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Updating an XML Document-Getting Started

Each of the following topics contains instructions for editing a sample XML document. You should perform the steps in each topic before you move on to the next topic. After the first topic, some steps depend on actions you performed in a previous topic. This introduction to updating XML documents in Stylus Studio is organized as follows:

Opening a Sample XML Document

To open the your-quotes.xml sample XML document in Stylus Studio:
1. Select File > Open from the menu bar. Stylus Studio displays the Open dialog box.

Alternatives : Press Ctrl+O or click Open .

Alternative: If the Stylus Studio examples project is open, you can access this file from the Project window. To open the examples project, open examples.prj in the Stylus Studio examples directory.

2. Navigate to the examples\quotes directory in your Stylus Studio installation directory.

Tip

 

The \examples directory is a sibling of \bin. \bin is the default the first time you open the Open dialog box.

3. Double-click your-quotes.xml. Stylus Studio displays the your-quotes.xml document in the XML editor. The initial view of the document is the Text view, as you can see by the tab at the bottom of the window.

Figure 4. Editors Use Color-Keyed Text

Tip

 

Stylus Studio uses different colors to distinguish markup, tag names, and data. Orange, for example, identifies elements that are not associated with a schema. You can change the colors that are used on a per-editor basis. Select Tools > Options from the menu bar, then select Application Settings > Editor Format. You select the editor whose settings you want to modify using the Editor drop-down list at the top of the Options dialog box.

Updating the Text of a Sample Document

When you update an XML document in the Text view of the XML editor, you can use the usual editing tools, as well as tools tailored for handling XML.

Each of the following topics contains instructions for editing a sample XML document. You should perform the steps in each topic before you move on to the next topic. After the first topic, some steps depend on actions you performed in a previous topic.

This section provides instructions for

Displaying Line Numbers

Stylus Studio lets you optionally display line numbers in most of its editors. Line numbers provide simple, unobtrusive points of reference that can make working large or complex documents easier. Line numbers are off by default; turn them on now.

To display line numbers:
1. Select Tools > Options from the Stylus Studio menu.

Stylus Studio displays the Options dialog box.

2. Click Application Settings > Editor General.

Figure 5. Sense:X and Other Editor Features are in the Options Dialog Box

3. Select XML Editor from the Editor drop-down list.
4. Click Show line numbers.
5. Click OK.

Adding Elements in the Text View of a Sample Document

To add elements in the Text view of your-quotes.xml:
1. In the XML editor window, click in the first line just after <ticker>.
2. Press Enter and type <quote><company>data</.
Sense:X Auto-Completion

As soon as you type the closing forward slash, Stylus Studio displays company> because it is the only element that is appropriate to close. Automatic closing of open tags is part of Stylus Studio's Sense:X intelligent editing. You can change this and other Sense:X options on the Editor General page of the Options dialog box - for example, you can have Stylus Studio display a list of appropriate elements, even if that list includes one only item.

This document does not have a DTD or XML Schema associated with it. But suppose for a moment that it does have an associated schema. As soon as you type <, Stylus Studio would display a pop-up list of the elements you could add at that location. You need only double-click the element you want to add.

Figure 6. Example of Stylus Studio Sense:X

Copying and Pasting in the Text View of a Sample Document

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Adding Elements in the Text View of a Sample Document.

To copy and paste elements in the Text view of your-quotes.xml:
1. Use the mouse to select the text for one quote element and its contents.
2. In the menu bar, select Edit > Copy.

Alternatives : Press Ctrl+C or click Copy.

3. Scroll down in the XML editor and click just before </ticker>.
4. In the menu bar, select Edit > Paste.

Stylus Studio copies the quote element here, but the indentations are not quite right. Instructions for fixing this are in the topic Inserting Indents in the Text View of a Sample Document.

Alternatives: Press Ctrl+V or click Paste. .

Undoing Operations in the Text View of a Sample Document

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Adding Elements in the Text View of a Sample Document.

To undo operations performed on the your-quotes.xml document:
1. In the menu bar, select Edit > Undo to remove the text you just pasted.

Alternative: Press Ctrl+Z.

2. In the menu bar, select Edit > Redo to replace the text you just removed.

Alternative: Press Ctrl+Y.

3. In the XML editor window, click Indent XML Tags , which is the left most button.

Stylus Studio displays a message that alerts you that there is an open tag for a quote element but no close tag. The messages indicates the line and column in which the error was found.

4. In the alert box, click OK. Because the document is not well-formed XML, Stylus Studio does not insert indents in the document. The next topic, Inserting Indents in the Text View of a Sample Document, shows how to fix the document so that it is well-formed.
5. In the menu bar, click Edit.

The Undo and Redo operations are no longer active. After you click the Indent XML Tags button, you cannot automatically undo or redo recent changes. It does not matter whether or not Stylus Studio actually inserts the indents. After you make another change, the Undo operation becomes active again.

