DOCBOOK-APPS: Re: DOCBOOK: DocBook XML and XMLspy

[Michael Smith <smith at xml-doc dot org>]

Bernd Kreimeier <bk@oddworld.com> writes:

> I am looking for a Win32 solution for structured/guided editing
> of DocBook XML which is a bit closer to the standard Windows way 
> of things than Emacs/PSGML. XMLspy seems to be a good choice 
> (other suggestions?). 

Same ones Jirka mentioned: epcEdit, Morphon, XMetaL, Arbortext Epic.
The first three all have downloadble eval versions. And if you contact
Arbortext and get in touch with one of their sales reps, I think
they'll mail you an eval version of Epic.

> If anybody has experience in using XMLspy to edit DocBook XML 
> documents using either the DTD or the Schema, I'd appreciate 
> comments. I found a few mentions of problems/bugs in mailing list
> archives, but not many, which could either indicate it's a 
> combination that works well, or indicate it is seldomly used.

I think it's the latter: seldomly used for working with DocBook --
maybe for the reason Jirka mentioned (it's sort of unwieldy for
document-authoring work) but also maybe because it just doesn't work
well with the DocBook DTD. What I mean is, in my experience at least,
XML Spy reports validation errors in the DTD (and in customizations to
it) that aren't actually errors.

I was working today with a document that I had validated with nsgmls,
xmllint, and Xerces against the DocBook 4.1.2 DTD + EBNF module. I
tried to open it in XML Spy and XML Spy reported errors in the DTD and
so wouldn't let me work with the doc.


-- 
Michael Smith, Tokyo, Japan    http://sideshowbarker.net

Danger is a good teacher, and makes apt scholars. So are disgrace,
defeat, exposure to immediate scorn and laughter.

  --William Hazlitt