Discussion:
XML formatting in Netbeans
B***@Lawson.com
2003-04-30 15:45:51 UTC
Permalink
Is there any way to automatically format an XML document (that is just a
single line and large) in Netbeans?

I don't really see a way to format an XML document nicely if it wasn't
formatted to begin with. If I'm overlooking something please let me know.
Also, if Netbeans doesn't have this capability, does it makes sense as an
enhancement?

If not, what tools do any of you use to "pretty" format an XML document so
that it's easier to debug. I'm liking the ability to stay in Netbeans for
most of the things that I do.

-Bryan
Tor Norbye
2003-04-30 16:13:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by B***@Lawson.com
Is there any way to automatically format an XML document (that is just a
single line and large) in Netbeans?
I think the XML module is thinking of adding something like this.

For now, you can use the tasklist module; get the dev35 version
( http://tasklist.netbeans.org/servlets/ProjectDownloadList )
then open your XML file in the editor, then go to the Tools
menu and select "JTidy: Clean up & Format". You will get a
confirmation dialog, with a preview button which shows you
a before & after diff. This also works on HTML files (in fact
it's more useful on HTML since it can clean up various HTML
errors) and perhaps on JSP files.

Tasklist may be an odd home for XML formatting - the reason it's
there is that JTidy is integrated with tasklist such that it can
list HTML/XML/JSP problems as you're editing these files, just
like it lists javadoc and rule violations while editing java
files.

I argued a while ago in issue
http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=31726
that we should have a separate module which provides jtidy
integration.

-- Tor
Post by B***@Lawson.com
I don't really see a way to format an XML document nicely if it wasn't
formatted to begin with. If I'm overlooking something please let me know.
Also, if Netbeans doesn't have this capability, does it makes sense as an
enhancement?
If not, what tools do any of you use to "pretty" format an XML document so
that it's easier to debug. I'm liking the ability to stay in Netbeans for
most of the things that I do.
-Bryan
--
Tor Norbye <***@sun.com>
Sun Microsystems, Inc
B***@Lawson.com
2003-04-30 21:37:16 UTC
Permalink
I had to install JTidy ... It seems to break on the XML I am trying to look
at. Is this something I should report bugs on or should I wait until
stability arrives - this exactly what I was looking for, though.
-Bryan



|---------+---------------------------->
| | Tor Norbye |
| | <torbjorn.norbye@|
| | sun.com> |
| | |
| | 04/30/2003 11:13 |
| | AM |
| | Please respond to|
| | nbusers |
| | |
|---------+---------------------------->
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| To: ***@netbeans.org |
| cc: (bcc: Bryan Vold/Lawson) |
| Subject: Re: [nbusers] XML formatting in Netbeans |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Is there any way to automatically format an XML document (that is just a
single line and large) in Netbeans?
I think the XML module is thinking of adding something like this.

For now, you can use the tasklist module; get the dev35 version
( http://tasklist.netbeans.org/servlets/ProjectDownloadList )
then open your XML file in the editor, then go to the Tools
menu and select "JTidy: Clean up & Format". You will get a
confirmation dialog, with a preview button which shows you
a before & after diff. This also works on HTML files (in fact
it's more useful on HTML since it can clean up various HTML
errors) and perhaps on JSP files.

Tasklist may be an odd home for XML formatting - the reason it's
there is that JTidy is integrated with tasklist such that it can
list HTML/XML/JSP problems as you're editing these files, just
like it lists javadoc and rule violations while editing java
files.

I argued a while ago in issue
http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=31726
that we should have a separate module which provides jtidy
integration.

-- Tor
I don't really see a way to format an XML document nicely if it wasn't
formatted to begin with. If I'm overlooking something please let me
know.
Also, if Netbeans doesn't have this capability, does it makes sense as an
enhancement?
If not, what tools do any of you use to "pretty" format an XML document
so
that it's easier to debug. I'm liking the ability to stay in Netbeans
for
most of the things that I do.
-Bryan
--
Tor Norbye <***@sun.com>
Sun Microsystems, Inc
B***@Lawson.com
2003-05-02 18:24:07 UTC
Permalink
Thanks for the heads up on this - this is a great feature. In the Tasklist
docs, it mentions that
eventually Scarab (the bugtracking system for others on the list) will be
supported. Do you know
of a timeframe for this or has any preliminary work been done to start the
integration? This seems
like it could have a huge impact on project management.

-Bryan



|---------+---------------------------->
| | Tor Norbye |
| | <torbjorn.norbye@|
| | sun.com> |
| | |
| | 04/30/2003 11:13 |
| | AM |
| | Please respond to|
| | nbusers |
| | |
|---------+---------------------------->
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| To: ***@netbeans.org |
| cc: (bcc: Bryan Vold/Lawson) |
| Subject: Re: [nbusers] XML formatting in Netbeans |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Is there any way to automatically format an XML document (that is just a
single line and large) in Netbeans?
I think the XML module is thinking of adding something like this.

For now, you can use the tasklist module; get the dev35 version
( http://tasklist.netbeans.org/servlets/ProjectDownloadList )
then open your XML file in the editor, then go to the Tools
menu and select "JTidy: Clean up & Format". You will get a
confirmation dialog, with a preview button which shows you
a before & after diff. This also works on HTML files (in fact
it's more useful on HTML since it can clean up various HTML
errors) and perhaps on JSP files.

Tasklist may be an odd home for XML formatting - the reason it's
there is that JTidy is integrated with tasklist such that it can
list HTML/XML/JSP problems as you're editing these files, just
like it lists javadoc and rule violations while editing java
files.

I argued a while ago in issue
http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=31726
that we should have a separate module which provides jtidy
integration.

-- Tor
I don't really see a way to format an XML document nicely if it wasn't
formatted to begin with. If I'm overlooking something please let me
know.
Also, if Netbeans doesn't have this capability, does it makes sense as an
enhancement?
If not, what tools do any of you use to "pretty" format an XML document
so
that it's easier to debug. I'm liking the ability to stay in Netbeans
for
most of the things that I do.
-Bryan
--
Tor Norbye <***@sun.com>
Sun Microsystems, Inc

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