XML editors - what can they do?

[Reds]

Is there an editor that produce automatic XML code, in the same manner
that Frontpage produce html.

How about the XSL stylesheet? Is there an automatic stylesheet generator
for the corresponding XML?

 

[Joseph Kesselman]

Is there an editor that produce automatic XML code, in the same manner
that Frontpage produce html.

XML itself is essentially pure syntax, and so is more like SGML (the
syntax HTML is based on) than like HTML. You need to go a step further
and focus on the specific XML-based language you want to produce, such
as XHTML or Docbook or the markup used by the OpenOffice project... or
something like a purchase order or other business document. There are
certainly tools to help you create some kinds of XML documents; others
are used mostly for machine-to-machine transactions and are rarely
edited by hand.

Stylesheets have to be written to suit the specific markup languages
(document types), and with the intended use of the output -- a single
document may be rendered in multiple ways depending on what parts of it
you want to present and how you want to present them. Designing a
stylesheet is essentially a form of programming; there are tools which
can assist in some limited cases but generally it involves decisions
that have to be made by a human. If you're using a standard XML-based
language such as the ones I mentioned above, there are probably already
stylesheets available for it to render it into (X)HTML and/or XSL-FO
(which can then be rendered into a PDF); do a bit of websearching.

But the first step really is to answer "What kind of XML document?"

 

[Stylus Studio]

How about the XSL stylesheet? Is there an automatic stylesheet generator
for the corresponding XML?

Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for but...

Stylus Studio has various XSL Tools: http://www.stylusstudio.com/xslt.html

Including an XML Publishing tool for visually designing XSL
Stylesheets. For more information visit: http://www.stylusstudio.com/xml/publishing.html


Sincerely,
The Stylus Studio Team
http://www.stylusstudio.com

 

[Peter Flynn]

Is there an editor that produce automatic XML code, in the same manner
that Frontpage produce html.

Not really, because an editor cannot guess what you want. You have to
tell it. Even in FP (which produces *horrible* HTML), you have to show it
size and position and font and colour (etc)...it cannot guess.

If I open an editor and type "Lord of the Rings", how is it supposed to
know that I want to rewrite Tolkein's epic; or write an article about it;
or create a poster advertising the film?

You have to TELL an XML editor what you want, by specifying the names of
the element types, either manually (make-it-up-as-you-go) or
programatically using a DTD or Schema for the type of document you want.

In fact, my PhD research project has come up with at least a dozen things
that editors *could* do to make sensible guesses at what the author
wants, based on they keys they have pressed, but for currently unknown
reasons the majority have never been tested or implemented. There are
currently NO editors suitable for use by the non-XML-expert (see my paper
to Extreme Markup 2006 at http://epu.ucc.ie/articles/extreme06).

How about the XSL stylesheet? Is there an automatic stylesheet generator
for the corresponding XML?

Other way round. There are some editors which (given a DTD/Schema and a
stylesheet) can display a fill-in template for a specific type of
document.

If I had an XML file containing <product code="ABC123"/> how on earth
would an "automatic stylesheet generator" know how I want it formatted?

Think again: XML *is* for automation, but only once you have given it the
first example.

Can you specify more exactly what you want to do?

///Peter

 

[Martin Fischer]

> Date: 12 Jan 2008 16:17:40 GMT
8<--------------------------------------------------------------------

> to Extreme Markup 2006 at http://epu.ucc.ie/articles/extreme06).

Hi,

seems not to be a correct Link.

Cheers

Martin

 

[Peter Flynn]

Hi,

seems not to be a correct Link.

What does it give you? It's working from here...but there was a power cut
on campus the other day, which may have coincided with your click.

///Peter

 

[Martin Fischer]

> Date: 17 Jan 2008 17:05:35 GMT
>
> On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:02:20 +0100, Martin Fischer wrote:
>
>
> What does it give you? It's working from here...but there was a power cut
> on campus the other day, which may have coincided with your click.
>

Works now.

Thanks

Martin