Professional XML (Programmer to Programmer)

Many other tools exist for working with XML. These include other editors not covered here, as well as special-purpose tools for working with various XML dialects. The following list discusses some of the available editors.

• q Cooktop-Available at http://www.xmlcooktop.com/, this is a free Windows XML editor. The main benefits of this editor (beyond the cost) are the size (full install is about 3MB) and the inclusion of Code Bits. These are common snippets for various XML dialects, such as common XSLT templates, XML programming instructions, or namespace declarations. In addition, you can add your own Code Bits to the list.

• q Eclipse-Although not a dedicated XML editor, Eclipse has a strong plug-in model, enabling third parties to add XML support to the main editor. Oxygen, for example, can work as an Eclipse plug-in as well as a standalone.

• q XMetaL-The latest iteration of the tool that used to be known as HoTMetaL, now owned by BlastRadius (http://www.xmetal.com). Probably due to its roots in SGML editing, XMetal is strongest at creating valid XML documents based on XML schemas.

• q Emacs-Emacs is one of the more popular text editors and is available for almost every platform. It has a strong programmatic platform and has many add-on modes available for editing XML documents such as nXML. nXML adds statement completion, validation, and schema editing (for Relax NG).

• q Vi-The other popular text editor, vi, has been around seemingly forever and is available for almost every platform. A recent version, Vim, supports add-ins, including many for XML, such as XmlEdit.