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Programming Software IT Technology

What XML Tools Do You Use? 70

Posted by Cliff from the tools-of-the-trade dept.
Omega1045 asks: "What XML tools do you use? XML Spy? EditPad? A pen, notepad, scanner, and a good OCR program? XML is now becoming more than just hype. XML, SOAP Web Services, and Enterprise Integration (EI) are really taking off from the number and type of contract opportunities I am seeing and receiving. Until recently, I was doing most of my XML by hand. Other than the nostalgia for those early HTML days, it is really eating into my time. I have started trying XML Spy, but to buy it will be a big hit in the wallet (which I am willing to do if it is the best thing out there). What does Slashdot recommend?"
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What XML Tools Do You Use? More

What XML Tools Do You Use?

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  • XMLSpy (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I have worked with XMLSpy and have to say working with UltraEdit is far more pleasant.

  • xmlspy (Score:5, Informative)

    by rogue_gambit ( 26909 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @05:03PM (#6164891)
    I use xmlspy at work, and it really is the best thing I have tried.

    Particularly the schema editor and the Authentic component (which is now free (as in beer)).

    In litteraly no time you can throw together a complex schema and make a nice gui interface for entering data which validates against said schema.

    It is definitely pricey and I can't say that I would have bought it for myself, but if you have to deal with a lot of XML then it is truly worth it.

    First post?
    • Authentic browser-edition is IE/Windows only with no plans for Mac/Linux.

      I'm not saying anything good or bad about it, the .sps is ok, but just so everyone knows.

      Does anyone know of any alternatives (obviously they can't stick to web standards, they want to provide a word processor in a browser, but is there something similar for Mozilla?)

  • Interactive structured drawing (Score:5, Informative)

    by derinax ( 93566 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @05:03PM (#6164902)
    I built an entire web-based interactive Expo map using Sodipodi (sodipodi.sourceforge.net). It was very easy to edit the native XML code (actually, SVG). I found the combination of Sodipodi and vi was as powerful and far more flexible in terms of optimizing the resultant code (e.g. search and replace &macros) than a proprietary structured program like Illustrator.

    God, I can't say enough about how cool Sodipodi has become.

    Good luck finding a proper viewer for the interactive code, however. Mozilla+svg has not even been of alpha quality-- all proofing had to be in Windows, IE + Adobe's SVG Viewer.
    • Have you tried the Batik viewer of Apache? ITs a Java program and it has a shell script to use it as a standalone viewer in X. It can also convert the SVG to about anything else out there.

      Also, gnome and KDE both use SVG extensively (for all their icons) so there must be SOME SVG viewer there. I know there is a SVG rendering library, so maybe someone has wrapped a viewer around it.
      • I _have_ tried Batik, as well as pretty much any SVG tool available on Linux (anything that would be caught by Google and Sourceforge, that is...).

        This particular project had requirements that no client on Linux could reproduce: an XML/SVG object rendered into a scalable / scrollable environment that can respond to mouse events (hover effects and browser open upon clicking). That pretty much limits you to Mozilla or IE... Konqueror came closer than Mozilla to this ideal but was still unstable and quirky

  • A good, free choice (Score:3, Funny)

    by jbrandon ( 603700 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @05:10PM (#6164970)
    A strong consesus is emerging around a new standard [gnu.org].
    • Of course, on the system *I* administrate, vi is
      symlinked to ed. Emacs has been replaced by a shell
      script which 1) Generates a syslog message at level
      LOG_EMERG; 2) reduces the user's disk quota by 100K;
      and 3) RUNS ED!!!!!!

      --Good thing you're getting rid of that 100K. That would hold one heckuva bunch of ed files.

  • vim and my brain (Score:5, Informative)

    by GusherJizmac ( 80976 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @05:14PM (#6165015) Homepage
    and xmllint.
  • ..when it comes to separating the men from the boys is of course VI. :wq

  • tDOM and Tcl (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Col. Klink (retired) ( 11632 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @05:19PM (#6165069)
    Being a Tcl guy, I use tDOM [tdom.org]. It has the fastest XSLT engine that I know of.

  • Um, it's still hype. (Score:1, Redundant)

    by pmz ( 462998 )
    XML is now becoming more than just hype.

    With most of the standards less then three years old (most are one to two years old), XML still seems to too volatile to base a long-term project on it. It would be like the early days of J2EE, where it takes only six months before the code base becomes "legacy".

    Also, XML introduces a lot of complexity into a project, where it is often better just to use HTTP properties instead of complex SOAP exchanges, for example.

    So, is XML really more than just a bandwagon, e

    • Re:Um, it's still hype. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by KDan ( 90353 )
      Not really hype. XML is extremely useful to exchange information between programs (eg on networks) without having to reinvent the wheel all the time. Personally, that's what I use it for. The fact that you can use it for config files and such is just a nice bonus.

