The reference section contains a complete description of all XMLSPY 5 windows and menu commands and explains their use in general.
We've tried to make this user manual as comprehensive as possible. If you have questions which are not covered by this documentation and you are a registered user, please don't hesitate to contact us through the Support Center on the Altova web site.
.topic 31000
The XMLSPY 5 user interface provides several windows that show both your document, project and intelligent editing "entry-helper" windows, that can be freely arranged to suit your personal working style.
The central area shows the main window, where you edit (and view) your XML, XML Schema, or XSL documents in the Enhanced Grid view, Schema view, Text view, Authentic Document view, embedded Database/table view, or Browser view.
The left area contains the project and info windows; the right area contains the entry helpers for intelligent editing of elements, attributes, and entities. Please note: The Project window is not available in the Home Edition.
.topic 31100
The Main Window is where you view and edit all documents in XMLSPY 5. XMLSPY 5 allows you to open any number of XML documents simultaneously. To switch between them click the part of the window you want to bring to the front.
You can also use the commands on the Window menu to organize your windows. If your windows are maximized, XMLSPY 5 also provides tabs, letting you switch between all open windows. Keyboard equivalents are: CTRL+TAB and CTRL+F6.
Right click on a tab, opens the context-menu enabling you to perform various functions on that XML document. (e.g. print, close, mail etc.).
XMLSPY 5 provides advanced views on your documents:
An Enhanced Grid View for structured editing
An embedded Database/Table view, available from within the Enhanced Grid view, that shows repeated elements in a tabular fashion
A Schema Design View for viewing and editing XML Schemas
A Text View with syntax-coloring for source-level work,
An Authentic Document view allowing you to edit XML documents based on templates created in Stylesheet Designer , and
An integrated Browser View that supports both CSS and XSL style-sheets.
To switch any main window between the different views, use the commands on the View menu or the corresponding toolbar buttons.
Please note:
You can set your personal default viewing preferences on a per-file-type basis in the File Types tab on the Tools | Options dialog. Select the menu option Tools | Options to open this dialog box.
.topic 31102
Click the Enhanced Grid View icon to open this view.
The Enhanced Grid View is the core presentation and editing view of XMLSPY 5. It shows the hierarchical structure of any XML-compliant document through a set of nested containers, that can be easily expanded and collapsed to get a clear picture of the document's structure.
All items contained in an XML document are displayed in a structured way that allows for easy manipulation of contents and structure at the same time.
An hierarchical item (such as the XML declaration, document type declaration, or any element that contains child elements) is represented with a gray side bar and a tiny arrow. Clicking the side bar expands or collapses the item.
Please note:
An element is denoted with the icon, e.g. header
An attribute is denoted with the icon, e.g. style
Display & Navigating
The contents of an hierarchical item depend on its kind and û in the case of elements û mostly consists of attributes, character data, comments and child elements.
Element and Attribute order
To emphasize the strong coupling between attributes and the respective parent element, attributes are always listed first and cannot be preceded by comments, character data or child elements. The order of the individual attributes is, however, preserved from the input file and can be modified if necessary.
Following the attributes, the remaining items within an element appear exactly in the order found in the source file, and can be rearranged without restriction using drag & drop.
Elements and character data
If an element contains only character data, the data will be shown in the same line as the element and the element will not be considered hierarchical by nature. The character data for any other element will be shown indented with the attributes and potential child elements and will be labeled as "Text".
If an element is collapsed, its attributes can be shown in the same line in a different color. This attribute preview is especially helpful, when editing XML documents that contain a huge number of elements of the same kind that only differ by their contents and attributes (e.g. database-like applications).
Customizing the grid view
The grid view can easily be customized using the mouse to adjust column widths.
To resize a column to the width of its largest entry:
1. Double-click on the grid line to the right of that column.
To adjust the column widths to display all content:
1. Select the menu item View | Optimal widths command, or click on the Optimal widths icon .
The heights of the cells are generally determined by their contents and can only be adjusted by the user using the menu option Tools | Options| View tab | Enhanced Grid view, "Limit cell height to xx lines".
You can also use the keyboard to navigate an XML document in the Enhanced Grid View.
The arrow keys move the selection bar in the tree and grid views
the + and û keys on the numeric keypad allow you to expand and collapse items.
Please note:
You can activate the Text view icon at any time, to see marked data in the source file for example.
Embedded Database/Table view
XMLSPY 5 allows you to display recurring elements in a Database/Table view. This function is available wherever the Enhanced Grid view can be activated, and can be used when editing any type of XML file - XML, XSD, XSL etc.
Intelligent editing
When editing an XML document based on a DTD or Schema, the Enhanced Grid View provides many Intelligent Editing features based on the information gathered from the Schema or DTD.
Whenever editing the name of an element or attribute, a popup menu opens. The options available depend on the position of the element and the content model defined by the Schema or DTD. A similar popup is displayed, if the contents of an element or attribute are restricted by an enumeration or choice of some sort.
To edit an element or attribute name:
1. Double click on the element name.
2. Edit the name (XMLSPY 5 chooses the best match from the menu).
3. Accept the selection by hitting the Return key (Esc. abandons the change).
To insert or append elements or attribute names:
1. Click on the respective icon in the Attr. & Element toolbar, or
2. Double click on an element or attribute name in one of the Entry Helpers.
Select the menu option Tools | Options, and select the Attr.& Elem. entry in the Toolbars tab, if these icons are not visible.
You will notice that the various Entry Helpers are constantly updated depending on the current selection in the Enhanced Grid View. The Info Window constantly shows important information regarding the selected element or attribute.
Enhanced Grid View context menu
In addition to the commands available through menus and toolbars, the Enhanced Grid View also provides a context-menu, activated by the right mouse-button. It contains the most useful commands in one convenient place:
Enhanced Grid View context menu:
.topic 31103
Having clicked the Enhanced Grid View icon, click on the "Display as Table" icon .
The Database/Table View is integrated into the Enhanced Grid View, and allows you to view recurring elements in grid or compressed into table form. The Database /Table view is available wherever the Enhanced Grid view can be activated, and can be used when editing any type of XML file - XML, XSD, XSL etc.
You can switch between both views, grid and table, by clicking the "Display as Table" icon.
Editing in the table view supports drag&drop and intelligent editing functions. You can also use table-specific commands to sort elements or insert new rows.
XML documents often contain sequences of repeating elements of the same kind. XMLSPY 5 automatically detects such sequences and rearranges the presentation to show these elements in a tabular fashion - common to database- or spreadsheet-like applications.
XMLSPY 5 achieves this database/table view by taking the respective attributes and sub-elements of the repeating element, and showing them as columns of the table.
To display recurring elements in a table view:
1. Click on the recurring element in the Enhanced Grid View (flag, in this example).
The "Display as table" icon is now active.
2. Click the "Display as table" icon to activate the Table View, or select the menu option XML | Table | Display as Table.
The nine "flag" elements are displayed in table form. Click in a cell to demark the table.
To return to the grid view, from the table view:
1. Click on the table "name" (flag (9) in this e.g.). This selects the whole table.
2. Click the "Display as Table" icon, to deactivate the Table view and return to the Grid view.
Manipulating table data:
Drag and drop column headers to move columns
Sort column data using the menu command XML | Table | Ascending Sort
Append (or insert) rows using the menu command XML | Table | Insert Row.
Exchanging data from the Database/Table view
To exchange with other applications, select elements in this table and use the copy as structured text option to copy/paste them directly into Excel for example. Data exchange works in both ways. You can therefore copy data from any spreadsheet-like application and insert it directly into XMLSPY 5.
For more complex data exchange tasks, XMLSPY 5 also offers a set of unique conversion functions that let you directly import or export XML data from any text file, Word document or database.
.topic 31101
Click the Text view icon, to open this view.
When it comes down to low-level work, the text view is ideally suited for XML editing in its textual or source form.
The text view can be used to edit any kind of text file (even non-XML conforming documents) and offers customizable syntax-coloring (including the ability to highlight server-side VBScript or JScript code in ASP pages) as well as an automatic display of the current line and character position in the status bar.
You can use the Find and Replace commands to quickly locate or change any information, and XMLSPY 5 offers unlimited levels of Undo and Redo for all your editing operations.
Intelligent Editing
If you are working with an XML document based on a DTD or XML Schema, XMLSPY 5 provides you with various intelligent editing capabilities.
1. Type the "<" less-than character at the position you want to insert an XML element, attribute, or attribute value.
This opens a popup list.
2. Enter the first few characters of the item you want to insert.
An item containing those characters is highlighted.
3. Click on the entry with the mouse pointer, or
Use the arrow keys to highlight your selection and
4. Hit the Return or Space key to accept the selected choice and close the popup window.
Please note:
The popup window also appears when you edit elements or attributes in Text view. If a specific attribute is defined to follow an element, a popup window containing all valid attributes will also appear.
Eg.
Auto-completion
Editing in the text view can easily result in unbalanced brackets, elements that are not closed properly, or other violations of the well-formedness principle.
XMLSPY 5 automatically completes elements as well as inserting all required attributes as soon as you finish entering the element name on your keyboard. The cursor is automatically positioned between the start and end tags of the element, so that you can immediately continue to add child elements or contents:
Use the Check well-formedness command at any time to ensure that the document meets the XML 1.0 Specification criteria for well-formedness. This check is also automatically performed every time you open or save a document.
Mouse & Context-Menu
You can also use the mouse during editing in the Text View. If you select text, you can either use drag&drop to move the text block to a new location, or you can use the context-menu on the right mouse button, to directly access frequently used editing commands - such as Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Send by Mail, and Go to line/char:
While most customers prefer the Enhanced Grid or Database/Table view for every-day work on XML data files, the text view can occasionally be very handy when editing XSL files or if you are using Active Server Pages (ASP) or any other non-XML files for your web application.
.topic 31104
Click the Browser View icon, to open this view.
The Browser view requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, and we highly recommend you to also download the MSXML4 if you intend to work with XSLT in XMLSPY 5, as MSXML4 already supports most of the W3C XSLT Recommendation. Please see our Download Center for more details.
Use the integrated browser view to preview any XML file with an XSL stylesheet, or view the output from an XSLT transformation to HTML.
Displaying source code and Browser views:
If you are using XMLSPY 5 for XHTML editing or if you have an XSL stylesheet associated with your XML document, you can display the browser view in a separate window.
This allows you to take a look at the document source in the Enhanced Grid or Text views and have the browser preview side-by-side, so that it can easily be refreshed directly from the editing view (just hit F5 in the editing view and the browser view is automatically updated).
