[plug] Whats a good xml editor for linux?

[Cameron Patrick]

On Fri, Dec 19, 2003 at 11:56:23AM +0800, Derek Fountain wrote:

| Actually, it seems you do understand the reasoning! Think of OpenOffice as an 
| XML editor - that's exactly what it is. The editor "knows" the basic syntax 
| of its input and ouput - XML elements, attributes, text nodes and so on. It 
| also knows which elements go in which order and which can have which 
| attributes, etc. That information is in the DTD. The program presents a 
| mechanism which allows the user to enter their data - a blank page with 
| controls for paragraphs, bold, tables, etc. No typing of tags, angle brackets 
| or other such things. The user only worries about their data, the editor 
| handles the XML.

The point that James was trying to make was, Openoffice actually
understands the semantics of the XML that it produces so it can hide the
underlying XML from you.  Your generic XML editor isn't any different to
Emacs (or Vim - I wasn't aware that it had an XML mode but James seems
to think it does so I'll take his word for it...), except that it looks
different and uses a hideous inefficient rat to control it rather than a
nice keyboard like a real editor does :-)

| Without a DTD the tree building still works, it's just that the editor can't 
| offer guidance on what is and is not allowed. XMLSpy just turns off 
| validation checking and lets you enter anything you like anywhere you like.

In effect, it is /exactly/ the same as Emacs or Vim, only it looks
marginally prettier.

Cameorn.