      As for editing XML, I find that most of the time I'm manipulating XML programmatically, using JDOM, or using other libraries that manipulate XML themselves - I have yet to need to do serious hand-editing in XML. And even for that, I would think v
      • XML is really useful to represent any kind of structured data. It may not be appropriate speed-wise or size-wise, but you can do a lot of amazing thing with a nice structured data-model (schema) and then transform your data to all kinds of formats using XSLT (which by the way xmlspy also has good support for creating).

        Using the same data you can easily write transformations to xhtml, pdf, and lots of other formats, including or excluding certaing parts of the data depending on output format or other thing.
    • So, is XML really more than just a bandwagon, even today?

      Does it matter? The point is that many companies have jumped on the bandwagon. With wide spread support for XML it has become a quick way to transfer information from one program to another.
    • Firstly, XML is not a standard of any kind: it's a Recommendation of the W3C, which is rather different.

      Secondly, it's based on SGML, which is a standard, and is very stable, so questions of volatility simply don't arise. You can quite happily base a project on XML: while it may one day be supplanted, it can easily be transformed into a new format, unlike Java :-)

      What software you want to use depends on what you want to do. If you're doing "data" type XML for e-commerce, then XML Spy or InfoPath will be

  • The story has scrolled of the front page, and only 8 comments.
    1. Is XML dying?
    2. Is slashdot dying?
    3. Are there no good XML tools?
    4. Are the trolls sleeping?
    Anyway psgml mode under Emacs does a fairly good job. Add in nsgmls and xmlint and things are fairly good.
    • Anyway psgml mode under Emacs does a fairly good job. Add in nsgmls and xmlint and things are fairly good.

      Which of those modes does support XML Schema? Don't tell me about DTD. Today XML development is impossible without XML Schema. So, please do not mislead XML newbies about psgml being any useful.

  • stxx (Score:2)

    by sporty ( 27564 )
    stxx.sourceforge.net

    It's a plugin that uses XSL and XML for the display layer in struts. IMHO, it forces the MVC (model, view, control) pattern a bit more than JSP (java server pages), since you can embed java IN JSP. Extending XSLT with heavy duty business logic is really REALLY hard.
  • BBEdit BBEdit BBEdit!

    Always friend and often savior.

    Amen.

    Although, the BBEdit Anthology [barebones.com] is a bit crazy.
  • XML is now becoming more than just hype.

    i don't think you know what hype is. xml is very much in use just about everywhere that i've worked recently, and it is showing no signs of being outdated, or lacking in any way for the projects i've seen it used in.

    hype is a coordinated effort to make something appear better (you can define 'better' on your own time) than it actually is, be it through advertising, or the word on the street, or whatever. XML is great, and everyone that uses it knows it - they don

    • XML is great, and everyone that uses it knows it - they don't need to be told.

      I use it, and I have to be told. . . (by you, right now)

      You: C'mon XML is GREAT!

      Me :No it's NOT!

      You: C'mon XML is GREAT!

      Me :No it's NOT!

      You: C'mon XML is GREAT!

      Me :No it's NOT!

      You: C'mon XML is GREAT!

      Me :No it's NOT!

      Me :See . . . THERE!

      :wq

    • Um, the article AGREES with you.
      Reading for context: try it.

  • Xerlin & Saxon (Score:4, Informative)

    by hswerdfe ( 569925 ) <slashdot.org@ho[ ... m ['war' in gap]> on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @06:11PM (#6165512) Homepage Journal
    Xerlin is an Editor, its fairly basic and needs improvment but it usually works good.
    http://www.xerlin.org

    Saxon is an XSLT processor
    http://saxon.sourceforge.net/

    and hey they are both open source and based on java.

  • jEdit (Score:4, Informative)

    by HRbnjR ( 12398 ) <chris@hubick.com> on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @06:12PM (#6165523) Homepage
    jEdit [jedit.org] is what I use. It's Free Software, and runs great on Linux. It includes syntax highlighting, XML Schema validation, XML Insert (auto-completion, prompting from schema), XPath evaluation, and XSLT transformation. This functionality is built ontop of the great Apache XML tools - so it is quite complete and interoperable.

    jEdit is also great for more than just XML too! I used to be mainly an Emacs user - but I spend my days in Eclipse (for Java and C++) and jEdit (for everything else) now.

    • Re:jEdit (Score:2, Informative)

      by stagmeister ( 575321 )
      The autocomplete in jEdit is great! I use it a LOT, when editing both XML documents, and also HTML.

      Also, jEdit has support for DTDs, and if you have a valid DTD for your document, it will find and show you errors in your document so that you can fix it properly if you ever break the XML rules.