The browser view also supports find and printing functions for when you want to document XML files that use CSS or XSL style-sheets, and offers the typical browser commands from both the Browser menu and toolbar: Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh.
.topic 31200
XMLSPY 5 uses the familiar tree view to manage multiple files or URLs in XML projects. Files and URLs can be grouped into folders by common extension or any arbitrary criteria to allow easy structuring and batch manipulation.
Folders can correspond to physical directories on your file system, or you can define file-type extensions for each folder to keep common files in one convenient place.
Project folders are "semantic" folders, that represent a logical grouping of files and do not necessarily need to correspond to any hierarchical organization of the files on your hard disk into several directories.
Assigning XSL transformations to project folders
You can assign different XSL transformation parameters to each folder and even have the same physical file present in more than one project folder - this is especially useful when you want to keep your data in one XML file and use different XSL stylesheets to produce different output (e.g. separate HTML and WML presentations).
The menu option XSL | Assign XSL, can only be selected when you are in the Enhanced Grid view.
Assigning DTDs / Schemas to project folders
You can assign different DTDs or Schemas to different folders. This allows you to validate a file against both a DTD and an XML Schema without changing the file itself, which is useful when you are in the process of making the transition from DTDs to Schemas.
The menu option DTD/Schema | Assign DTD (Assign Schema), can only be selected when you are in the Enhanced Grid view.
Use the commands on the Project menu to manage your projects.
.topic 31400
XMLSPY 5 helps you create valid XML documents by providing three palette-like windows that we call "entry helpers".
When you are working on an XML document based on a DTD or Schema, the built-in Intelligent Editing module constantly displays information on elements, attributes, and entities that can be inserted at the current cursor position, based on the information gathered from the Schema or DTD content model.
.topic 31401
The element entry helper, allows you to insert a new element into your document by showing what elements are permissible at the current location.
You can choose to append an element, insert it before the selected element or add a child-element to the currently selected element. Depending on this context, the entry helper will automatically adjust its list of available choices.
Mandatory 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.
To insert an element:
Double-click on the desired item.
The corresponding element is inserted into the XML document, and the entry helper is automatically updated to reflect your new options.
Should you create a sequence of elements that violate 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.
In the Schema Design View, this window is called the Component Navigator, and displays information on Global Components: elements, groups, complex types, simple types, attributes and attribute groups.
To display the content model of a component:
Click the component type tab (Elm., Grp., etc.), and
Double click on the desired component, in the respective tab.
The content model appears in the main window as a graphic.
.topic 31402
A list of available attributes for the element you are currently editing, are shown in the second palette-window and offer the same functionality as the element entry helper.
Mandatory attributes are automatically highlighted by an exclamation mark "!"
Existing attributes that cannot be added to the current element a second time - are shown in gray.
In the Schema Design View, this window is called Details, and displays information on the currently selected element of the content model.
To change content model parameters:
1. Use the combo boxes to select different parameters, or
2. Double click into the respective row, and edit/enter text directly.
.topic 31403
The entity entry helper presents a list of defined entities or parameter entities that you can insert within your document.
In the Schema Design View, this window displays further information on the currently selected element of the content model.
To change these content model parameters:
1. Use the combo boxes to select different parameters, or
2. Double click into the respective row, and edit/enter text directly
.topic 31300
In addition to the entry helper windows, XMLSPY 5 provides a handy information window that shows the detailed information about the attribute or element that you are working on.
This information is available in all three editing views and can be a tremendous help in conjunction with the xsd:annotation feature of the new XML Schema draft, which allows a schema author to include comments or documentation on the use of each individual element or attribute into the schema itself.
.topic 32000
XMLSPY 5 supports all standard Windows commands on the File and Edit menus to enable the user to quickly exploit all capabilities of the program.
Wherever appropriate, additional commands have been added to support special XML- or Internet-related features (e.g. such as opening documents directly from an URL).
In addition to the standard menus, XMLSPY 5 contains many XML-specific menus that cover the different aspects of XML editing tasks.
.topic 32100
The File menu contains all commands relevant to manipulating files, in the order common to most Windows software products.
In addition to the standard New, Open, Save, Print, Print Setup, and Exit commands, XMLSPY 5 offers special commands:
open a document directly from a URL
reload a file that may have changed
switch the character-set encoding used by a file, and
send a file by e-mail (only available, if a MAPI-compliant mail system, such as Microsoft Outlook, is installed).
save file to URL
.topic 32101
The "New..." command is used to create a new document.
Since XML is such a versatile and universal concept, there are many different kinds of XML documents that you can create and edit with XMLSPY 5.
Creating files not available in the "Create new document" dialog box
If the document you want to create is not listed, simply select ".xml" and change the file extension when you save the file. You can also add new file types to this list using the Tools | Options | File types tab.
Creating new templates
You can create your own templates which will then appear in the "Create new document" dialog box when you select the File | New command.
1. Use MS Explorer or any other text editor to open one of the new.xxx template files in the ...\Template folder. This file will act as the basis for your new XML template.
2. Make the necessary changes, declarations etc., to the new template file.
3. Use Save as... option to save the file using the convention, Anyname.XXX
Anyname is the name of your personal template (e.g my-xml).
.XXX is the extension it should appear under in the dialog box (e.g. .XML). You can enter any type of XML extension here (.vml, .math etc.!)
4. Select File | New to select your new XML template.
Please note:
To delete a template, delete the template file from the template folder.
Assigning a DTD / Schema to a new XML document
XMLSPY 5 contains built-in templates for most XML-based document types and automatically provides you with a meaningful starting point instead of a totally empty file (e.g. a ".xhtml" file automatically includes the correct DOCTYPE reference to the XHTML DTD as well as an empty <html> element to start with).
The predefined templates are placed in the \Template directory, automatically created one level below the installation directory. You can only assign a DTD/Schema to a document from within the Enhanced Grid view.
If you select the ".xml XML Document" entry, (typically a new XML instance document) in the above dialog box, XMLSPY 5 prompts you for a DTD or Schema for the new file to be based upon:
To create an empty XML document:
Select the File | New menu entry, and
Click the "Cancel" button in the New file dialog box, which prompts for a DTD/Schema.
Defining the root element
If you want to assign a DTD / Schema and the content model of the Schema or DTD contains more than one potential root element candidate, XMLSPY 5 asks you to select a root element from the list of possible candidates:
The new document is created with this element as its document root.
.topic 32102
The "Open..." command opens any XML-related document or text file from your PC. The familiar Windows "Open" dialog box appears and allows you to select one or more files.
Use the "Files of type" combo box to select which kind of files you want to be displayed in the dialog box (the list of available file types can be configured through the File Types tab on the Tools | Options dialog).
After the file has been read into memory, the character-set encoding used within the file will be auto-detected and the file is decoded accordingly.
If the character-set used to encode the file, differs from the encoding-specification in the XML-declaration in the prolog, an error message is displayed and the file is automatically opened using the correct encoding.
Auto-checks on opening
You may get an error message if your file is either not well-formed or invalid, and you have selected to perform automatic validation upon opening.
In this case the document will be opened in the appropriate view, an error message popup will be displayed with the details about the error detected, and the offending item will be highlighted in the window.
In such a case simply fix the error and click on the or button to continue opening the file.
Opening Unicode files
If you are using the Windows 98 version of XMLSPY 5 and have chosen to open a Unicode file, XMLSPY 5 converts the file to a Windows 98 code-page to be used for viewing and editing, as Windows 98 do not support Unicode on the operating system layer (for further information please see the Unicode chapter in the background information section). The conversion is done automatically according to the settings you provide in the "Encoding" tab of the Tools | Options dialog.
.topic 32103
The "Open URL..." command allows you to open non-local files from a URL (uniform resource locator) using http and WebDAV.
To open an URL address:
1. Enter the URL you want to access, in the "Server URL" field.
2. Enter your User-ID in the User and Password fields, if the server is password protected.
3. Click the Browse button to view and navigate the directory structure of the server.
4. Click the file you want to load into XMLSPY 5.
The file URL appears in the "File URL" field. The OK button only becomes active at this point.
5. Click the OK button to load the file.
The file you open appears in the main window.
The Browse function is only available on servers which support the following protocols:
FTP
HTTP and HTTPS, if the server supports WebDAV
or servers supporting WebDAV
File load:
To give you more control over the loading process, you can choose to load the file through the local cache or a proxy server (which considerably speeds up the process, if the file has been loaded before).
To reload the file anew in every case, select the Reload radio button - when you are working with an electronic publishing or database system for example, and wish to view the live output using XMLSPY 5.
Repositories
Repositories supported by XMLSPY 5 come in three flavors:
Generic version control systems, such as Microsoft Visual Source-Safe (or compatible products)
Generic web servers, such as FTP or WebDAV servers; and
Specialized XML or schema repositories, such as Tamino, TEXTML Server, Virtuoso, or XML Canon.
XMLSPY 5 currently supports Source-Safe, FTP and WebDAV servers, as well as Virtuoso through WebDAV. Other repository interfaces will be available in future versions.
.topic 32104
The Reload command allows you to reload documents from the URL.
XMLSPY 5 automatically monitors all open files (on the local network) for changes made by other programs (or people), and automatically prompts you to reload such a file, if you have checked the corresponding box on the File tab of the Tools | Options dialog.
This option is useful for documents that you open through a URL, which are dynamically created. This command is rarely used when working on documents that are accessed as files on your local hard disk or through a network file server.
.topic 32105
The "Encoding..." command lets you view the current encoding of a file and select a different encoding when saving the current document the next time.
If you select a different encoding than the one in use before, the encoding-specification in the XML-declaration in the prolog will be adjusted accordingly. For 16-bit and 32-bit per character encodings (UTF-16, UCS-2, and UCS-4) you can also specify the byte-order to be used for the file.
You can also enter the new encoding into the encoding-specification of the XML-declaration. When saving a document, XMLSPY 5 automatically checks the encoding-specification and opens a dialog box if it cannot recognize the encoding name entered by the user.
If your document contains characters that cannot be represented in the selected encoding, you will get a warning message as soon as you save your file.
.topic 32106
The "Close" command closes the active document window. If the file was modified (the file name is appended with an asterisk "*" in the title bar ), you will be asked if you wish to save the file first.
.topic 32107
The "Close All" command closes all open document windows. If any document has been modified (asterisk "*" appended to the file name in the title bar), you will be asked if you wish to save the file first.
.topic 32108
The "Save" command saves the contents of the active document to the file it has been opened from.