Inserting Indents in the Text View of a Sample Document

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Adding Elements in the Text View of a Sample Document.

To insert indents in your-quotes.xml:
1. In the XML editor tool bar, click Indent XML Tags again.

Stylus Studio displays the message that indicates that a close tag is missing. It specifies the element name, and the line and column numbers that identify where the error was found.

2. In the alert box, click OK.

Stylus Studio moves the cursor so that it appears immediately after the quote tag that has no closing tag.

Tip

 

The current cursor location within the document is displayed as line/column coordinates in the Stylus Studio status bar at the bottom of the Stylus Studio window.

Figure 7. Document Position DIsplayed in Status Bar

3. In line 2, click after the </company> tag and type </. By default, Stylus Studio displays quote> because it is the only element that is appropriate to close.
4. In the XML editor tool bar, click Indent XML Tags .

This time, Stylus Studio correctly indents the XML text.

Indent XML Tags changes your XML document by inserting white space. If this is undesirable, and you want to check for well-formedness, click the Tree tab at the bottom of the XML Editor window. If the document is well-formed, Stylus Studio displays the tree representation. If the document is not well formed, Stylus Studio displays a message that indicates the reason the document is not well formed and the location of the error or omission.

Querying in the Text View of a Sample Document

Stylus Studio provides support for both XPath 1.0 and 2.0. You control the version you want Stylus Studio to use to process your XPath using the v.1 and v.2 buttons in the XML Editor tool bar. The default XPath used is version 1.0.

Figure 8. Specify XPath Version with a Single Click

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Adding Elements in the Text View of a Sample Document.

To query your-quotes.xml:
1. Click in the <Type a new query> field at the top of the XML Editor.

Alternative: Press F6. This moves the focus immediately to the query definition field.

Figure 9. The XML Editor's Query Definition Field

2. Type /ticker/quote and press Enter.

Stylus Studio runs the /ticker/quote query on your-quotes.xml, and displays the results in the Query Output window.

3. In the Query Output window, expand the second quote element to view its contents.

Figure 10. Query Result Displayed in Query Output WIndow
4. Click the symbol element.

In the Text view, Stylus Studio uses its backmapping feature to move the cursor to the source element for the symbol result element you clicked.

5. In the Text view, click the down arrow to the right of the query field.
6. Click <type a new query>.
7. Type //company and press Enter.

Stylus Studio runs the new query and displays the results on a new tab (labelled Query2) in the Query Output window. Stylus Studio adds a new tab for each query you define.

8. Click the Query1 tab to view the results for the first query.
9. Click Save Result at the top of the Query Output window.

Stylus Studio displays the Save As dialog box.

10. In the URL: field, type query1.xml and press Enter.

This saves the results from the /ticker/quote query in query1.xml.

11. Close the Query Output window by clicking the x in that window's upper right corner.

Deleting a Query

You cannot explicitly delete a query. In addition, queries you define are not saved with an XML document unless that document belongs to a Stylus Studio project - if you close the XML document and then reopen it, the queries you defined in the previous editing session are no longer there.

Note

 

See Working with Projects to learn more about projects and their role in Stylus Studio.

Updating the Schema of a Sample Document

This section provides instructions for updating the internal DTD for your-quotes.xml.

When an XML document has an external DTD, you can view the external DTD in the Schema tab of the XML Editor, but you cannot edit it. To be able to edit an external DTD, you must open it in the DTD editor. When an XML document has an internal DTD, you can view and edit it in both the Schema tab and the Text tab of the XML editor.

You should have already performed the steps in Updating the Text of a Sample Document. Each of the following topics contains instructions for editing the sample XML document. You should perform the steps in each topic before you move on to the next topic. After the first topic, some steps depend on actions you performed in a previous topic.

This section includes the following topics:

For more information, see Defining a DTD - Getting Started.

Creating a Sample Schema

To create the schema of a sample XML document:
1. If it is not already open, open your-quotes.xml. See Opening a Sample XML Document if you need help with this step.
2. At the bottom of the XML editor window, click the Schema tab.

Stylus Studio displays the Schema tab, and opens the Properties window. The Schema tab displays a DTD tree, which is currently empty.

Figure 11. Default Schema Tab for Document With no Schema

3. To create a schema for your-quotes.xml, select XML > Create Schema from XML Content from the Stylus Studio menu.

Stylus Studio displays the Create Schema or DTD dialog box. By default, Stylus Studio generates an internal DTD and inserts it in a DOCTYPE element at the beginning of the document. You can also use this dialog box to generate an external XML Schema or DTD.

Figure 12. Create Schema or DTD Based on XML Content

4. Click Yes to instruct Stylus Studio to create a DTD based on the XML document content.

Stylus Studio displays a tree representation of the new, internal DTD. It also displays the Properties window.

