Product Review

The adoption rate for XML continues to be astounding. XML is finding its way into every server, into SDK, and developer platform out there, and so there is great need for developers to design XML Schemas, write XSLT stylesheets, debug Web services, and create XML content. One particular product that's getting lots of buzz is Altova's XML Spy. I recently spent an afternoon working with the latest release of this product - version 4.3.

XML Spy Suite, a product family of developer tools, consists of the XML Spy Integrated Development Environment (IDE), the XML Spy XSLT Designer, and the XML Spy Document Editor with browser plug-in. The IDE provides an intuitive, interactive interface for developers to edit and debug XML documents. The XSLT Designer is a visual tool for developing XSLT stylesheets. The Document Editor is a wordprocessor-like interface for creating XML content. Since the release of the first version of XML Spy in 1999, Altova has kept up with evolving XML standards, releasing product updates on average once every few months - version 4.3 is due out early this month.

Installing XML Spy Suite 4.3
You can download a trial version of the XML Spy Suite from www.xmlspy.com. Once you've downloaded the software, Altova will send you a free 30-day license key that unlocks it. XML Spy Suite 4.3 works on Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, ME, and XP. The installation kit makes use of the InstallShield program and seems to require a reboot of your desktop during the installation process. Installation is straightforward and I was able to get XML Spy 4.3 up and running in no time.

Working with XML Spy Suite 4.3
Right off the bat I'll tell you that I'm impressed with the wide array of tools and utilities that are packaged in XML Spy Suite 4.3. Altova's developers are not shy about packing the IDE with features and functions. Yet, despite all of the functionality, the interface doesn't feel cluttered and responds briskly most of the time. (I did find that XML Spy error messages weren't always very detailed or helpful, but I didn't consider this a big issue.)

The upper left-hand section of the interface (see Figure 1) contains the project panel. You can manage multiple XML "projects" and use source control options via this project panel. The main document viewer appears in the large center panel. XML Spy provides five different viewing mechanisms:

• Enhanced Grid View
• Schema design View
• Text View
• Document Editor View
• Browser View

XML Spy's Enhanced Grid View offers a powerful interface for working with XML documents. The grid splits the document viewer into two panels. The left-hand panel displays a grid outline of the open document, while the right-hand panel shows a structured version of the data within the document. If you're familiar with XML, you'll find this a comfortable WYSIWYG editing environment. Hard-core text developers will favor the raw Text View format or the Browser View format.

In the XML Spy 4 release, two new software applications were added - the XSLT Designer and Document Editor, together known as the XML Spy Document Framework. The framework's goal is to provide a standards-based XML content editing and document management solution for creating and deploying large volumes of XML documents in production environments. While programmers and developers are comfortable working with raw XML data, production end users are less likely to embrace XML in this fashion. Thus Altova offers the document view within the XML Spy IDE (see Figure 2).

The Document Editor View allows end users to work with XML data within a more familiar, word-processor-type environment. Altova also offers the Document as a browser plug-in for Internet Explorer (version 5.5+). This allows end users to view and edit XML documents directly within a browser window. The Document Editor supports free-form WYSIWYG editing, form-based data input, graphics display, and real-time consistency-checking using XML Schema. Figure 2 shows a sample datasheet for a jet airplane design document that is open in the document viewer within the XML Spy IDE.

To use the Document Editor View format with your XML files you'll need to build a presentation template. Using Altova's XSLT Designer, you can build XSLT stylesheets to create the customized forms and layouts used to configure the Document Editor. XML developers who are intimately familiar with XSL elements and the XPath query language may feel comfortable using a text editor to build stylesheets. However, Altova's XSLT designer provides a GUI environment that allows the user to drag-and-drop XML elements into the design window - and the XSLT designer will automatically generate the resulting XSLT stylesheet.

The XML Spy IDE also supports database access. I was able to reverse-engineer an Access database through a Crystal Reports ODBC connection and output an XML document into my Oracle database through ODBC. I noticed that XML Spy had a tendency to vapor-lock on occasion when working with medium-size database tables - but this didn't cause me to lose any data.

Summary
I was able to find lots of entries when searching through Google's newsgroups database for mentions of XML Spy. For the most part, users seemed to like the product, and I tend to agree. Last year XML Spy won six XML-Journal Readers' Choice awards. Programmers who like a well-designed IDE will favor the XML Spy environment. On an unrelated note, I took an informal poll and all developers agree - we like the cool secret-agent cartoon girl in the Altova advertisements.

SPECS
Altova
900 Cummings Center
Suite 314T
Beverly, MA 01915
Phone: 978 927-9400
Web: www.altova.com
E-mail: sales@xmlspy.com

Test Environment
OS: Windows 2000 Service Pack 2
Processor: Toshiba Satellite Pro 866 Mhz
Memory: 256MB

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