When saving a document, the file is automatically checked for well-formedness. All XML documents must be well-formed û otherwise they could not be interpreted by any other XML application. The XML-Declaration is also checked for an encoding specification and it is applied to the document when the file is saved.
You can optionally have XMLSPY 5 automatically validate a document upon saving (this can be defined in the File tab on the Tools | Options dialog).
If a validation error occurs, XMLSPY 5 will bring up a popup message with a detailed error explanation and will highlight the offending item. You can then choose to fix the problem or save the document as is. In the latter case, you will be prompted to correct the error the next time you open the file with XMLSPY 5.
.topic 32109
The "Save As..." command shows the familiar Windows "Save as..." dialog box to prompt for the name and location of the file that is to be saved. The same checks and validations occur as for the "Save" command.
.topic 32110
The "Save All" command saves all modifications that have been made to any open documents. The command is useful if you edit multiple documentations simultaneously.
If a document has never been saved (e.g. after using the New command), the Save as... dialog box is presented for that document.
.topic 32111
The "Send by Mail" command lets you create mail messages from any XML file, group of files (in the Project window), or selection within a file. To use this function you must be using a MAPI compliant e-mail system.
If you choose to send an entire file or group of files, they are always included as an attachment to the mail message:
Sending fragments or portions of documents
When you want to send a fragment of an XML file, select the elements you wish to send in either Enhanced Grid View or Text View.
XMLSPY 5 gives you the choice of either creating an attachment file that contains only your current selection or simply sending the selection as XML text in the contents of the mail message.
Sending URLs by mail
When you send an URL (from the project window) you are prompted if you want to first retrieve the document referred to by the URL and then send the file as an attachment, or if you wish to just include the URL so that the recipient of your message can access the document through the URL:
.topic 32112
The "Print..." command opens the "Print" dialog box where you can control what appears on the printout. This dialog box contains different items, depending on the current view mode.
Enhanced Grid View options:
The "Types" group box allows you to select the items you wish to appear in the output. You can hide comments as well as processing instructions or DTD items. For an explanation of the item types, please refer to the XML specification.
The "What" group box allows you to print the entire file or just the current selection.
The "Expand" group box allows you to print the document as is, or as a document with all child elements expanded fully.
The "Contents" group box you can decide to print the contents of all elements in a document, or you may also print only those elements that form the hierarchical "tree" structure of the document.
This should, however, not be confused with the optional tree view on the left side of each document window, which is only used as a navigation aid on the screen and cannot be printed.
In the "If contents are wider than page" group box you can decide what to do if the document is larger than one page of paper.
- The "Split pages" option, prints the entire document in its regular size and splits the contents on as many pages (both horizontally and vertically) as are required. These pages can later be glued together to form a poster.
- The "First page" option, is useful if your page is slightly narrow and most of the important information is contained on the left side, anyway. This will result in output that is split into vertical pages (as necessary). Only the first page is printed horizontally - the document is printed as one huge vertical strip.
- The "Shrink horizontally" option, reduces the size of the output, until it fits horizontally on the page. The output may, however, still span several pages vertically and is split accordingly.
- The "Shrink both" option, shrinks the document in both directions until it fits exactly on one sheet, thus making it useful for overviews.
The "Print" button prints the document with the selected options.
The "Preview" button opens a print preview window that lets you view the final output before committing it to paper.
The "Print Setup" button opens the "Print Setup" dialog box and allows you to adjust the paper format, orientation, and other printer options for this print job only.
If you choose the Preview button, XMLSPY 5 will show a miniature image of the pages to be printed:
You can navigate within the preview mode using the "Next Page" and "Prev Page" buttons or "Zoom In" to take a close look at some details.
The "Print..." button lets you print the pages, whereas the "Close" button allows you to return to the previous dialog box without starting the print process.
.topic 32113
The "Print Setup..." command, displays the printer-specific "Print Setup" dialog box, enabling you to set the paper format, orientation, and other printer options for all successive print jobs.
This is an example using an HP LaserJet 4 printer attached to the parallel port (LPT1:).
.topic 32114
The list of most recently used files, shows the file name and path information for the nine most recently used files, which you can select with the mouse.
To access these files using the keyboard, press:
ALT+F to open the File menu, and hit the number of the file you want to open.
.topic 32115
The exit command is used to quit XMLSPY 5 when you are finished working with your documents. If you have any open files with unsaved changes, XMLSPY 5 will automatically prompt you to save these changes.
XMLSPY 5 also saves modifications you have made to program settings, as well as information about the most recently used files and projects to the Registry, a message box appears during this process.
.topic 32200
The Edit menu contains all commands relevant to editing operations within XMLSPY 5 in the order common to most Windows software products.
In addition to the standard Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Select All, Find, Find next and Replace commands, XMLSPY 5 offers special commands to:
copy the selection to the clipboard as XML-Text,
copy as structured text, or
copy an XPath selector to the selected item to the clipboard.
All commands can be applied while editing text, as well as while operating on whole items or even discontinuous selections of more than one item.
.topic 32201
Hotkey: CTRL + Z
The "Undo" command contains support for unlimited levels of Undo! Every action can be undone and it is possible to undo one command after another. The Undo history is retained after using the "Save" command, enabling you go back to the state the document was in before you saved your changes.
Please note:
When you have turned on dynamic syntax coloring updates in the Text View and your operating system is using RichEdit 2.0 (i.e. earlier versions of Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0), syntax coloring changes appear as undoable operations. If you want to avoid this, please update to RichEdit 3.0 or disable the dynamic syntax coloring update feature (for further information please see the background information on the RichEdit Component).
.topic 32202
Hotkey: CTRL + Y
The "Redo" command allows you to redo previously undone commands û thereby giving you a complete history of the work you have completed. You can step back and forward through this history using the Undo and Redo commands.
.topic 32203
Hotkey: Shift + Delete, or CTRL + X
The Cut command copies the selected text or items to the clipboard and deletes them from their present location.
.topic 32204
Hotkey: CTRL + C
The Copy command copies the selected text or items to the clipboard. This can be used to duplicate data within XMLSPY 5 or to move data to another application.
Please note:
There are two different commands for copying elements to the clipboard in a textual form: Copy as XML-Text and Copy as Structured Text.
You can use the Editing tab on the Tools | Options dialog, to choose which operation should be performed when you use the copy command on the Edit menu or the Ctrl-C shortcut.
.topic 32205
Hotkey: CTRL + V
The Paste command inserts the contents of the clipboard at the current cursor position.
.topic 32206
Keyboard: Del.
The Delete command deletes the currently selected text or items without placing them in the clipboard.
.topic 32207
The "Copy as XML-Text" command lets you exchange data easily with other products that allow data manipulation on the XML source layer.
While editing your document in Enhanced Grid View, you may occasionally want to copy some elements to the clipboard in their XML-Text representation:
<row>
<para align="left">
<bold>Check the FAQ</bold>
</para>
<para>
<link mode="internal">
<link_section>support</link_section>
<link_subsection>faq30</link_subsection>
<link_text>XMLSPY 4.0 FAQ</link_text>
</link>
<link mode="internal">
<link_section>support</link_section>
<link_subsection>faq25</link_subsection>
<link_text>XMLSPY 3.5 FAQ</link_text>
</link>
</para>
</row>
This command automatically formats text using the currently active settings for saving a file. These settings can be modified in the "Save File" section of the File tab of the Tools | Options dialog).
.topic 32208
The " Copy as Structured Text" command copies elements to the clipboard as they appear on screen. This command is useful for copying table-like data from the Enhanced Grid View as well as the integrated Database/Table View.
The copied data can be used within XMLSPY 5 as well as third-party products, enabling you to transfer XML data to spreadsheet-like applications (e.g. Microsoft Excel).
If you copy this table and paste it into Excel, the data will appear in the following way:
Please note:
The results of this command depend on the way the information is currently laid out on screen. Using the same XML data (that served as an example for the Copy as XML-Text command) in the Enhanced Grid view with the Table view active, would result in the following:
row
para
align bold link
left Check the FAQ
link
mode link_section link_subsection link_text
internal support faq30 XMLSPY 3.5 FAQ
internal support faq25 XMLSPY 2.5 FAQ
The same data would be copied to the clipboard in the following format, with the Table view deactivated in the Enhanced Grid View.
row
para
align left
bold Check the FAQ
para
link
mode internal
link_section support
link_subsection faq30
link_text XMLSPY 3.5 FAQ
link
mode internal
link_section support
link_subsection faq25
link_text XMLSPY 2.5 FAQ
.topic 32209
The "Copy XPATH" command copies the corresponding XPath Selector to the clipboard enabling you to paste it into XSLT documents or any other file that uses XPath.
When using XSLT it is very often necessary to enter so-called Selector strings that help in selecting an element or attribute from within another XML document. Selector strings are built according to the XPath definition, and XMLSPY 5 helps you to create XPath Selectors, by selecting the item you wish to address and choosing Copy XPATH from the Edit menu.
.topic 32210
Hotkey: CTRL + A
The "Select All" command selects all the text of an item or all the items in an XML document, enabling successive commands to operate on the entire text or document at once.
.topic 32211
Hotkey: CTRL + F
The "Find" command allows you to search for any occurrence of a text string in your XML document. Depending on the view you are using, the Find command will have different options.
Enhanced Grid View find options:
Enter the text string to be searched for in the "Find what" field, or use the combo box to select from one of the last 10 search criteria. The Find what field can be left empty, to search for elements, attributes etc.
The "Types" group box, allows you to select what kind of items you wish to include in the search. This allows you to e.g. skip comments as well as processing instructions or DTD items. For an explanation of the item types, please refer to the XML specification.
The "Search in" group box, allows you to define if you want to search for the specified text in the (element or attribute) names of items, in their contents, or in both.
The "Settings" group box, allows you to define a case-sensitive and/or match string search.
The "Where" group box, allows you to define your the scope of the search.
The "Direction" group box, allows you to specify the search direction.
The "Set all" button, activates all the check boxes in the Types group box, the "Clear all" deactivates them.
.topic 32212
Hotkey: F3
The "Find next" command repeats the last Find command to search for the next occurrence of the requested text.
.topic 32213
Hotkey: CTRL + H
The "Replace" command features the same options as the Find... command and allows you to replace the target text by any other text string of your choice.
You can replace each item individually, or you can use the "Replace All" button to perform a global search and replace operation.
Please note:
As a security precaution, the "Replace all" command shows each individual replacement operation in the Enhanced Grid view. You can interrupt the operation by pressing the <ESC> key. Each replacement, is recorded as a single operation that can be undone individually.