Figure 13. Result of Generating a Schema Based on XML Content

Defining a Sample Element

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Creating a Sample Schema.

To define a new element in the Schema view of the sample schema:
1. Click the company element in the Schema tab.

This selects the company element definition and displays the properties for the company element in the Properties window.

Figure 14. Properties Window Displays Element Properties

The Content Model property indicates the allowable contents for a company element. In this example, it is Mixed, which means that a company element can contain specified elements (as opposed to all elements defined in this DTD), attributes, and raw data.

Tip

 

Windows like the Properties and Query Output windows are docking windows - you can change their location within the Stylus Studio window, or separate them from the Stylus Studio entirely, by dragging them to the desired location.

2. Click the DTD node.

In the left tool bar, Stylus Studio activates only those buttons that are applicable to the DTD - you can add elements, entities, comments, and so on. But you cannot add an attribute definition, a reference to an element, or a #PCDATA node, for example.

3. In the left tool bar, click New Element Definition . Stylus Studio displays an entry field at the bottom of the tree.

Figure 15. Entry Field for a New DTD Element

4. Type location and press Enter. Stylus Studio displays the properties for the new location element in the Properties window.
5. In the left tool bar, click New Modifier . Stylus Studio displays a drop-down menu of options that specify the rules for the occurrence of the children of the new element.

Figure 16. Drop-Down List for Modifier Values

6. Double-click Zero or More (or click once to select it and press Enter).
7. In the left tool bar, click Add #PCDATA . Your definition of the location element specifies that it can contain only raw data.

Adding an Element Reference to a Sample Schema

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Creating a Sample Schema.

To update the definition of the quote element to include an optional location element:
1. In the Schema tab, expand the quote element.
2. Click its Sequence modifier.
3. In the left tool bar, click New Modifier .

Stylus Studio displays an entry field for the new modifier at the end of the list of modifiers that already apply to the Sequence modifier. The entry field consists of a drop-down list of available values for the new modifier.

4. In the drop-down list, double-click Optional.
5. In the left tool bar, click New Reference to Element . Stylus Studio displays an entry field after the new Optional modifier.
6. Type location and press Enter.
7. To move the location element to be earlier in the sequence, click its Optional modifier.
8. In the XML editor top tool bar, click Move Up repeatedly until the location element is where you want it to be.

Defining an Entity in a Sample Schema

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Creating a Sample Schema.

To define an entity in the internal DTD for your-quotes.xml:
1. Click the DTD node.
2. In the left tool bar, click New Entity .

At the end of the schema, Stylus Studio displays Ent and a entry field for the name of the new entity.

3. Type TCBCC for the name of the entity and press Enter.

In the Properties window, Stylus Studio displays the properties for the new entity.

4. In the Properties window, double-click the Value field.
5. Type The Country's Best Computer Company and press Enter.

Exploring Other Features in a Sample Schema

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Creating a Sample Schema.

To toggle white space or validate your document:
1. Click Toggle Display of White Space to display nodes that represent white space in the DTD. Click the button again to hide the white space nodes.
2. Click Validate Document .

Stylus Studio displays a message in the Output window that indicates that the document is valid.

Figure 17. Output Window After Schema Validation

Updating the Tree Representation of a Sample Document

This section provides instructions for updating the DOM tree representation of the your-quotes.xml document.

You should have already performed the steps in Updating the Schema of a Sample Document. Each of the following topics contains instructions for editing the sample XML document. You should perform the steps in each topic before you move on to the next topic. After the first topic, some steps depend on actions you performed in a previous topic.

This section includes the following topics:

Adding an Element to a Sample Document Tree

To add an element to the tree representation of your-quotes.xml:
1. If it is not already open, open your-quotes.xml.

See Opening a Sample XML Document if you need help with this step.

2. At the bottom of the XML Editor window, click the Tree tab.

Stylus Studio closes the Properties window.

Tip

 

You can close the Output window if it is still open from the previous exercise.

3. Click the plus sign next to the ticker element to expose the children of the ticker element.
4. Click New Element in the left tool bar to add a quote element to the document.

Stylus Studio displays a drop-down menu that lists the elements you can add at that position in the tree.

5. Click quote and press Enter.

Stylus Studio displays a field next to the new quote element. The DTD allows a quote element to contain data.

6. Click outside the field to close it without entering data.

Changing an Element's Data in a Sample Document Tree

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Adding an Element to a Sample Document Tree.

In the Tree tab of your-quotes.xml, to change the data that an element contains:
1. Expand the third quote element.
2. Click the symbol element.
3. In the XML Editor top tool bar, click Change Value .

Stylus Studio activates the field to the right of the symbol element and selects the current value.

4. In the active field, type XSOL and press Enter.
5. To the right of the exchange element, right-click Nasdaq NMS.

Stylus Studio displays a shortcut menu.

