Grid Mode Editor

The Oxygen XML Editor Grid editor displays the XML document as a structured grid of nested tables. To activate this mode, select Grid at the bottom of the editing area.

If you are a non-technical user, you are able to modify the text content of the edited document without working with the XML tags directly. You can expand and collapse the tables using the mouse cursor and also display or hide the elements of the document as nested. The document structure can also be changed easily with drag and drop operations on the grid components. To zoom in and out, use Ctrl + (Command + on OS X), Ctrl - (Command - on OS X), Ctrl 0 (Command 0 on OS X) or Ctrl Scroll Forward (Command Scroll Forward on OS X ) /Ctrl Scroll Backwards (Command Scroll Backwards on OS X).

Figure: The Grid Editor

To switch back from the Grid mode to the Text or Author mode, use the Text and Grid buttons from the bottom of the editor. You are also able to perform this switch from Document > Edit Mode > Grid and Document > Edit Mode > Text.

If the edited document is associated with a schema (DTD, XML Schema, Relax NG, etc.), the editor offers Content Completion Assistant for the elements and attributes names and values. If you choose to insert an element that has required content, the sub-tree of needed elements and attributes are automatically included.

To display the content completion pop-up menu, you have to start editing (for example, double click a cell). Pressing Ctrl Space (Command Space on OS X) on your keyboard also displays the pop-up menu.

Figure: Content Completion in Grid Editor

To watch our video demonstration about some of the features available in the Grid editor, go to http://oxygenxml.com/demo/Grid_Editor.html.