.topic 32300
XMLSPY 5 uses the familiar tree view to manage multiple files or URLs in XML projects. Files and URLs can be grouped into folders by common extension or any arbitrary criteria, allowing for easy structuring and batch manipulation.
Please see the description of the Project Window for a general introduction to the XMLSPY 5 project management.
Please note:
Most project-related commands are also available on the context-menu, when you right-click on any item in the project window.
.topic 32301
This command creates a new project in XMLSPY 5.
If you are currently working with another project, a prompt appears asking if you want to close all documents belonging to the current project.
.topic 32302
This command opens an existing project in XMLSPY 5.
If you are currently working with another project, the previous project is closed first.
.topic 32303
This command reloads the current project from disk.
If you are working in a multi-user environment, it can sometimes become necessary to reload the project from disk, as other users might have made changes to the project.
Please note:
XMLSPY 5 project (.spp) files are actually XML documents that you can edit like any regular XML File. This should only be attempted by advanced users!
.topic 32304
This command closes the active project.
If the project has been modified, you will be asked if you want to save the project first.
When a project, or XML file is modified, an asterisk "*" is automatically appended to the file name in the title bar.
.topic 32305
This command saves the current project.
.topic 32306
This command adds files to the current project.
Use this command to add files to any folder in your project. You can either select a single file or any group of files (using CTRL + click) in the Open dialog box.
If you are adding files to the project, they will be distributed among the respective folders based on the File Type Extensions defined in the Project Properties dialog box.
.topic 32307
This command adds an URL to the current project.
XMLSPY 5 also allows you to add URLs to a project. Whenever a batch operation is performed on a URL or on a folder that contains a URL item, XMLSPY 5 will retrieve the document from the URL, and perform the requested operation.
.topic 32308
This command adds the active file to the current project.
If you have just opened a file from your hard disk or through an URL, you can add the file to the current project using this command.
.topic 32309
This command adds the currently active XML document and all related files to the project.
When working on an XML document that is based on a DTD or Schema, XMLSPY 5 also lets you add both the XML document and all related files (e.g. the DTD and all external parsed entities it refers to) to the current project.
.topic 32310
This command adds a new folder to the current project.
Use this command to add a new folder to the current project. You can also access this command from the context-menu when you right-click on a folder in the project window.
.topic 32311
The Properties command lets you define important settings for any of the specific folders in your project.
The files specified in the "Use this xxx" entry, will take precedence over any local assignment directly within the XML file. Eg. The OrgChart.xsl file (in the "Use this XSL" entry), will always be used when transforming any of the XML files in the XML Files folder.
To define the Project Properties for a folder:
1. Right click on the folder you want to define the properties for, and
2. Select the Properties... command from the context menu.
Please note:
if your project file is under source control, a prompt appears asking if you want to check out the project file (*.spp). Click OK, if you want to edit settings and be able to save them.
File extensions
The File extensions help to determine the automatic file-to-folder distribution that occurs when you add new files to the project (as opposed as to one particular folder).
Validate
Define the DTD or Schema document that should be used to validate all files in the current folder (Main Pages in this example).
XSL transformation of XML files
You can define the XSL Stylesheet to be used for XSL Transformation of all files in the folder.
If you are developing XSL Stylesheets yourself, you can also assign an example XML document to be used to preview the XSL Stylesheet in response to an XSL Transformation command issued from the stylesheet document, instead of the XML instance document.
XSL:FO transformation of XML files
You can define the XSL Stylesheet, containing XSL:FO markup, to be used for XSL:FO Transformation of all files in the folder.
Destination files of XSL transformation
For batch XSL Transformations, you can define the destination directory the transformed files should be placed in.
If you have added one file or URL to more than one folder in your project, you can use the properties command to set the default folder, whose settings should be used when you choose to validate or transform the file in non-batch mode.
Authentic Document view
The "Use config." option allows you to select an SPS file when editing XML files using Authentic Document view, in the current folder. Please see the Authentic Document view manual for more information.
.topic 32312
This command displays the file name and path for the nine most recently used projects, allowing quick access to these files.
Also note, that XMLSPY 5 can automatically open the last project that you used, whenever you start XMLSPY 5. (Tools | Options| File tab, Project | Open last project on program start)
.topic 32400
The XML menu contains all commands necessary for manipulating XML documents. You will find commands to insert or append elements, modify the element hierarchy, and set a namespace prefix for items.
You can also check documents for well-formedness or validate them against any Schema or DTD.
.topic 32410
The Insert command inserts a new item directly before the currently selected one. In case of an attribute, it may appear a few lines before the current item, as all attributes must immediately follow their parent element.
.topic 32411
Hotkey: CTRL+SHIFT+I
This command inserts a new attribute before the selected item.
If the current selection is any element other than the first element, the attribute is inserted before the first element to satisfy the well-formedness constraints of XML.
.topic 32412
Hotkey: CTRL+SHIFT+E
This command inserts a new element before the selected item.
If the current selection is an attribute, the new element is inserted before the first element to satisfy the well-formedness constraints of XML.
.topic 32413
Hotkey: CTRL+SHIFT+T
This command inserts new text content before the selected item.
If the current selection is an attribute, the text is inserted before the first element to satisfy the well-formedness constraints of XML.
.topic 32414
Hotkey: CTRL+SHIFT+D
This command inserts a new CDATA block before the selected item.
If the current selection is an attribute, the CDATA is inserted before the first element to satisfy the well-formedness constraints of XML.
.topic 32415
Hotkey: CTRL+SHIFT+M
This command inserts a new comment before the selected item.
If the current selection is an attribute, the Comment is inserted before the first element to satisfy the well-formedness constraints of XML.
.topic 32416
This command inserts new XML declaration
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> before the selected item.
Please note:
Each XML document may only contain one XML declaration and it must appear at the very top of the file.
.topic 32417
This command inserts a new Processing Instruction (PI) before the selected item.
If the current selection is an attribute, the PI is inserted before the first element to satisfy the well-formedness constraints of XML.
.topic 32418
This command inserts a Document Type Declaration - or more precisely, the DOCTYPE block for the internal subset of a Document Type Declaration (DTD) - before the selected item.
Please note:
The DOCTYPE block may only appear at the top of an XML instance document between the XML Declaration and the root element of the XML document.
You could also use the Assign DTD command instead, which lets you create a DOCTYPE statement that refers to an external DTD document.
.topic 32419
This command inserts an external ID (SYSTEM or PUBLIC) into a DOCTYPE declaration, before the selected item.
.topic 32420
This command inserts an element declaration into a DOCTYPE declaration or into an external Document Type Definition (DTD), before the selected item.
.topic 32421
This command inserts an attribute list declaration into a DOCTYPE declaration or into an external Document Type Definition (DTD), before the selected item.
.topic 32422
This command inserts an entity declaration into a DOCTYPE declaration or into an external Document Type Definition (DTD) before the selected item.
.topic 32423
This command inserts a notation declaration into a DOCTYPE declaration or into an external Document Type Definition (DTD) before the selected item.
.topic 32430
The Append command appends an item as the last item inside the parent of the currently selected item. This is useful whenever you want to add more than one item in sequence.
.topic 32431
Hotkey: CTRL+I
This command appends a new attribute after the last element within the same parent.
.topic 32432
Hotkey: CTRL+E
This command appends a new element after the last element within the same parent.
.topic 32433
Hotkey: CTRL+T
This command appends a new text content block after the last element within the same parent.
.topic 32434
Hotkey: CTRL+D
This command appends a new CDATA block after the last element within the same parent.
.topic 32435
hotkey: CTRL+M
This command appends a new comment after the last element within the same parent.
.topic 32436
This command inserts a new XML declaration
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> as the first item in a document.
Please note:
Each XML document may only contain one XML declaration and it must appear at the very top of the file.
.topic 32437
This command appends a new Processing Instruction (PI) after the last element within the same
parent.
.topic 32438
This command appends a new Document Type Declaration - or more precisely, the DOCTYPE block for the internal subset of a Document Type Declaration (DTD) - after the last element within the same parent.
Please note:
A DOCTYPE block may only appear at the top of an XML instance document between the XML Declaration and the root element of the XML document.
.topic 32439
This command appends an external ID (SYSTEM or PUBLIC) in a DOCTYPE declaration after the last element of the same parent.
.topic 32440
This command appends an element declaration in a DOCTYPE declaration or in an external Document Type Definition (DTD).
.topic 32441
This command appends an attribute list declaration in a DOCTYPE declaration or in an external Document Type Definition (DTD).
.topic 32442
This command appends an entity declaration in a DOCTYPE declaration or in an external Document Type Definition (DTD).
.topic 32443
This command appends a notation declaration in a DOCTYPE declaration or in an external Document Type Definition (DTD).
.topic 32450
The Add Child command adds a child item to the currently selected element. This is useful for adding attributes to an item, or creating child elements.
.topic 32451
Hotkey: CTRL+ALT+I
This command inserts a new attribute as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32452
Hotkey: CTRL+ALT+E
This command inserts a new element as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32453
Hotkey: CTRL+ALT+T
This command inserts new text content as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32454
Hotkey: CTRL+ALT+D
This command inserts a new CDATA block as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32455
Hotkey: CTRL+ALT+M
This command inserts new Comment as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32456
This command is only available, when you are looking at a totally empty file...
This command inserts a new XML declaration
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32457
This command inserts a new Processing Instruction (PI) as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32458
This command is only available, if you are looking at a total empty file.
This command inserts a Document Type Declaration - or more precisely, the DOCTYPE block for the internal subset of a Document Type Declaration (DTD) - as a child of the selected item.
Please note:
A DOCTYPE block may only appear at the top of an XML instance document between the XML Declaration and the root element of the XML document.
.topic 32459
This command inserts an external ID (SYSTEM or PUBLIC) into a DOCTYPE declaration as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32460
This command inserts an element declaration into a DOCTYPE declaration or into an external Document Type Definition (DTD) as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32461
This command inserts an attribute list declaration into a DOCTYPE declaration or into an external Document Type Definition (DTD) as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32462
This command inserts an entity declaration into a DOCTYPE declaration or into an external Document Type Definition (DTD) as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32463
This command inserts a notation declaration into a DOCTYPE declaration or into an external Document Type Definition (DTD) as a child of the selected item.
.topic 32470
The convert to command converts an item to a different item type. Depending on the location of the item (not on its current kind), some or all options on the item type submenu may or may not be available. This operation can only be performed on one individual item, not on an element that contains any child elements.
If the operation would result in the loss of data (e.g. converting an attribute to a comment looses the attribute name), a brief warning dialog box will appear.
