XML Authority provides tools for SGML developers moving into XML schema development, including SGML DTD import tools. While XML Authority focuses on the subset of SGML that is XML's core, SGML developers should be able to find familiar tools and get started quickly.
The File Menu's Import submenu offers an SGML DTD option that lets you reuse DTDs built using SGML. Because XML is a subset of SGML, not all SGML DTDs will arrive completely intact. Complete details on how to import your documents and the rules XML Authority uses to accommodate differences between SGML and XML DTDs are available here. After importing an SGML DTD, XML Authority provides a list of the changes it had to make (marked with green and yellow selectors) and errors from which it couldn't recover (marked with red selectors), as shown below in Figure A.
Figure A - Error reporting for a typical large SGML DTD
XML Authority provides both a graphical interface using windows customized to declaration types, and direct access to the DTD or schema source. The Source pane, shown below in Figure B, allows you to type in DTDs directly (or other schema format, if it has been saved as something other than DTD), and then have XML Authority process the results (and check for errors).
Figure B - The Source Window
Although you can type in DTDs directly, most users will take advantage of the tools XML Authority offers for specific declaration types. XML Authority provides you with access to different declaration types through a variety of editing panes. The toolbars and the View Menu (shown below in Figure C) let you move among these panes to edit your declarations.
Figure C - View Menut
In addition to letting you edit declarations directly, XML Authority provides some tools that simplify the creation of modular DTDs and the reuse of shared material. The Overview pane provides you with a top-level view of your schema, and provides tools for including modules. The reusables features that appear throughout the product allow you create content that will be reused in particular contexts, rather than just creating lists of parameter entities and having to keep them straight. (Reusables also help organize data types and other features that move beyond XML 1.0's core.)
XML Authority provides a number of features designed to help developers move from today's DTDs to tomorrow's schemas. In addition to general export tools that can translate the DTD information into various schema formats, XML Authority provides support for data types internally - including the types built into XML 1.0, data-oriented types defined by XML-Data, and user-definable data types that rely on NOTATION declarations.
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