XML News from Saturday, September 9, 2006

IBM has updated the Compound XML Document Toolkit, a closed source Eclipse plugin Web Tools Platform for editing XML documents that use multiple namespaces.

The Compound XML Document Toolkit uses XML schemas to define the semantics of constructing documents spanning one or more namespaces. Those semantics include the order and placement of elements, the allowable child elements, and available attributes for each element.

Sample XML schema profiles for these XML-based standards are provided with the Compound XML Document Toolkit; documents having mark-up of the following types may therefore be created and edited immediately upon installation:

The Compound XML Document Toolkit also provides also provides tools for validating compound XML documents, in addition to one-step rendering of documents being edited.

This release adds support for Eclipse 3.2.

I'm skeptical of the schema-based, strong typing ideal that drives this project. Personally I'm much more interested in products that treat schemas as suggestions rather than strait jackets. For instance, I don't mind an editor using a schema to suggest auto-complete options; but I don't want it to freak out if I add an xi:include element that isn't accounted for by the schema or paste in some invalid (but well-formed) legacy HTML.