Re: [xml-dev] XML tools

[Mitch Amiano <mitch.amiano@agilemarkup.com>]

I personally use oXygenXML, and like it a lot for the kind of one-of 
tasks that I have to throw at it. Some of the characteristics that make 
it suit my needs are the price range, it has a nice mix of content 
editing features without being an overwhelming user interface, and there 
are rarely times when I think to myself "Gee, I wish the tool hadn't 
done THAT to my source" - but when that does happen usually they've 
anticipated the need to control such behavior with a configuration option.

This is subjective, but oXygen doesn't have the appearance or feature 
set of a "heavy duty" development environment or an enterprise studio 
class of product, but it has a much more robust set of features and is 
more usable than the open source options of which I am aware.  Service 
means something too, and in my experience the vendor has been very 
responsive.

If you are looking for something of an enterprise suite, especially if 
you are looking for features like XQuery and integration in a Microsoft 
environment, also consider Stylus Studio.

One thing I'd look out for with the open source is what they'll do when 
you open real world, ugly, long-line, and/or malformed XML. The browser 
based solutions in particular are really not for cleanup and data 
manipulation work.

I'll also second Betty Harvey's remark about the Syntext Serna editor - 
the interface has a feel that I can only describe as "silky". 

Rodriguez, Oscar wrote:
>
> Hi there:
>
>  
>
> I have been asked to research about the best XML tools (ex. XML Spy) 
> available in the market. Does anyone have any recommendations?
>
>  
>
> Thanks
>
> - Oscar
>