Oxygen XML Forum

Currently using oXygen XML Editor 18 (great product).

Would it make sense to add the ability to more easily open a particular file in a previously defined External Tool?

To give but one example, I have a couple of different Web browser profiles that I use to verify the appearance and operation of XHTML outputs. At present I can right-click a file, then choose Open With -> System Application. That opens the file in my computer's default Web browser profile.

But what if I'd like to open the file in a non-default Web browser profile? Or even some other external tool?

I can at present specify that a given external tool open in the current file directory ala ${cfd}. But I'd like to be able to right-click, then choose Open With -> External Tool -> [existing external tool definition].

Or is there already a way to do this that I haven't been able to figure out?

Cheers, thanks, & hope this helps,
Riley

Hi Riley,

So basically what you want would be that in the Project view, when you right click to have a submenu with all already defined external tools. After you invoke one of them the editor variables like cfd, cfdu, cf.... should be expanded based on the current project selected file and not on the current XML opened in the application. Something like this?

Regards,
Radu

Radu wrote:So basically what you want would be that in the Project view, when you right click to have a submenu with all already defined external tools. After you invoke one of them the editor variables like cfd, cfdu, cf.... should be expanded based on the current project selected file and not on the current XML opened in the application. Something like this?

I believe you've got it.

I don't believe I can currently send a file to an existing external application, only have that external application open the current directory ala ${cfd}. That existing functionality requires me to then perform an additional operation to get the specific file where I want it to go; for example a specific Web browser profile.

HOWEVER, all this said I'm not sure if implementing the idea would provide a lot of "tangles" in the u.i. Or require a lot of thinking about how to get a particular file to a given external application without a lot of clumsy and breakage prone file-spec'ing or the like. If this idea would make things more difficult rather than easier, then forget it!

So it's only a suggestion / thought. And most definitely not a show-stopper in any way. I only thought I'd suggest it to see if anyone else thinks it might be handy to be able to quickly send a specific file to a previously defined external application...

Cheers, thanks, & hope this helps,
Riley
SFO

Hi Riley,

Thanks for the feedback, you are not the only one with this kind of use case so we'll try to look into this.
Another possibility would have been to have specific editor variables like "${currentSelectedProjectFile}" which can be used when defining external tools.

Regards,
Radu