Editing it the Cheap Way: Xeena

Xeena is a free DTD-based XML editor from IBM's alphaWorks group, folks who have been doing amazing things with XML and Java (and virtually all software is available without charge). Xeena's main advantage is that it creates an XML editor instance (at runtime) that is based on a given DTD. This is particularly useful if you are developing a DTD and you want to provide users a customized editor. Although it is not required, you can also customize Xeena to use application-specific icons and a color scheme you provide. (It is this optional customization that distinguishes Xeena from XML Pro and XML Spy.)

Note: If you decide to download Xeena, be sure to read the README file because it discusses several less than obvious limitations and what to do about them.

Xeena 1.0.2 by IBM alphaWorks	Xeena "takes as input a given DTD, and automatically builds a palette containing the elements defined in the DTD....The visual paradigm requires a minimum learning curve as only valid constructs/elements are presented to the user in a context-sensitive palette. A Key feature of Xeena is its syntax directed editing ability. Xeena is aware of the DTD grammar, and by making only authorized elements icons sensitive, automatically ensures that all documents generated are valid according to the given DTD."
alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/xeena	Mac, Windows 95/NT/98 or Unix platform with JDK 1.1.6 or later required.
Examples/xeena1.gif (this link will appear in another window)	Screenshot of addressbook example that comes with Xeena.
Examples/xeena2.gif (this link will appear in another window)	Screenshot of WDVL collection1.dtd example
Examples/xeena-WDVL.bat (this link will appear in another window)	DOS Batch file you will need to edit to run Xeena with WDVL example.

In the first screenshot in the above table, you will see how Xeena looks when fully customized with a DTD, special icons, and color scheme. This is the addressbook example that is delivered with Xeena. Note the Attributes dialog that permits you to modify an element's attributes.

The second screenshot resulted from using the collection1.dtd that we generated in Part 1 of this article and invoking Xeena with that DTD. It is important to note that we did not do either of the optional customization steps (icons or color schemes), so what you see in this screenshot is the default behavior of Xeena with a new DTD. For Windows users, we've included a .bat file which you must edit to define two locations on your PC. Change the definition of XEENA_HOME to point to where you've installed Xeena, and change DOING_IT_EXAMPLES to be where you unzipped WDVL's Examples/doingit2.zip file, as shown below.

set XEENA_HOME=C:\IBM\Xeena
set DOING_IT_EXAMPLES=C:\KEN\WDVL\DOING-IT\Examples
cd %XEENA_HOME%
xeena %DOING_IT_EXAMPLES%\collection1.dtd Collection

Once Xeena displays the editor based on our collection1.dtd, choose File|Open and select collection1.xml from the same directory that contains collection1.dtd.

Editing it the Cheap Way: XML Spy
Doing It With XML, Part 2
Editing it the Cheap Way: EditorMaker