LibraryDeveloper PortalXInclude & XPointer

Altova has added native XInclude and XPointer support to XMLSpy, allowing developers to easily build large XML documents out of multiple component documents or document parts. Learn more about XInclude and XPointer development and Altova support for XInclude and XPointer by following the links below.

XInclude (XML Inclusions) is an emerging specification from the World Wide Web Consortium W3C that provides a method for merging XML documents, document fragments, and even text files into a larger document using external references.

Altova XInclude support is fully compliant with version 1.0 of the recommendation, released by the W3C on November 15, 2006.

XPointer (XML Pointer Language) is a specification from the W3C used for identifying fragments and specifying locations within XML documents. XPointer extends the XPath standard by providing support for single positions within nodes (points), and information within and across nodes (ranges) to produce a location-set, corresponding to the node-set defined in XPath.

The Edit | Insert XInclude command is available in Text View and Grid Views of XMLSpy® 2008. Selecting this command opens the XInclude dialog, where users can enter or browse for a file to include and can select values for the optional parse and encoding attributes, as well as the fallback element if desired.

XMLSpy then returns a valid XInclude statement in the Preview window. Clicking OK will insert that code at the selected point in the open XML instance.

The XMLSpy XInclude processor currently supports XPointer in XInclude, according to the XPointer Framework and XPointer element() Scheme recommendations from the W3C.

The Edit | Copy XPointer command composes the XPointer expression that corresponds to the selected portion of a document and copies it to the clipboard. It can then be easily inserted into any XInclude statement.

Start working with XInclude and XPointer using the world’s leading XML editor – download a free 30-day trial of XMLSpy® 2008 today!