.topic 32471
This command converts the selected item into a new attribute.
.topic 32472
This command converts the selected item into an element.
.topic 32473
This command converts the selected item into text content.
.topic 32474
This command converts the selected item into a CDATA block.
.topic 32475
This command converts the selected item into a comment.
.topic 32476
This command converts the selected item to an XML declaration
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>.
Please note:
Each XML document may only contain one XML declaration and it must appear at the very top of the file.
.topic 32477
This command converts the selected item to a new Processing Instruction (PI)
.topic 32478
This command converts the selected item to a Document Type Declaration - or more precisely, the DOCTYPE block for the internal subset of a Document Type Declaration (DTD).
Please note:
A DOCTYPE block may only appear at the top of an XML instance document between the XML Declaration and the root element of the XML document.
.topic 32479
This command converts the selected item to an external ID (SYSTEM or PUBLIC) in a DOCTYPE declaration.
.topic 32480
This command converts the selected item to an element declaration in a DOCTYPE declaration or in an external Document Type Definition (DTD).
.topic 32481
This command converts the selected item to an attribute list declaration in a DOCTYPE declaration or in an external Document Type Definition (DTD).
.topic 32482
This command converts the selected item to an entity declaration in a DOCTYPE declaration or in an external Document Type Definition (DTD).
.topic 32483
This command converts the selected item to a notation declaration in a DOCTYPE declaration or in an external Document Type Definition (DTD).
.topic 32800
The Table menu command contains all commands relevant to the Database/Table View in XMLSPY 5.
The Database/Table commands can only be selected if the Enhanced Grid view is active!
.topic 32801
This command allows you switch between two views of repeated elements in the Enhanced Grid view. The Grid view (default view, in the Enhanced Grid view) and the Database/Table view.
1. Select one of the repeated elements in the grid view.
The Displays as Table icon is only made active when you make the correct selection.
2. Click the Display as table icon.
This effectively breaks out all attributes and sub-elements, and show them as columns similar to any spreadsheet- or database-like application.
.topic 32802
This command inserts new rows to the table in the Database/Table View:
1. Click a row number in the table (or one of the cells), and
2. Select the menu option XML | Table | Insert row.
This inserts a new row (i.e. a new element) before the currently selected row.
.topic 32803
This command appends new rows to the table in the Database/Table View
1. Click a row number in the table (or one of the cells), and
2. Select the menu option XML | Table | Insert row.
This appends a new row (i.e. a new element) to the end of the table.
.topic 32804
This command sorts column elements in ascending order (in the table) in the Database/Table View:
1. Click a column header in the table, and
2. Select the menu option XML | Table | Ascending sort (or clicking on the A-Z icon)
XMLSPY 5 will automatically try to determine what kind of data you are using in the selected column, and choose an alphabetic or numeric sort method accordingly.
If XMLSPY 5 is not sure which sort order to use, it opens this dialog box to prompt for help:
.topic 32805
This command sorts column elements in descending order (in the table) in the
Database/Table View
1. Click a column header in the table, and
2. Select the menu option XML | Table | Descending sort (or clicking on the Z-A icon)
XMLSPY 5 will automatically try to determine what kind of data you are using in the selected column, and choose an alphabetic or numeric sort method accordingly.
If XMLSPY 5 is not sure which sort order to use, it opens a dialog box to prompt for help.
.topic 32490
Hotkey: CTRL+L
This command moves the current element to the left by one level, thereby changing a child element into a sibling of its parent. This is also often referred to as the "Promote" command.
.topic 32491
Hotkey: CTRL+R
This command moves the current element to the right by one level, thereby turning it into a child element of the element directly above. This is also often referred to as the "Demote" command.
.topic 32492
When editing textual data, it is often convenient to insert a new sub-element that contains some text, which is already present in the document.
The Enclose in Element command lets you accomplish this with any text selection within another element. Once you select this command from the menu or toolbar, the currently selected text is cut from its parent element and inserted into a newly created child element.
If you are editing a document based on a Schema or DTD, you will automatically be presented with a list of valid choices for the kind of element you are allowed to insert in this position.
.topic 32493
This command checks the document for well-formedness by the definitions of the XML 1.0 specification.
Every XML document must be well-formed and therefore XMLSPY 5 automatically checks for well-formedness whenever a document is opened, saved, or the view mode is switched from Text to any other view.
If the well-formedness check succeeds, a brief message is displayed at the bottom of the main window:
If any error is encountered during the well-formedness check, the source of the problem is highlighted and a corresponding error message is shown:
It is generally not permitted to save a malformed XML document, but XMLSPY 5 gives you a "Save anyway" option when the automatic well-formedness check upon saving fails. This is useful, when you want to suspend your work temporarily and resume it later, without being able to make the intermediate version of the file well-formed.
The Check well-formedness command normally operates on the active main window. You can also use the Check well-formedness command on any file, folder, or group of files in the active project window. Click on the respective folder, and then on the "Check well-formedness" icon.
.topic 32494
This command validates an XML document against the rules set forth in its Schema or Document Type Definition (DTD) or it can validate any XML Schema or DTD against the rules set forth in the corresponding specification.
XMLSPY 5 uses its built-in incremental validating parser that supports all major Schema dialects, such as DTD, DCD, XDR, XML-Data, BizTalk, and the new W3C XML Schema Definition Language (XSD) .
If the validation succeeds, a brief message is displayed at the bottom of the main window:
If an error is encountered during the validation, the source of the problem is highlighted and a corresponding error message is shown:
The Validate command also automatically includes a well-formedness check, so there is no need to first use the Check well-formedness command manually before validating a file.
Please note that you can use this command to validate XML instance documents and for validating XML schemas or DTDs.
This command normally operates on the active main window, but you can also use the Validate command on any file, folder, or group of files in the active project window, where you can also define the Schema or DTD to validate with on a per-folder basis in the project properties. Click on the respective folder, and then on the "Validate" icon.
.topic 32497
When you validate an XML document, XMLSPY 5 first tries to locate any reference to a supported schema dialect within the document. It then loads the corresponding schema or DTD into memory, and uses its definitions to validate your XML instance document.
Once the Schema or DTD has been loaded into memory, XMLSPY 5 also provides you with intelligent editing functions in the Info Window and Entry-Helpers.
As long as the XML instance document is open, XMLSPY 5 will also keep the Schema or DTD in memory (see the Flush Memory Cache command on the DTD/Schema menu).
.topic 32498
XMLSPY 5 supports all major Schema dialects, such as DTD, DCD, XDR, XML-Data, BizTalk, and the new W3C XML Schema Definition Language (XSDL).
Validate these schemas against their specification by clicking on the Validate button. You can then be sure that they can be used to create, edit, and validate XML instance documents that are based on these schemata.
XMLSPY 5 now supports a subset of OASIS XML catalogs. These catalogs allow XMLSPY 5 to retrieve the most commonly used Schemas, Stylesheets and other files, which are available on the web, from users local folders. This increases the overall processing speed, and eliminates the need to be connected to Internet, which is helpful when you are on the road with your laptop.
The catalog is controlled via two files: MainCatalog.xml, which contains predefined entries to Schema and other files, installed with XMLSPY 5, and CustomCatalog.xml which allows you to make your own catalog extensions. Schemas, Stylesheets and other files are installed in specific subfolders of the XMLSPY 5 installation folder.
Please note:
Although the April 7th. 1999 and Oct. 2000 Schema for Schemas DTD are included in the main catalog, you cannot validate your instance files against either of these schemas. The purpose of these two DTDs is to provide entry helper info for editing purposes, should you wish to create files according to these older recommendations.
Please see the following link for more information:
This command updates the Entry-Helper windows, by reloading the underlying DTD or Schema.
If you have modified the Schema or DTD that an open XML document is based upon, it is advisable to reload that Schema or DTD to update the intelligent editing information (such as the Entry-Helper and Info windows) presented in the XML document, to reflect your changes.
.topic 32496
This command lets you set the namespace prefix (identifier) for a group of selected elements (including their child elements).
You can choose to set the namespace prefix on either elements, attributes, or both.
Please note:
Attributes don't need to have the same prefix as their parent elements, since attributes always inherit the element's namespace, if no prefix is given.
.topic 32500
XMLSPY 5 contains many commands that let you operate with Schemas and Document Type Definitions (DTDs) efficiently.
You can:
Assign DTDs or Schemas to be used for validation with any XML instance document
Generate a Schema from an example XML document (or from a group of files in the project window)
Convert between all major schema dialects, and
Go to the definition of any element or attribute in the corresponding schema while editing your XML documents.
Generate a sample XML file based on an existing schema.
Generate program code based on a schema
.topic 32501
This command assigns a Document Type Definition (DTD) to an XML document to enable Validation and Intelligent editing.
The command opens the Assign File dialog to let you specify the DTD file you wish to assign, and inserts the required DOCTYPE statement into your XML document:
<!DOCTYPE main SYSTEM "http://link.xmlspy.com/spyweb.dtd">
.topic 32502
This command assigns a Schema to an XML document to enable Validation and Intelligent editing.
The command opens the Assign File dialog to let you specify the XSD, XDR, or BizTalk schema file you wish to assign, inserts the required namespace declaration attributes into your XML document:
The declarations generated by XMLSPY 5 depend on the Schema kind and - in case of the new W3C XML Schemas - also on the potential use of a targetNamespace in the Schema document.
.topic 32503
This command allows you to include another Document Type Definition (DTD) or external parsed entity into the internal subset of a document type definition, or in any DTD document. This is done by defining a corresponding external parsed entity declaration and using that entity in the following line:
<!ENTITY % navigation.dtd SYSTEM "S:\xml\navigation.dtd">
%navigation.dtd;
The command opens the Assign File dialog to let you specify the DTD file you want to include in your DTD.
.topic 32504
This command opens the Document Type Definition document (DTD) on which the current XML document is based.
.topic 32505
This command opens the Schema document (XSD) on which the current XML document is based.
.topic 32506
.
This command displays the exact definition of an element or attribute in the corresponding Document Type Definition or Schema document.
To see the item definition in Enhanced Grid view:
1. Click left on the item.
2. Select the menu item DTD/Schema | Go to Definition, or click on the icon.
To see the item definition in Schema design view:
1. Use CTRL + Double click on the item you want to see the definition of, or
2. Click the item and select menu option DTD/Schema | Go to Definition, or click on the icon.
In both cases, the corresponding DTD or Schema file is opened, and the item definition is highlighted.
.topic 32507
This command generates a new DTD or Schema from an XML document (or from a set of documents in the project window).
