RE: [docbook] XML Editors

["Petr Prikryl" <Prikryl at skil dot cz>]

Is anyone using jEdit with DocBook?  Could you share your
experience?

jEdit is a free editor implemented in Java.  Some users say
that it is the editor that convinced them to leave Emacs.

I am using jEdit for other things, including HTML.  (I am 
planning to use DocBook markup later, but I am not using
it just now -- the reason why I cannot speak for jEdit
and DocBook combination).

When editing HTML (and not only) I really like the 
"abbreviations". I suppose they could be nice also for
typing any XML source.  For example I can very
easily define the abbreviation for "ul".  Then, I can type
only the word "ul" (without quotes) and press the shortcut
that expands it to 

<ul>
<li></li>
</ul>

and the cursor is placed inside the li tags.  This is so
intuitive that you simply cannot hate it ;)  I use it even
for the simplest tags like <hr> just to avoid the typing
of <> (I still cannot type some characters by 10 fingers ;)

If you try to use an abbreviation that is not defined, 
a dialog appears where you just type what should appear
before the cursor and what after the cursor.  You will
gradually develop a set of such abbreviations and save
them or as global or as local for a mode (e.g. HTML).

This way, you can define abbreviations for the whole
skeleton of a document, including DOCTYPE...

jEdit even has a plugin for more working with more complex
text templates, but I never used it (did not needed it).

HTH, 
   Petr

Steinar Bang wrote...
> >>>>> Robert P J Day <rpjday@mindspring.com> writes:
> > having been through the "which editor should i use" wars myself,
> 
> I have seen surprisingly little fighting about this in the DocBook
> community.
> 
> More like a shared frustration that there aren't really any
> satisfactory editors out there, to offer today's MSWord users.
> No free tools, at least.  I've heard good things about XMetal, but I
> have never tried it.
> 
> I use GNU Emacs/psgml, which works great for me, with DTD-aware
> element insertion and attribute editing, XML tree navigation and
> editing, folding, and validation.  But I wouldn't dream of even
> _proposing_ it to someone who today uses MSWord.

-- 
Petr Prikryl (prikryl at skil.cz) 

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