Last weekend I was browsing the latest copy of Oracle magazine. I saw a full page ad in it for XMLSpy 2008. This product has advanced tools for XML Schema development. It is the self proclaimed world’s best selling XML editor. I recall my XML instructor telling me the same thing.The ad declared that XMLSpy had many useful features such as support for very large XML files, DTD conversion, UML generation, advanced validation, and code generation for Java/C#/C++. It encourages you to leave the XML Schema details to the XMLSpy program while you concentrate on the business at hand. Altova (the maker of XMLSpy) offers a free 30 day trial download of the program.
I went to the Altova web site to find out more about the program. It has Visual Studio and Eclipse plugins. Of course it offers a visual XML schema editor. It also has a DTD editor. It supports Open XML (OOXML). It can debug SOAP. XMLSpy has a CSS editor.
XMLSpy has a number of tools for XQuery like an editor, debugger, and profiler. It can analyze XPath. It integrates with your database. XMLSpy supports XInclude and XPointer. Hell. I don’t even know what XInclude is. So you know this thing must be good. LOL.
The only downside to XMLSpy is the price. I had been warned about this before. The standard edition goes for $149. The professional edition costs $599. And the enterprise edition is $1190. Now that is not a lot for a development tool. We have third party tools that cost a whole lot more. The problem is that I need to justify the cost to my company and/or client. And that is some non-trivial effort.
Luckily my boss already knows the power of XMLSpy. So now we can work together to convince the powers that be that I need this tool. Altova has done a good job with its marketing. From the grapevine I also hear the product itself is excellent.
