Grid View (A Couple Problems)

[inrelief]

Hi all,
I have been shopping around for an XML editor with a -good- grid view that doesn't cost at arm and a leg. It seems that oXygen fits the bill, however there are a couple quirky behaviors that are driving me crazy and I need to resolve before I purcahse on a large scale.

1:
When editing xml data with the grid view, new attributes are created inline, that is, there is no line break following the previous row. Granted I could go in and insert them manually, but then why even bother with the grid view?

2:
When converting the grid view to text, the text generator attempts to insert double quotes around double quotes.
eg, <param name="foo" value=""0.00""/>
where is should be
<param name="foo" value='"0.00"'/>
(look carefully, the second line has double quotes enclosed w/single quotes.)
This clearly generates an error on validation.

So, these problems are driving me crazy. I like the product, and enjoy the features it purports to have, but these quirks are driving me away. Can anybody help me resolve them?

Thanks.

[inrelief]

Am I really the only person who has noticed this problem??!??

[Radu]

Hi,

Thank you for contacting us.

For problem 1:
As I see it you want some kind of format and indent when passing from grid to text.
There is a check box in Oxygen Options->Preferences->Editor->Grid : "Format and indent when passing from grid to text or on save". If it does not work as you expected a more detailed description could help us.

For problem 2:
You must not add the quotes when editing attribute values, just enter the attribute value in the cell so that quotes are automatically added when passing to text.
If you need quotes in the attribute value you have to enter them like entities: " just like you would when editing in plain text.

Regards, Radu

[inrelief]

Radu,
Thank you for your reply.
I am concerned regarding using HTML entities to define quotations around attributes as this xml is being used by a c# object generator (of which I have no hand in the design), and i believe it parses out the explicit quotes.

Do you feel these concerns are an issue?

As per text formatting/indentation, I am ashamed to say I just hadn't set my settings properly, and assumed it was a bug.

[Radu]

Hi,

So, to make things clear, in order to generate this XML in the grid:

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<elem attr="value"/>

in the cell corresponding to the "attr" attribute column you just need to type

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value

and save.

On the other hand, if you need to use quotation characters (like simple or double quotes) in the attribute 's value itself you have to escape them somehow in order for the XML to be well formed.
They can be escaped like HTML entities: &apos; or "

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<elem attr="attribute&apos;s value"/>

Decimal entities like: ' for simple quotes and " for double quotes

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<elem attr="attribute's value"/>

Hexadecimal entities like: ' for simple quotes and " for double quotes

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<elem attr="attribute's value"/>

All the 3 notations above should be equivalent to an XML parser when parsing the XML file and be resolved to the right characters (' or ").

Best regards,
Radu

[inrelief]

Radu,
Thank you for your concise replies.