Use this function when you are defining a new schema or DTD, as it is often helpful to use an example XML document as a starting point.
If you are targeting one of the modern schema kinds (e.g. XSD or BizTalk), XMLSPY 5 can automatically detect datatypes (such as date, time, number, URI, etc.) being used in your XML documents and create the corresponding restrictions in the schema.
XMLSPY 5 will also optionally detect typical enumeration scenarios, where an element or attribute can only contain items from a predefined list of values. You can also decide how to represent complex elements and how elements that only appear only once should be treated.
This command normally operates on the active main window, but you can also use the Generate DTD/Schema command on any file, folder, or group of files in the active project window.
.topic 32508
This command converts an existing DTD (or Schema) into an XML Schema compliant with the May 2nd 2001 Recommendation, or any of the other available schema dialects.
.topic 32509
This command flushes all cached Schema and DTD documents from memory.
To speed up validation and intelligent editing, XMLSPY 5 caches all recently used DTD, external parsed entity, and Schema documents in memory. Information from these documents is also displayed, when you are using the Go to Definition command.
Use this command if memory is tight on your system, or if you have been using many different documents based on different schemas recently.
.topic 32600
The eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) and in particular the XSL Transformation (XSLT), lets you specify how an XML document should be converted into other XML documents or text files, such a HTML, XHTML, or WML pages.
XMLSPY 5 supports XSL and XSLT through both its Intelligent editing features in the Text and Enhanced Grid Views, as well as through a set of commands that lets you perform common XSL-related operations.
This menu allows you to:
Perform an XSL transformation of any type of XML document
Please see the technical background information on XSLT Processors for further details.
.topic 32601
Hotkey: F10
This command performs an XSL Transformation of any XML document.
XMLSPY 5 can either use the Microsoft-supplied MSXML module or you can specify an external XSLT processor in the XSL tab on the Tools | Options dialog. You can also download other XSLT processors using the Help | Components Download menu option.
If your XML document contains a reference to an XSL stylesheet, which can be assigned using the Assign XSL command, then it is automatically used by the XSLT transformation command. Alternatively, you can also define the XSLT stylesheet to transform from, on a per-folder basis in the project properties (Select Project | Project Properties to open this dialog).
This command generally operates on the currently active main window, but you can also use the XSL Transformation command in batch-processing mode on any file, folder, or group of files in the active project window.
Please see the technical background information on XSLT Processors for further details.
.topic 32602
This command assigns an XSL stylesheet to an XML document, enabling XSL Transformation or rendering by an XML-compatible browser.
The command opens the Assign File dialog to let you specify the XSL or XSLT file you want to assign, and inserts the required processing instruction into your XML document:
This command opens the corresponding XSL or XSLT document, if your XML document contains a reference to an XSL stylesheet.
.topic 32700
XMLSPY 5 provides powerful data exchange functions that allow you to:
Import and export text, word processor, database, and XML files.
You can also create a schema based on an existing database
Create an XML document containing database data based on an existing XML Schema
Create a database structure, based on an existing schema
.topic 32701
This command lets you import any structured text file into XMLSPY 5 and convert it to XML format immediately. This is useful when you want to import legacy data from older systems, as most software products support a text export interface of some kind.
Unicode conversion
In order to convert the data into Unicode (the basis of all XML documents), you need to specify which character-set the file is currently encoded in.
For US or Western European Windows systems this will most likely be Codepage 1252, also referred to as the ANSI encoding. If you are importing 16-bit or 32-bit Unicode (UCS-2, UTF-16, or UCS-4) files, you can also switch between little-endian and big-endian byte order.
Field Delimiter
To successfully import a text file, you need to specify the field delimiter that is used to separate columns or fields within the file. XMLSPY 5 will auto-detect common row separators (CR, LF, or CR+LF).
Text enclosed in
Text files exported from legacy systems sometimes enclose textual values in quotes to better distinguish them from numeric values. If this is the case, you can specify what kind of quotes are being used in your file, and remove them automatically when the data is imported.
First row contains field names
It is also very common for text files to contain the field names in the first row within the file. XMLSPY 5 allows you to define your XML element or attribute names according to this information.
Choose file
Click on the "Choose file" button to select the specific file to be imported, after having defined the import parameters. The file name will be retained the next time you use this dialog box, allowing you to change settings and re-import the same file if the resulting XML file does not match your expectations.
Having selected the file to be imported, you are provided with a preview of the data import. Any changes in the above options will be reflected in the preview immediately.
Renaming field or column names
Rename a field or column name by clicking on its title and editing the name.
Attribute, Element, or no columns
XMLSPY 5 lets you choose if you want to import a column as an attribute, element, or if you'd rather skip the column entirely.
Click on the icons to the left of the column titles to, toggle between these three options. In the example above,
ContactID and CallDate - are imported as attributes
CallTime - is not imported
Subject - is imported as an element.
.topic 32702
This command lets you import database data from many sources.
You can select:
an existing database: such as Microsoft Access (i.e. Jet Engine), SQL Server, Oracle, or any other ODBC or ADO-conformant database).
Source database
Once you have selected your data source, you can choose the database table to be imported from a list. If you need help in entering an ADO connection string, click the Build button, which opens the ADO Data Link properties dialog box.
To define the ODBC connection string, please see: Setting up the ADO or ODBC connection string using the Data Source Administrator.
Selection statement
Click on the "Choose database table" button, to select the database, or enter an arbitrary SELECT statement to create the record-set you intend to import. You can also enter a ADO shape string (selection statement) if you selected the ADO connection string radio button.
Having configured the data source, click the Preview button to verify that this is indeed the correct data that you wish to import. For security reasons, the OK button is only enabled after you have previewed the data.
Please note:
If you used the menu option Convert | XML Import based on DB Schema prior to opening this dialog box, the automatically generated select statement (used in that process) will appear in Select statement text box. You can now reuse or edit the select statement and start a new import.
Format of Number, Date and Time values
XMLSPY 5 lets you choose different representations for date and number formats - depending on whether you intend to use the resultant XML file in conjunction with the new unified datatypes proposed by the most recent XML Schema draft, or if you want to keep those formats corresponding to the locale in use in your country.
Import data as Elements/Attributes
These options let you specify how you want the parent and child elements to be imported: as elements or attributes. The preview is updated when you select one of these options.
Exclude Primary/Foreign keys
This option enables you to exclude the primary or foreign keys for all the tables you are importing.
Please note:
This option only affects the keys of database tables that have been exported using the Conversion option "Export to Text files / Database...", with the "Create Primary/Foreign keys" being active. The key names are PrimaryKey and ForeignKey respectively.
Create empty elements from empty fields
This option lets you create empty elements for all the empty fields that exist in the tables you import.
Attribute, Element, or no columns
XMLSPY 5 lets you choose if you want to import a parent column as an attribute, element, or if you'd rather skip the column entirely.
Click on the icons to the left of the column titles, to toggle between these three options. In the example above,
ContactID - is imported as an attribute
Contacts.Company - is not imported
FirstName, LastName - are imported as elements.
Please note:
The selections you make here initially apply to the parent items as well. Changing parent items directly, takes precedence over these settings, but only applies to the parent elements and not to any child elements.
Clicking the Preview button, resets any changes made to the parent elements in the Preview view.
.topic 32703
This command enables the direct import of any Word document and conversion into XML format, if you have been using paragraph styles in Microsoft Word. This option requires Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office (Version 97 or 2000).
When you select this command, the Open dialog box appears. Select the Word document you want to import.
XMLSPY 5 automatically generates an XML document with included CSS stylesheet. Each Word paragraph generates an XML element, whose name is defined as the name of the corresponding paragraph style in Microsoft Word.
.topic 32704
This command exports XML data into other formats for exchange with databases or legacy systems.
Depending on the output data format required, you may want to use either XSLT Transformations or this Export command to export your XML data.
You first need to define the structure of the data to be exported. Since XML is structured hierarchically and most database and legacy systems use the relational model, XMLSPY 5 will help you in producing output that can be interpreted in a relational context.
Start point of export
You can choose to export the entire XML document or restrict your export to the data starting from the currently selected element (and its child items).
Export fields
Depending on your XML data, you may want to export only elements, attributes, or the textual content of your elements into the fields common to structured text files or databases.
The list of available element types, in the preview window, lets you choose which elements you want to export, and also displays you how many records and fields this will produce once the export operation is started.
Export depth
You can choose to export all sub-elements, or limit the number of sub-element levels.
Automatic fields
XMLSPY 5 will produce one output file or table for each element type selected. You can choose to automatically create primary/foreign key pairs to link your data in the relational model, or define a primary key for each element.
When you are finished defining the scope of your export operation, click one of the two "Export" buttons, to export your data to a set of text files or to a database.
.topic 32706
This command button allows you to specify the type of database you want to export your data to.
You can select the destination database and the action to be performed:
Create a new Microsoft Access (Jet Engine) database file
Add the data to the tables in an existing Access file, or
Export the data to any other ODBC or ADO-compliant database system (such as SQL Server or Oracle).
The Namespace options allow you to either exclude the namespace prefix, or replace the namespace prefix colon with an underscore character.
The Build button lets you create the necessary ADO connection string - for more information see the Import Database command and ADO connection string.
.topic 32705
This command button allows you to specify the formatting of the text files to be exported.
If you are exporting XML data to text files, you must specify the desired character-set encoding to be used. The same options are also available in the Import text file dialog box.
The set of text files will be generated in the folder you specify, and each file name will be generated from the corresponding element name. You can also specify the file extension to be used.
.topic 32900
The View menu controls the display of the active Main window and allows you to change the way XMLSPY 5 displays your XML documents.
.topic 32901
This command switches the current document into Enhanced Grid View.
This view includes an (optional) tree and structured grid display and is the preferred view for editing XML documents. If the previous view was the Text View, the document is automatically checked for well-formedness.
Embedded Database/Table view
XMLSPY 5 allows you to display recurring elements in a Database/Table view from within the Enhanced Grid view. This function is available wherever the Enhanced Grid view can be activated, and can be used when editing any type of XML file - XML, XSD, XSL etc.
For further information on this view, please see the detailed description of the various views in the Main Window section.
.topic 32902
This command switches the current document into Text View.
This view allows you to edit the XML source in a source-code fashion and includes syntax-coloring.
If the previous view was the Enhanced Grid View, the document is automatically formatted according to the settings defined when saving a file (these can be modified in the "Save File" section of the File tab of the Options dialog). Use the menu command Tools | Options to open this dialog.
