XML Tools

As with most software technologies, tools play an important role in developing applications with XML. There are a couple of different kinds of tools that enter the picture when it comes to XML development:

• Authoring tools

• Validation tools

XML authoring tools are used to create and edit XML documents. The most basic authoring tool is a simple text editor, such as Windows Notepad, which isn't XML-specific but nonetheless provides a means of creating and editing XML documents. The decision to use a more full-featured XML authoring tool has everything to do with personal preference and how much you're willing to spend. Following are some of the popular XML authoring tools that are currently available:

• <oXygen/> XML Editorhttp://www.oxygenxml.com/

• XML Spyhttp://www.xmlspy.com/

• XML Writerhttp://www.xmlwriter.net/

• EditiXhttp://www.editix.com/

• XMetaLhttp://www.xmetal.com/

• Stylus Studiohttp://www.stylusstudio.com/

• Adobe FrameMakerhttp://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/

• Vervet Logic Web XML Prohttp://www.vervet.com/xmlpro.php

Although most commercial XML authoring tools include support for document validation, you may need to validate documents outside of a fancy authoring tool. In this case, you will want to use a pure XML validation tool, which is actually a web site that provides services for validating XML documents. Web-based validation tools are interesting in that they don't require you to download or install anythingjust point and click! Following are a few of the validation tools that support XML:

• STG XML Validation Formhttp://www.stg.brown.edu/service/xmlvalid/

• W3C Validator for XML Schemahttp://www.w3.org/2001/03/webdata/xsv/

• XML Schema Validatorhttp://apps.gotdotnet.com/xmltools/xsdvalidator/

• W3C XHTML Validation Servicehttp://validator.w3.org/

There are some XML tools that defy classification. Most of these "other" tools process XML documents in some way and produce results, such as transformed documents. They certainly can't be considered authoring or validation tools, so I'll just refer to them as "other" tools. Following is a list of some of these other XML tools:

• TIBCO Extensibility Platformhttp://www.tibco-ext.com/

• HTML Tidyhttp://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/

• XFA Scripthttp://www.xmlforall.com/cgi/xfa?XFAScript

The TIBCO Extensibility Platform offers a unique approach to XML schema development by providing a graphical user interface for creating schemas in a very general sense. Once a schema is constructed, you decide the format in which you want it stored, such as DTD or XSD. HTML Tidy is a command-line tool that was initially designed to clean up sloppy HTML code but also supports converting HTML code to XHTML code. XFA Script by XML For All is a scripting language implemented as an XML vocabulary. XFA Script is interesting because it uses XML syntax to implement a scripting language. XML For All also offers an XML editor called XFA Edit that is available for the Windows platform.