6. Click Change Value. Stylus Studio activates the value field for the exchange element.
7. In the active field, type NYSE and press Enter.

Adding Attributes and Other Node Types to a Sample Document Tree

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Adding an Element to a Sample Document Tree.

To add attributes and other types of nodes to your-quotes.xml:
1. Click the last quote element in the tree.
2. Click New Attribute .

Stylus Studio displays an attribute name field immediately below the selected quote element.

Figure 18. Adding a New Element to a Document Tree

3. In the attribute name field, type agent and press Enter.

Stylus Studio displays a default value for the attribute, Text, in an entry field to the right of the new attribute.

4. In the attribute value field, type Star Brokers and press Enter.

Stylus Studio displays an entry field for a new attribute name, allowing you to easily add a number of attributes, one after the other.

5. Click outside the attribute name field to close it.
6. In the XML editor top tool bar, click Validate Document .

Stylus Studio displays a message in the Output window that indicates that the document is not valid. The DTD does not specify the agent attribute for the quote element. Stylus Studio allows you to modify your document in invalid ways, which you might want to do during application design. The validation feature informs you that your document is invalid when you try to validate the document.

7. Click the agent attribute.
8. In the XML Editor top tool bar, click Delete Node .
9. Click Validate Document again.

Stylus Studio displays a message in the Output window that indicates that the document is now valid.

Adding an Entity Reference to a Sample Document Tree

This topic is part of a sequence. If your-quotes.xml is not open, see Opening a Sample XML Document. The sequence starts with Adding an Element to a Sample Document Tree.

To add an entity reference to your-quotes.xml:
1. If it is not already selected, click the quote element you defined in the previous topic.
2. In the left tool bar, click New Element to add subelements to the new quote element.

Stylus Studio displays a drop-down menu that lists a number of elements that you can insert at this point. Scroll the list to view them all.

3. Click company, which is first in the list, and press Enter.

Stylus Studio displays a field next to the element name. You can enter data here, such as the name of the company. But rather than entering data, suppose you want to refer to an entity. To refer to an entity:

4. Click outside the field or press the Esc key.
5. Click New Entity Reference , which is the last button in the left tool bar.

Stylus Studio displays a drop-down menu that lists the defined entities.

If the New Entity Reference button is not active, click Toggle Display of Entity References in the XML editor top tool bar. This button allows you to control whether you can refer to entities.

6. Double-click TCBCC.

Stylus Studio inserts the text The Country's Best Computer Company as the value for the company element.

7. Click the Text tab at the bottom of the XML editor window.

Stylus Studio displays the &TBCC; entity reference in the new company element.

8. Click the Tree tab.

Updating a Sample Document Using the Grid Tab

This section provides instructions for updating the your-quotes.xml document using the Grid tab of the XML Editor. The Grid tab is useful for displaying structured data. It is a convenient way to view a document that contains multiple instances of the same type of element, for example.

 

The XML Editor Grid tab is available only in Stylus Studio XML Professional Edition.

To update XML document using the Grid tab:
1. If it is not already open, open your-quotes.xml.

See Opening a Sample XML Document if you need help with this step.

2. At the bottom of the XML Editor window, click the Grid tab.

Stylus Studio displays a table that contains the XML data.

Figure 19. Grid Tab

The left most column, with the Tag Name heading, contains the children of the <ticker> element. The remaining columns contain the grandchildren of the <ticker> element. The heading of each column identifies the element name - company, symbol, and so on.

Tip

 

You can resize columns by dragging the handle on the column heading's right side. You can change the element order in the document by dragging the handle on the column heading's left side. Stylus Studio swaps positions with the column on which you come to rest.

3. Select the last row by clicking to the left of the last <quote> element.

The row is highlighted in blue.

4. Click the Insert row after ( ) button.

A new instance of the <quote> element is added to the document. The cursor is placed in the <company> element cell.

Figure 20. Grid with a New Row

5. Type XML Designs and press Enter.

Stylus Studio creates the value for the <company> subelement.

6. Press Tab (or use the right arrow key) to move the cursor to the next cell in the row.
7. Repeat step 5 and step 6 to create values for the <symbol> and <exchange> subelements.
8. If you want, you can continue to add the data contained in a quote element.

Modifying Values

It is easy to change and delete values in grid fields:

  • To change the value of any field, double-click the field and type the new data. Press Enter to save the change.
  • To delete the value of a field, double-click the field, select the text you want to delete, and press the Delete key.

Moving Around the Grid

You can move around the grid using the mouse and the keyboard.

Using the mouse, click where you want to place the cursor.

Using the keyboard:

  • Use the Tab key to advance the focus to the next cell; use Shift + Tab to move the focus to the previous cell
  • Use the arrow keys to move the focus in the direction of the arrow you choose
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