      --Jason
    • I'll second this one. jEdit saved me hours of work on a book written in DocBook XML. The auto-completion of tags is simply perfect--it really couldn't have been implemented any nicer than it has been. For most things I still use vim, and I have a pretty nice set of vim macros for tag insertion and editing, but it really doesn't compare to the ease of writing XML with jEdit.

      I did have to upgrade my computer to make it fast enough to keep up with my typing, but that was a few hundred bucks well spent (my

  • XXE (Score:3, Informative)

    by AndyElf ( 23331 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @06:15PM (#6165554) Homepage
    from XMLMind [xmlmind.com] (free/beer). They also have a very nice FOP->RTF converter (works ten times better than JFOR). Then again, I speak from document writing poitn of view, hence YMMV...

  • Some XML Stuff (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Some Utilities that I have found useful.

    Editors:
    vim! ( I prefer )
    Active State's Komodo (for ppl who need an IDE)

    Perl:
    XML::Simple for parsing simple conf files
    XML:Sablotron interface to Ginger Alliance's Sablotron (xslt)

    C:
    libxml2 for easy creation and parsing
    libxslt easy xslt in conjunction with libxml2

    Command line:
    sabcmd for xslt (sablotron again)
    fop for xsl-fo to pdf
    • If you like libxml2, then howzabout adding
      Perl: XML::LibXML Perl frontend to libxml2 XML::LibXSLT Perl frontend to libxslt
      As for editing, in order of (my personal) preference: X?Emacs jEdit vim the PSGML modes make X?Emacs really nice to work with (after you figure out all the key bindings, anyhow). jEdit's facilities aren't too far behind, espectially if you learn to use its structure browser; my ranking of vim is in part due to an inability to get it to do what I want it to do, even though

  • VIM rules it all (Score:4, Informative)

    by mystran ( 545374 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @06:41PM (#6165790)
    I've tried few editors, but VIM (with scripting for folding and automatic adding of end-tags) is best I've found for both my XML and XHTML needs.

  • More details, please (Score:3, Informative)

    by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @06:50PM (#6165859) Homepage Journal
    XML is a big area. Are you using it for data transfer (they don't call it "the ASCII of the Internet for nothing!) or to author content? And what kind of data or content?

    If you're engineering a lot of schemas, transforms, and other XML weirdnesses, XMLSpy is probably the most cost-effective tool there is, despite its high cost. But I've always found it inadequate for content editing. Which is my interest, since I'm a tech writer.

    Everybody with a little Java knowledge and access to a component library has written a half-assed XML content editor. But only two editing tools seem to be worth bothering with: XMetal and FrameMaker.

    XMetal is very well designed. I was able to make it grok Docbook just by pointing it a the correct DTD. Unfortunately, it's Windows only. And it now belongs to Corel, which doesn't make one optimistic about its future.

    Adobe now provides the "structured" version of FrameMaker for no extra charge when you buy the regular SKU. And FrameMaker runs on Windows and most Unixes. (Not Linux, alas.) Problems: the worst UI design in the universe. And defining new XML applications is a nightmare.

    • Thanks for the info. I am mostly using XML for data transfer between systems. My primary client has set XML as a standard for data transfer. They actually threatened to drop a vendor with which they do $50 million business a year, because they could not provide SOAP XML integration. They have programmers writing an interface now.... (hehe) I always find it amusing when people try to tell me XML is not a big deal.
      • OK, I'm not a big expert, but isn't the XML behind SOAP pretty well nailed down? Tools like XMLSpy are for designing new XML applications, not for implementing ones that are already well-defined. For that, you want specialized tools. I know my former employer, Borland, bundles SOAP components and design tools with several of its IDEs. Can't comment on their quality -- never worked in that area.
        • SOAP is somewhat nailed down. I like SOAP, but it is hard enough convincing some old timers (our mainframe is so cool, why would anyone want more than TurboImage) to use XML, that I don't even try to go further and get them to run SOAP.

    • Right, do you mean European XML or African XML? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Creosote ( 33182 ) * on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @08:17PM (#6166603) Homepage
      Bridgekeeper: What ... is the best tool for editing XML?


      Arthur: Do you mean datacentric XML or docucentric XML?

      Bridgekeeper: Why, I don't know th...augghhh!
      I'd agree with fm6 that one tool doesn't fit all. XML is evolving away from its SGML roots in heavy-duty document production into two "forks", one that continues to emphasize documents and uses a lot of mixed-content elements, the other that is trying hard to be a database and relying therefore on schemas that provide data typing. The earlier generation of XML editors that emerged from SGML editors, like XMetal and FrameMaker, are much more comfortable to use for functions where you essentially need an XML word processor.

      Someone has already mentioned jEdit as a Java editor with useful XML/XSL plugins. I'd add, especially for Mac OS X users, the oXygen XML editor [oxygenxml.com], also Java-based, which provides a very comfortable editing environment with tag autocompletion and built in well-formedness checking and validation (including for XHTML documents, making it a nice Web editor as well). It supports XPath queries, has a built-in DTD generator [from well-formed XML], has a tree structure editor, and more. It's proprietary but not expensive.

