ProductsXMLSpyXML Editing ToolsIntelligent XML Editing

The intuitive user-interface, rich viewing options, and intelligent editing features of Altova XMLSpy® 2010 let you edit XML documents quickly and efficiently.

Templates

When you start from scratch editing a new XML file, XMLSpy® 2010 helps you make sure that you create a valid XML document.

 See how to edit XML in XMLSpy now

XMLSpy® 2010 comes with built-in knowledge of the most commonly used XML document-types, and this list can be extended easily through the settings dialog.

For each known document type, XMLSpy provides a template that includes the reference to the corresponding DTD or XML Schema as well as the root element that serves as a starting point for your document.

You can easily extend or modify these templates to suit your needs, and you can add new templates through the settings menu.

Intelligent XML Editing Features

Once XMLSpy knows which schema or DTD your document is associated with, it uses its integrated validating parser to extract all relevant information about the content model. This provides you with constant background information to help you edit the XML.

When you insert a new (empty) element or attribute in the XML Text View or XML Grid View, XMLSpy® 2010 immediately pops up a list of available items that can be inserted in this location. As you scroll through the list of possible choices, any annotations present in the associated schema are displayed to the right of each element or attribute, helping you better understand the use of each element while editing.

Context-sensitive choices in Text View:

Context sensitive choices in Grid View:

A similar popup is displayed if the contents of an element or attribute are restricted by an enumeration or a choice. As you type the name of an element or attribute, XMLSpy will automatically choose the best match from the menu, which you can accept by hitting the Return key.

Without the XML editing features in XMLSpy, editing in a plain text view might result in unbalanced brackets, elements that were not closed properly, or other violations of the well-formedness principle.

XMLSpy® 2010 helps you avoid these problems while you edit XML by automatically completing the element and inserting all required attributes as soon as you hit the closing bracket on your keyboard. The cursor is then positioned between the start and end tag of the element so that you can easily continue to add child elements or content, ensuring that your edits are valid.

XMLSpy® 2010 further simplifies designing and editing XML documents by providing three palette-like entry helper windows, which allow you to insert a new element into your document quickly by showing which elements are permissible in the current location.

You can choose to append an element, insert it before the selected element, or add a child-element to the selected one. Depending on the context, the entry helper window automatically adjusts its list of available choices.

Required elements are automatically highlighted by an exclamation mark. Elements that are allowed within the current parent element, but not at the position of the current selection, are shown in gray.

Double-clicking on the desired item inserts the corresponding element into the XML document. The entry helper is automatically updated to reflect your new options.

Should you still manage to create a sequence of elements that violates the content model specified by your schema or DTD, the built-in incremental validating parser automatically detects this violation and displays its error message directly in the entry helper window.

The attribute entry helper is shown in a second palette-window of the XML editor. It displays a list of available attributes for the element you are editing and offers the same functionality as the element entry helper.

If you are editing DTDs or documents based on a DTD content-model (such as XHTML), the entity entry helper presents a list of defined entities or parameter entities that you can insert within your document.

Info Window

In addition to these entry helper windows, XMLSpy® 2010 provides an information window that displays detailed information about the current attribute or element as you edit the XML file.

The information window is available in all XMLSpy® 2010 editing views.

Undo

XMLSpy® 2010 implements an unlimited undo/redo function across all views. XMLSpy® 2010 tracks every modification to your document and allows you to go back and forth between these changes to review the last steps of your work.

Sort

When you are viewing repeating elements in the table view, XMLSpy® 2010 shows the respective attributes and sub-elements as columns and allows you to easily sort all elements in this table in ascending or descending order with one click. XMLSpy® 2010 automatically tries to detect whether an alphabetic or numerical sort is required and prompts the user if it cannot detect the type.

Experience these powerful XML editing capabilities for yourself - Download a free 30-day trial of XMLSpy.