For further information on this view, see the detailed description of the various views in the Main Window section.
.topic 32903
This command switches the current document into Browser View.
This view uses an XML-enabled browser (preferably Internet Explorer 5) to render the XML document using information from potential CSS or XSL style-sheets.
When switching to browser view, the document is first checked for validity, if you have selected Validate upon saving in the File tab of the I Options dialog. Use the menu command Tools | Options to open this dialog.
For further information on this view, please see the detailed description of the various views in the Main Window section.
.topic 32904
This command synchronizes the Enhanced Grid view and Tree view in the main window.
To see the Tree view, you must activate the "Show Tree" check box in the File tab of the Options dialog). Use the menu command Tools | Options to open this dialog box.
Click an item in the Tree or Grid view, and select the menu option View | Synchronize. The view in the other window is opened to the same level, and the item is highlighted.
You can also double-click on an element in the tree view, to navigate to that item in the grid.
.topic 32905
Hotkey: Num +
This command expands the selected element by one level.
The command can be used in the Tree and Enhanced Grid views. The keyboard shortcut is the + key on the numeric keypad.
In the Enhanced Grid view, the element and all its children remain selected after expansion. This allows you to expand a large element by pressing the + key repeatedly.
You can expand and collapse any element by clicking on the gray bar to the left of each element.
.topic 32906
Hotkey: Num -
This command collapses the selected element by one level.
The command can be used in the Tree and Enhanced Grid views. The keyboard shortcut is the - key on the numeric keypad.
You can expand and collapse any element by clicking on the gray bar to the left of each element.
.topic 32907
Hotkey: Num *
This command expands all child items of the selected element, down to the last level of nesting.
The command can be used in the Tree and Enhanced Grid views. The keyboard shortcut is the * key on the numeric keypad.
.topic 32908
Hotkey: CTRL Num -
This command allows you to focus on one element and its children, and ignore all the other surrounding elements.
The command can be used in the Tree and Enhanced Grid views. The keyboard shortcut is the CTRL and - key on the numeric keypad.
Simply select the item that you want to work with and choose this command to collapse all other (unselected) elements.
.topic 32909
This command adjusts the widths of all columns so that the text of the entire document fit into the designated columns.
If you expand and collapse several elements, select the "Optimal widths" command, as only visible items are taken into account when calculating the optimum column widths.
.topic 32910
Hotkey: CTRL+G
This command goes to a specific line number and/or character position in an XML document in the Text view.
If you are working with an external XSLT processor (see the XSL page on the Tools | Options dialog for details) you may often get error messages by line number and character position. XMLSPY 5 lets you quickly navigate to that spot, using this command:
This command works in both the Text View and Enhanced Grid View, but will only be able to show an approximate position in the grid view by highlighting the element closest to the character position specified.
.topic 32911
This command opens a document that is being referred to, from within the file you are currently editing.
Select the file name, path name, or URL you are interested in, and choose this command from the View menu.
You can select:
An entire element or attribute in the Enhanced Grid View
Some characters from within any item in the Text or Enhanced Grid Views.
An enclosed string. If you text cursor is between quotes, XMLSPY 5 will automatically use the entire string that is enclosed in the quotes.
.topic 33000
This menu contains commands that are only available when the Browser View has been activated.
.topic 33001
Hotkey: Backspace
This command displays a previously viewed page. You can also use the keyboard Backspace key to achieve the same effect.
This can be useful if you click a link in your XML document and want to return to it.
.topic 33002
This command is only available once you have used the Back command, and moves you forward through previously viewed pages.
.topic 33003
This command instructs the browser to stop loading your document.
This is useful if large external files or graphics would be loaded over a slow Internet connection.
.topic 33004
Hotkey: F5
This command updates the Browser View by reloading the XML document and potential external CSS or XSL style-sheets as well as DTDs. You can also use the F5 key to trigger this command.
.topic 33005
This command allows you to select the default font site for rendering the text of your XML document. It is similar to the Font-Size command in most browsers.
.topic 33006
This command opens the browser view in a separate window, so that side-by-side viewing is possible. (eg. text or enhanced grid) view.
If you have separated the browser view, press F5 in the editing view to automatically refresh the corresponding browser view.
.topic 32220
The "Options" command allows you to define the global program settings in a tabbed dialog box. These settings are saved in the registry, and apply to all current and future document windows.
The Apply button displays the changes in the currently open documents, and fixes the current settings. The changes are seen immediately in the background windows.
.topic 32221
The "File" tab defines the way XMLSPY 5 opens and saves XML documents. You can also find related settings in the Encoding tab.
Open/New file in Grid view
You can choose to open an existing file or create a new file either in the Enhanced Grid View or in the text view. If you select the grid view, you can optionally show the tree structure, and automatically expand all lines at the same time.
Automatic reload of changed files
If you are working in a multi-user environment, or if you are working on files that are dynamically generated on a server, you can watch for changes to the files that you are currently editing. XMLSPY 5 will then prompt you to reload the file, whenever a change is detected.
Validation
If you are using document type definitions (DTDs) or schemas to define the structure of your XML documents, you can automatically check the document for validity whenever it is opened or saved.
XMLSPY 5 can also cache these files in memory to save any unnecessary reloading (e.g. when the Schema being referred to, is accessed through a URL).
Project
When you start XMLSPY 5, you can open the last-used project automatically.
Save File
TAB-characters (0x09) are used to indent the individual elements forming the structure of the XML document. In certain situations this may be undesirable. Deactivate the "Indent elements using tabs" check box, if this is the case.
No formatting output for
You can selectively turn off output formatting for certain elements, by entering them in the list box (e.g. necessary for xsl:attribute when you are editing XSL Stylesheets).
When saving an XML document, XMLSPY 5 includes a short comment <!-- Edited with XMLSPY 5 http://www.altova.com --> near the top of the file. This option can only be deactivated by licensed users.
When saving a content model diagram (using the menu option Schema design | Generate Documentation), XMLSPY 5 includes a comment <!-- Generated with XMLSPY 5 Schema Editor - http://www.altova.com -->) at the bottom of the diagram. This option can only be deactivated by licensed users.
Line breaks
Line-breaks in the document file can be preserved so that the same characters will be used that were found when opening the file. You can choose to encode line breaks in any of the three possible forms (CR&LF for PCs, CR for the MacOS, or LF for Unix).
.topic 32222
The "File types" tab allows you to customize the behavior of XMLSPY 5 on a per-file-type basis.
Choose a file type from the "File types" list box, to customize the functions for that particular file type:
Windows Explorer settings
You can modify the file type description and MIME-compliant content type used by Windows Explorer, and you can define if XMLSPY 5 is to be the default editor for this file type.
XML Conformance
XMLSPY 5 lets you edit XML files as well as non-XML files. You must define the XML-Conformance settings for each new file type you add. Since XML allows for special grammar rules when dealing with external Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and external parsed entities, the exact grammar to be used can also be set here.
Do not modify these settings unless you are adding a new file type and are sure of what you are doing.
Default view
This group lets you define the default view to be used for each file type.
Grid view
This check box lets you define if the Enhanced Grid View should automatically build tables.
Text view
This text box lets you set syntax-coloring for particular file types.
Disable automatic validation
If you are using partial XML-documents that are included in another file and cannot be validated individually, you can turn off automatic validation per file type.
Save empty elements in short <E/> format
Some XML tools may have problems understanding the short <Element/> form for empty elements defined in the XML 1.0 Specification. You can instruct XMLSPY 5 to save elements in the longer (but nonetheless also valid) <Element></Element> form.
Add new file extension button
Adds a new file type to the File types list. Define the settings for this new file type using the options in this dialog box.
Delete selected file extension button
Deletes the currently selected file type and all associated settings.
.topic 32223
The "Editing" tab defines the behavior of the Enhanced Grid View, when exchanging data using the clipboard and moving items with drag & drop.
Intelligent editing
While editing documents, XMLSPY 5 provides Intelligent Editing based on these settings. You can also customize various aspects of the behavior of these Entry helpers here.
Default copy to clipboard in grid view as
You can choose the format in which data will be exported to foreign applications using the clipboard. If you select XML-Text, the contents of the clipboard will be formatted and tagged just like the resulting XML file itself.
The structured text mode attempts to format the clipboard contents as a table, for use in a spreadsheet or database application. This option does not affect the internal clipboard format that XMLSPY 5 uses for copying and pasting.
Table view
You can also control, how XMLSPY 5 decides when to display repeating elements in the Table View.
.topic 32224
The "View" tab allows you customize the XML documents presentation.
Enhanced Grid view
Collapsed elements in the Enhanced Grid View can be displayed in preview form. This displays the attributes and their values in gray in the same line as the element.
You can automatically apply the Optimal Widths command while editing, and limit the maximum cell width and height.
Text view
The Text View supports syntax-coloring, which can be updated dynamically while typing or be disabled entirely.
Program logo
You can turn off the splash screen upon program startup, to speed up the application.
Window title
The window title for each document window can contain only file name, or the full path name.
Authentic Document view
XML files based on a document template (*.sps), are automatically opened in the Authentic Document view when this option is active.
Browser view
You can choose to see the browser view in a separate window, enabling side-by-side placement of the edit and browser views.
.topic 32225
The "Grid fonts" tab allows you to customize the appearance of text in the Enhanced Grid view.
Font face and script
You can select the font face and size to be used for displaying the various items in the Enhanced Grid View. The same fonts are also used for printing and consequently only TrueType fonts can be selected.
Size
If you want to use the same font size for all items, click on the "Use same for all" check box.
Styles
The style and color can be set using the combo boxes. The current settings are immediately reflected in the list, so that you can preview the way your document is going to look.
In the Windows 98 version of XMLSPY 5, it is possible to select a "Script" for some fonts. This is especially necessary when editing documents with a non-Roman writing systems. The script selected in the font settings dialog box, needs to match the character set code-page selected when opening a document (i.e. when editing a Cyrillic ISO-8859-5 document, the code-page being used to edit the file should be set to 1251 and the font script needs to be set to "Cyrillic").
.topic 32226
The "Text fonts" tab allows you to customize the appearance of text in the Text view.
Again you can choose the font face, style and size, but this time the same font, style and size is always being used for all elements. Only the color can be adjusted individually to provide full customization of the syntax coloring option.
Setting the background color is only supported when RichEdit 3.0 is available on your system.
.topic 32227
The "Colors" tab allows you to customize the colors used in the Enhanced Grid view, when viewing elements in the Database/Table view.
Example:
Header unselected
This option defines the color of the table header when deselected.