    • Keep an eye on Conglomerate [conglomerate.org] (not a joke comment anymore, after being dead for 3 years they've started up again and put out a release).

      It's in no stable state now, but they've got the interface right, and they seem eager.

  • Depends on your needs... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Phexro ( 9814 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @07:06PM (#6166019)
    For editing raw XML documents, I use XEmacs. It has a nice DTD parser which you can use to show you what elements/attributes are valid in the current context. So if I'm editing XHTML, I can C-c to insert a tag. It shows what tags are valid, and you can tab-complete. C-c + allows me to insert an attribute, and it again shows which are valid and allows for tab-completion.

    To close a tag is a simple matter of C-c /. Very handy, since it will close the last open tag. If you have a big structure, you can just C-c / your way through it without having to scroll up or (gasp) remember the tag order.

    Oh, and when you use C-c to insert tags, it automatically sticks it on the next line and indents it.

    It's not for everybody, but it sure works great for me.
    • Emacs is the faithful standby and has been since the days of SGML. When the chips are down and other tools fail, Emacs with psgml-mode and xxml-mode will see you through.

      But what you describe is grotesquely suboptimal: do use psgml at least: Inserting separate start-tags and end-tags is the way to madness. C-c C-e inserts whole elements and there's a load of other keystrokes to make life easy (and menus too for those who prefer them)

    • I use XEmacs. It has a nice DTD parser

      Who cares about DTD? Today XML developmenet is impossible without extensive usage of XML Schema.

      I think it's a shame that such a good editor (based on such a good language as Lisp) doesn't support XML Schema.

  • Cooktop (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Merkins ( 224523 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @08:09PM (#6166562) Homepage
    There is a nice free (beer) application called Cooktop [xmlcooktop.com].

    It probably doesn't have all the features of XML Spy but it works pretty well. I use it occasionally for debugging Xpath and XSLT.

    Might be worth a look.

  • xmllint to validate and such

    saxon for sxlt action

    python - from xml import * in an interactive session and away we go

    A text editor - I prefer Kwrite.

    A web browser if needed - I prefer MozFire

  • Bunch of stuff (Score:3, Informative)

    by kalidasa ( 577403 ) on Tuesday June 10, 2003 @08:56PM (#6166888) Journal

    Since you went to XMLSpy first, I assume you're not comfortable with the emacs keybindings. In that case, try XMLWriter [xmlwriter.com] before XMLSpy. It's much cheaper. If that does everything you need, great. If not, I'd really suggest trying a Windows build of emacs with PSGML, Xalan, etc. If you prefer XMLSpy to emacs, that's fine, but try out the cheaper, or OSS, tools first to spare your own wallet.

    Finally, if all you're really doing is a lot of web-oriented stuff like RSS, try HTML-Kit [chami.com], which has XML-oriented plugins that hook into parsers and transformation engines.

  • If you use PHP, then you have to use my ActiveLink XML Package.

    It's written entirely and purely in PHP, including a parser, a tree-like XML structure, ability to query, modify, and output XML strings or documents. It includes XML, XMLDocument, XMLBranch, XMLLeaf, Tag, RSS, Tree, Branch, Leaf, and File classes. It also comes with very useful class documentation and examples.

    Future plans include support and implementation of XPath (started already), DTD, XML-RPC, and other technologies. The package is licen
  • ...the 'net.

    Netscape/Lycos, etc. to search for whatever functionality I need, such as a TV listing gill net that sucks data off of different sites, and sluices it into a MySQL db. I then download it with my web client, and do whatever install is needed.

    If I need to mod the XML, any handy text editor will do, such as BBEdit.

    Other than leeching pre-configured XML, I don't have any tools.

    Hey, you asked....
  • Jedit (http://www.jedit.org) has the basic XML features (syntax highlighting, validation, etc.) amda few nice XML plugins, they allow you to build an interactive tree of the current XML doc and to insert tags/attrs by looking them up in the DTD.
    J (http://armedbear.org) is more lightweight than Jedit and faster, has better CVS integration, and supports a few basic XML-related features: a navigable tree of the current doc, syntax highlighting and indentation. Oh, and validation too.
  • www.tibco.com/solutions/products/extensibility/de f ault.jsp

    They provide 3 different java-based tools for XML; an editor, XML Schema tool, and a XSLT tool.

    As a package, these rock. They are stable, and support multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, and several commercial unices. Together are slightly more feature-rich than XMLSpy alone. They aren't open-source tools, but they do have a 30-demo download and are somewhat cheaper than XML Spy.

    I still prefer XML Spy for pure editing (I use the

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