XML Editing

What is XML?

Geeks dig XML. Okay, Uber-Geeks (engineers are apparently not geeky enough to grasp the power of XML).  XML is essentially a self-documenting text database standard.  Not enthralled?  You're not geeky enough.

There is a lot of data and training on the web about XML.  A great overview site is at http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp

Why should I care?

XML is becoming the format of choice in software applications for user-facing data management.  Programmers love it.  InRoads uses it extensively due to the amount of user generated data produced, and the need for users to view, organized and edit the data.  InRoads Reports and Report StyleSheets are XML, Preferences are in XML, Typical Sections and Drafting Notes are managed under the hood in XML.

What's the Format?

It's a rules based formatting that is structured but not designed for easy reading (text files are slow, so the data format doesn't add overhead for formatting).  It is not pretty with a "transformation" being applied to it.

XML, in theory, can be edited via Notepad, Wordpad, etc.  Cutting and Pasting custom settings has to be nested properly. 

What's our Primary Need for Editing XML?

The big thing is to be able to manage your beneficial mutations to the InRoads: cut out your custom settings and add them back in to a new standard InRoads preference file.  If you're looking to save some personal or project mutations or provide updates to the master .xin file, use Xini Manager.

How can I hack today?

A free tool is XML Notepad 2007, available as a download from Microsoft.com. 

It has a tree view and search functions.

I typically open a source and target file, each in it's own instance of XML Notepad 2007, and drag objects from one file to another(there is no automatic nesting management, so you can mess things up (not horribly but enough to cause misbehavior if you use the hosed file in InRoads).