XML Part 10

Download a free version of XML Spy. What does it do?  How well does it do? 

I had previously download and installed XMLSpy for other projects that I had worked on in previous years. I decided to download the latest version and install it over the version I has installed. This did not prove to be problematic at all and the application installed with no problems. I was then prompted that the temporary license that I had previously installed had expired. It was great to see that by simply clicking a button on the registration window I quickly requested a new evaluation license which was quickly dispatched to my mailbox.

XMLSpy is an application designed by Altova that is primarily a feature rich intelligent XML editor. As an XML editor it is intended for modeling, editing, transforming, and debugging XML-related technologies. The application attempts to deliver an intuitive way to create and edit XML documents, including switching from and to graphical representations of the data. XMLSpy also sports extensive XML validation and advanced error handling.

As one would expect XMLSpy also provides for creating and editing XSLT style sheets. As XML in itself is not viewable in browsers and must be displayed through other technologies, this inclusion is certainly welcome. Furthermore XMLSpy is also schema aware and includes XQuery editor, XQuery Debugger and XQuery Profiler to handle schema creation and support besides also including a DTD editor and a DTD-Schema conversion mechanism as well. That is not were XMLSpy’s database support stops, it also includes Relational Database integration which allows the user to connect to popular database systems and use data from them in XML projects.

In terms of security, XMLSpy supports the digitally signing documents using XML Signature. Soap is also supported for the creation of web services using XML.

Finally, XMLSpy also integrates with the Visual Studio development platform. This brings the feature rich XMLSpy XML editing tools to this popular platform.

To evaluate if XMLSpy does well what it is supposed to do I decided to make a list of tests that I would try and see how easy or difficult it would be to go through these tests.

As XMLSpy is primarily designed to edit XML files I thought that this would be the ideal place to start. I began by making a quick search for sample XML files and found an appropriate one on the Microsoft site. The file opened without problems and is displayed below:

As XMLSpy is supposed to include validation of XML data I decided that this would be a good test. A quick search of the drop down menus revealed that this could easily be done by pressing F8. My test validation on the Microsoft XML returned an error which was neatly displayed in the bottom window. The error reported was that my data did not include a DTD or a schema.

I also noticed that the F7 key will do a “well Formedness”  check which I ran and got no error report. 

My next test was to try and create a DTD for the data I was testing with. Again, this was very easy to achieve by simply selecting it from the XML dropdown menu. The resulting DTD is shown below :

I noticed that XMLSpy even created the declaration to link the XML data to the DTD that had just been created. I then thought it would be a good idea to test making a Schema from this data. This was equally easy to do and it was interesting to note that the application noticed that I already has a DTD linked to this document and then asked me if I would like to remove the DTD declaration and add the Schema declaration instead. 

The next thing I felt that I must try was to see how easy it is to add elements to an XML file though the UI. This was fairly easy to do through the Grid view. The screenshot below shows the new element being created :

As an exercise I added a new element called "isbn" to the book XML sample file. Not only was it quite easy to add the element through the grid but it was equally easy to populate the field through the same interface. A quick look at the resulting XML file showed that the element had been added successfully. The same grid layout is used to modify data as well.

I also had read in the Altova tutorials that it was possible to convert data from well know relational databases to XML using their application. I thought that this would be an interesting test. This involves setting up a connection to a database server, selecting the tables to be converted and XMLSpy does the rest. The next image shows the connection screen to connect to a database source.

 

Once the connection was made and the process of data importing completed the following XML data file was produced :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Import name="categories" query="SELECT `CategoryName` FROM `cloudpos`.`categories`;
">
    <!--MySQL-->
    <!--Column name:CategoryName type:longtext maxlength:4294967295-->
    <Row>
        <CategoryName>Computers</CategoryName>
    </Row>
    <Row>
        <CategoryName>Monitors</CategoryName>
    </Row>
    <Row>
        <CategoryName>Parts</CategoryName>
    </Row>
    <Row>
        <CategoryName>Printers</CategoryName>
    </Row>
    <Row>
        <CategoryName>Scanners</CategoryName>
    </Row>
</Import>

It would be outside the scope of this work to go through all the features that XMLSpy boasts, however with the tests done so far it is safe to state that as an XML editor, XMLSpy certainly does what it sets out to do. In view of this I thought that the best way forward would be to research some third party reviews of XMLSpy.


Stephen Wynkoop (http://www.sswug.org) found the experience of installing and setting up the application a breeze just as in my case. He claimed that he found the interface a bit daunting at first and I tend to agree. As happens with many feature rich applications like XMLSpy the user interface experience can be a bit overwhelming for new users. Wynkoop concludes that XMLSpy is very good and gives it a five star rating.

Michael Floyd at PCMag also gave XMLSpy high marks and remarked specifically that he was impressed with the ease with which one can navigate from the XML to the DTD or schema as well as views using XSLT at the touch of a button.

David McAnis at TechRupublic also gave XMLSpy a very good review and said :

"So in the end, if you work with XML or develop applications that use XML in any shape or form, you should have a copy of XMLSPY. Already a strong tool in previous releases, XMLSPY 2004 has raised the bar on XML editing and integration and should save you development time and effort when working with XML"

I tend to agree with these reviewers that if you are embarking on a project that uses XML, Altova XMLSpy is definitely the product you will need to keep your project organized and I believe that as a tool it will help you produce a far better product.