Updating XML Documents Using the Text Editor

You use the Text tab of the XML editor to edit XML text. The Text tab provides the usual tools you expect to find in a text editor.

Figure 113. Text Tab in the XML Editor

Common Text Editing Functions and Tools

Select the text you want to edit and then do any of the following:

  • Click the right mouse button to display a pop-up menu of edit commands.
  • Click the appropriate button in the Stylus Studio tool bar.
  • Press the standard control keys to copy, cut, paste, undo, or redo.

You can select a portion of text and move it to a new location by dragging it. You can drag text from one document to another. You can drag text from documents outside Stylus Studio to a document in Stylus Studio.

Following are some of Stylus Studio's main editing features.

Sense:X

Sense:X prompts you with the possible tags that you can insert at a given location. The Sense:X feature is available if the document is associated with a schema. As soon as you type a tag open bracket, Stylus Studio displays a scrollable list of the elements that are allowed at that location. Double-click the tag you want. For example, suppose you have a schema where the book element can contain author or title elements. If you add a book element, the Sense:X list displays only the author and title tags.

Indent

Indent XML tags to show the hierarchy relationships. Click Indent XML Tags . Stylus Studio indents all text in the active XML document window.

Note

 

After you click the Indent XML Tags button, you cannot automatically undo or redo any changes you have been making. After you make more changes, you can press Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y to automatically undo and redo those changes until you click Indent XML tags again.

Line Wrap

Stylus Studio automatically wraps lines whose length exceeds 16k characters. You can also turn on line wrap manually, by selecting Edit > Wrap Lines from the Stylus Studio menu. When this feature is on, Stylus Studio wraps lines to fit in the available window; the place at which the line wraps moves as the width of the window changes. Green arrows, as shown in Figure 114, indentify lines that have wrapped.

Figure 114. Green Arrows Identify Lines That Have Wrapped

Font

You can change the font of the text display in Stylus Studio. This change affects only the Stylus Studio display. Beyond personal preference, you might choose to change the font for localization purposes - the available fonts are the fonts that can display the characters in your XML file. For example, in a Japanese file, only two or three font names appear. Click Font Change to display a list of fonts.

Comments

Enclose selected text in comment tags. Select the text that you want to be a comment. In the Stylus Studio tool bar, click Comment/Uncomment Selection . To remove comment tags, select the comment element and its contents, and click Comment/Uncomment Selection.

Bookmarks

You can set bookmarks in the XML display. Bookmarks allow you to jump to important lines in your file. See Using Bookmarks.

Search

Search for and replace text you specify. Click Find or Replace in the tool bar. You can also enable Find by pressing Ctrl + F.

When you enable Find, Stylus Studio displays the word in which the cursor is located - whether the cursor is within the word or immediately adjacent to it - in the Find what field of the Find dialog box. Similarly, any text you have selected - whole, partial, or multiple words - is displayed in the Find what field.

Tip

 

You can scroll through a list of the other words you have searched for by pressing the down arrow when the Find what field is active.

Use of Colors in the Text Tab

Stylus Studio uses colors to distinguish the types of data in an XML document. The default colors are described in the Table 11. To change them, select Tools > Options, and under Application Settings click Editor Format.

Color
Type of Data
Royal blue
Markup
Black
XML declaration and text node contents
Pale blue
Schema definition
Purple
Element names defined in the DTD
Red
Attribute names
Dark blue
Attribute values
Orange
Element names not defined in the DTD
Table 11. Text Colors in Stylus Studio

 
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