality for those of
you who are interested. It is a little different than Microsoft's
Visual Studio XML capabilities but the grid concept does make entering
data into XML files a lot easier, not to mention being able to sort
the nodes. I will probably cough up the money for the individual
license - give me a few more weeks of annoyance, till the next time I
have to hunt for the node/element to insert data.

http://www.oxygenxml.com/demo/GridEditor/GridEditor.html

 

[Dick]

Here is a demo of oXygen's XML editors grid functionality for those of
you who are interested. It is a little different than Microsoft's
Visual Studio XML capabilities but the grid concept does make entering
data into XML files a lot easier, not to mention being able to sort
the nodes. I will probably cough up the money for the individual
license - give me a few more weeks of annoyance, till the next time I
have to hunt for the node/element to insert data.

http://www.oxygenxml.com/demo/GridEditor/GridEditor.html

Hi,

I wrote a free simple XML editor wich is dedicated to correcting and
validating XML. It has besides a source view also a treetable view where
you can "tagfree" edit values. In this view you don't have to bother
escaping XML reserved characters like the ampersand character.
The editor is written in java, so should work on all platforms.
You can find it on http://www.donkeydevelopment.com
Regards
D.Deneer