Summary

This chapter covered the following topics:

• A review of basic XML syntax constructs and how to edit them in Text view

• The various rules for writing XML documents, including well-formedness and how to test for well-formedness using XMLSPY

• Grid view as a powerful, higher-level view for performing editing operations on XML documents as a whole, rather than editing on a line-by-line basis in Text view

• How Grid view’s semantic tables represent repeating patterns in XML documents as rows within tables, which is ideal for performing higher-level editing operations

• Data conversion of XML to and from text files and databases, as well as Microsoft Word documents

• How to use XMLSPY’s Projects window and configure it to work with the Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, a code repository and versioning system

• Help menus, spell-checking, and customizing the XMLSPY editing environment to get the most out of the XMLSPY editing environment

In the next chapter, I introduce content model development, including building Document Type Definitions with XMLSPY.