---
title: "XML Editor Text View Gets a Big Update"
date: "2016-10-11"
categories: 
  - "development"
  - "tools"
  - "xml"
tags: 
  - "text-view"
  - "xml-editor"
  - "xmlspy"
description: Discover the latest productivity enhancements in XMLSpy's Text View, including a modernized Find/Replace dialog, select-to-find functionality, and a quick jump to parent elements.
---
Status: #blog

Tags:  #text-view #xml-editor #xmlspy

Categories: [development](/blog/category/development.md) | [xml](/blog/category/xml.md)
# XML Editor Text View Gets a Big Update

Starting with Version 2017, XMLSpy developers will have access to some new, time-saving productivity tools in their favorite [XML editor](http://www.altova.com/xml-editor), including a modernized  Find/Replace dialog, an easy way to select all occurrences of a particular string, and a shortcut for finding a parent element.

I was amazed how much time and effort these new tools saved me right away – let’s take a look, and I’ll show you how.

![News about XML find / replace ](/blog/images/shutterstock_113438227.jpg)

<!--more-->

## **Modernized Find/Replace Dialog**

The Find dialog in XMLSpy’s Text View has always offered advanced functionality including granular filtering options like searching in or excluding element/attribute names or contents, processing instructions, and so on, as well as the ability to search using Regular Expressions with an integrated Regular Expression Builder.

 

![XML Find/Replace via regular expression](/blog/images/find-regular-expression.png "XML Find/Replace via regular expression")

 

What gives the dialog its more modern feel is that it’s now modeless, i.e., it can stay open as you’re working. You can also search within a selection – this is the part that has already saved me such a significant amount of time that I get really excited about it – and each search term is instantly highlighted both in Text View as well as being indicated on the scroll bar, for quick visualization and navigation.

 

![Find/replace in the XML editor](/blog/images/xml-editor-find-replace.png)

Finally, the Find combo box stores and lets you search for any of the last 10 strings with one click.

Don’t worry though – the killer Find-in-Files window for Find/Replace over entire folders or projects is still available in the Messages window at the bottom of Text View.

## **Select-to-Find**

Another productivity boost is provided with the new select-to-find functionality: you don’t even need to hit Ctrl-F to search. Highlighting any string will instantly highlight all matches throughout the document, with their locations indicated on the scroll bar as well.

You can select a whole word to match (by double clicking it or via mouse highlight), or optionally match selections as short as 1 characters, all of which is configurable using the View / Text View Settings dialog.

 

![Select-to-find](/blog/images/select-to-find.png)

 

## **Jump to Parent Element**

Have you ever been working on a complex XML document and needed to quickly identify the parent element of the current node? Now, it’s as easy as Ctrl-Alt-E.

 

Make sure to download [the latest version of XMLSpy](http://www.altova.com/whatsnew.html) to try these new features out – along with support for big data in Avro files, support for new databases and drivers, and much more.