Header selected
This option defines the color of the table header when selected.
Non-existing elements unselected
This option defines the color of the empty elements when deselected.
Non-existing elements selected
This option defines the color of the empty elements when selected.
In addition to the colors you define here, XMLSPY 5 uses the regular selection and menu color preferences set in the Display Settings on the Control Panel of your Windows installation.
.topic 32228
The "Encoding" tab specifies the kind of character-set encoding to be used when creating new files, as well as the encoding to be assumed, when opening files that lack an encoding declaration.
Default encoding for new files
The default encoding for new files can be pre-determined in the Settings dialog box so that each new document is automatically created with a proper XML-declaration and includes the encoding-specification that you most commonly need.
The encoding for existing files will, of course, always be remembered independently of this setting and can only be changed by the "Encoding" command on the "File" menu.
If a two- or four-byte encoding is selected as the default encoding (i.e. UTF-16, UCS-2, or UCS-4) you can also choose between little-endian and big-endian byte-ordering for the XML files.
Open/save files with unknown encoding as
You can choose how an XML file is to be interpreted if the encoding-specification is missing, and the encoding cannot be auto-detected. In most cases this will very likely be UTF-8 or ISO-8895-1, even though the XML specification theoretically only allows UTF-8 files to lack an encoding-specification.
Open/save non-XML files in
Sometimes is can be convenient to also use XMLSPY 5 for editing non-XML files (such as Active Server Pages (ASP) or similar web-related documents. Since these files do not contain any encoding statements, you must specify a default Windows Code Page to be used for access these files.
.topic 32229
The "XSL" tab allows you to define which program to use for XSL Transformations.
The built-in XSLT engine is automatically enabled, and is always used when using the XSLT Debugger. Selecting any other engine, uses that version when transforming XML files.
XMLSPY 5 includes full support for XSL Transformations, and can either use the MSXML 3.0 or 4.0 parser (which is pre-installed) or any external XSLT processor for this purpose. The "Choose version automatically" option is active per default. XMLSPY 5 first tries to use version 4.0 and if not available version 3.0. You can however, manually choose either version by clicking the respective radio button.
Use Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) 3.0 or 4.0
If you are using Internet Explorer 5 or above (i.e. the MSXML module) for XSLT processing, you must specify if the resulting output is to be transformed as an XML-compliant document (such as XHTML or WML), or non-XML compliant text files.
Installing other XML Parsers
The Component Download Center, accessible through the menu option Help | Components Download, allows you to download and use different XSL processors.
External XSL transformation program
If you are using an external XSL processor, you must specify a command-line string that is to be executed by XMLSPY 5 in order to initiate the XSL Transformation. In this case, use the following variables to build your command-line string:
%1 the XML instance document that is to be processed
%2 the output file that is to be generated
%3 the XSL Stylesheet to be used (optional, if the document contains an <?xsl-stylesheet ...?> reference
You can also choose to show the result of the external XSLT processor directly within XMLSPY 5 in a message box.
Please see the technical background information on XSLT Processors for further details.
Reuse output window:
When disabled, the reuse output window option, only takes effect when you also disable the "Save in folder" output file path in the folder properties of the respective XML file in a XMLSPY 5 project.
Folder properties window:
.topic 33100
To organize the individual document windows in an XMLSPY 5 session, the Window menu contains standard commands common to most Windows applications.
You can cascade the open document windows, tile them, or arrange document icons once you have minimized them. You can also switch the various Entry Helper windows on or off (such as Project, Info, or Entry-Helpers) or switch to each open document window directly from the menu.
.topic 33101
This command rearranges all open document windows so that they are all cascaded (i.e. staggered) on top of each other.
.topic 33102
This command rearranges all open document windows as horizontal tiles, making them all visible at the same time.
.topic 33103
This command rearranges all open document windows as vertical tiles, making them all visible at the same time.
.topic 33104
This command lets you switch the Project Window on or off.
This is a dockable window. Dragging on its title bar detaches it from its current position and makes it a floating window. Click right on the title bar, to allow docking or hide the window.
.topic 33105
This command lets you switch the Info Window on or off.
This is a dockable window. Dragging on its title bar detaches it from its current position and makes it a floating window. Click right on the title bar, to allow docking or hide the window.
.topic 33106
This command lets you switch all three Entry-Helper Windows on or off.
All three Entry helpers are dockable windows. Dragging on a title bar detaches it from its current position and makes it a floating window. Click right on the title bar, to allow docking or hide the window.
.topic 33107
This command lets you switch all dockable windows on, or off:
the Project Window
the Info Window
the three Entry-Helper Windows
This is useful if you want to hide all non-document windows quickly, to get the maximum viewing area for the document you are working on.
.topic 33109
This list shows all currently open windows, and lets you quickly switch between them.
You can also use the Ctrl-TAB or CTRL F6 keyboard shortcuts to cycle through the open windows.
.topic 33200
The Help menu contains all commands required to get help or more information on XMLSPY 5, as well as links to information and support pages on our web server.
The Help menu also contains the Registration dialog, which lets you enter your license key-code, once you have purchased the product.
.topic 33202
This command displays a hierarchical representation of all chapters and topics contained in the online help system. Use this command to jump to the table of contents directly from within XMLSPY 5.
Once the help window is open, use the three tabs to toggle between the table of contents, index, and search panes. The Favorites tab lets you bookmark certain pages within the help system.
.topic 33203
This command accesses the keyword index of the Online Help. You can also use the Index tab in the left pane of the online help system.
The index, lists all relevant keywords and lets you navigate to a topic by double-clicking the respective keyword. If more than one topic matches the selected keyword, you are presented a list of available topics to choose from.
.topic 33204
The Search command performs a full-text search in the entire online help system.
Once you enter your search term into the query field and hit the Return key.
The online help system displays a list of available topics that contain the search term you've entered.
Double-click on any item in the list to display the corresponding topic.
.topic 33205
When you start XMLSPY 5 for the first time, you are automatically presented with the Registration dialog box, which lets you register your software product in order to be eligible for technical support and activate your license, which is done by entering a unique key-code to unlock the software.
FREE Evaluation Version
If you have downloaded the XMLSPY 5 from our web server and would like to activate your FREE 30-day evaluation version, please enter your name, company, and e-mail address and click on the "Request FREE evaluation key..." button. XMLSPY 5 then uses your Internet connection to transmit the information you have just entered to our web server, where a personal unique evaluation license will be generated for you. The license key-code, which is necessary to unlock your software, will then be sent to the e-mail address you have entered - it is therefore important, that you enter your real e-mail address in the registration dialog box!
Once you have clicked the request button, please go to your favorite mail software and retrieve the license key-code from our e-mail message, which you should be receiving in a matter of a few minutes (depending on transient Internet conditions).
If you requested a key-code and it didn't arrive in a short space of time, the process may have failed due to Firewall restrictions in your network. If this is the case, please send a short message with your information via e-mail to our website and our support staff will generate a key-code for you manually.
When you have received your evaluation key-code, please enter it into the key-code field in the registration dialog box and click on OK to start working with XMLSPY 5.
Whenever you want to place an order for a licensed version of XMLSPY 5, you can also use the "Order license key..." button in the registration dialog box or the Order form menu command to proceed to the Secure Online Shop on the Internet.
Licensed Version
If you have purchased a single-user license for XMLSPY 5, you will receive an e-mail message from us that contains your license-data and includes your name, company and key-code. Please make sure that you enter all fields from your license e-mail into the registration dialog box. The key-code will only be able to unlock your software installation, if the entries in the name and company fields match the name and company entered into our order form.
If your company has purchased a multi-user license for XMLSPY 5, you will receive an e-mail message from us that contains your license-data and includes your company name and key-code.
Please make sure that you enter the company name and key-code from your license e-mail into the registration dialog box and also enter your personal name into the name field. The key-code will only be able to unlock your software installation, if the value in the company field match the company name entered into our order form.
Please note that the XMLSPY 5 License-Agreement does not allow you to install more than the licensed number of copies of XMLSPY 5 on the computers in your organization (per-seat license).
.topic 33207
When you want to place an order for a licensed version of XMLSPY 5, use this command or the "Order license key..." button in the registration dialog to proceed to the Secure Online Shop on the Internet, where you can choose between different single- and multi-user license packs.
Once you have placed your order, you can choose to pay by credit card, send a check by mail, or use a bank wire transfer.
.topic 33208
If you have any questions regarding our product, please feel free to use this command to query to our support center on the Internet at any time. This is the place where you'll find links to the FAQ, support form, and e-mail addresses for contacting our support staff directly.
.topic 33213
To help you in getting the best support possible, we are providing a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the Internet, that is constantly updated as our support staff encounters new issues that are raised by our customers.
Please make sure to check the FAQ before contacting our technical support team. This will allow you to get help more quickly.
We regret that we are not able to offer technical support by phone at this time, but our support staff will typically answer your e-mail incidents within one business day.
If you would like to make a feature suggestion for a future version of XMLSPY 5 or if you wish to send us any other general feedback, please use the questionnaire form.
.topic 33209
The Components download option, currently lets you to download the latest Microsoft XML Parser, as well as an alternate XSLT Transformation System, and will be expanded in the future.
.topic 33206
This command takes you directly to the Altova web-server http://www.altova.com where you can find out about news, product updates and additional offers from the Altova team.
.topic 33211
If you are located in Japan, you may prefer to contact our Japanese distributor on the Internet by using this menu command.
.topic 33212
This command shows the XMLSPY 5 splash screen and copyright information dialog box, which includes the XMLSPY 5 logo.
Please note that this dialog box shows the version number - to find the number of the actual build you are using, please look at the status bar, which always includes the full version and build number.
.topic 35000
Most dialog boxes in XMLSPY 5 are shown in response to a certain menu command or click on a toolbar button and are, therefore, explained in the individual chapters that describe the respective commands.
This section describes standard dialog boxes, that are used by more than one command.
Assign File
The Assign File dialog box is opened by the Assign DTD, Assign Schema, or Assign XSL commands and prompts you for a file or path name to be used for the requested process:
You can either:
enter a path name into the text box
select from a list of most recently used filenames using the drop-down list
browse for a file on your computer (using the common Open dialog box), or
use the Window button to select any currently open window or any file that is part of the current project.
Select file
The Select File dialog box lets you choose any currently open window or any file from your current project, as a convenient way to locate a file to be used for the various Assign commands.
Double clicking an entry in either window, places the file name in the Assign File dialog box.
Both windows show the available files based on their extensions depending on which command was selected: Assign DTD, Assign Schema, or Assign XSL.
