XML in Authentic View
Authentic View enables a user to edit an XML document as if it were a text document (screenshot below). The XML markup and all other non-content text can be hidden from the person editing the document. This can be useful for people who are unfamiliar with XML, enabling them to creating valid XML documents even while concentrating on the content of the document.
The Authentic View of a document is enabled when a StyleVision Power Stylesheet (SPS) is assigned to an XML document. An SPS is based on the same schema source as that on which the XML document is based, and it defines the structure of the XML document. The SPS also defines the layout and formatting of the document in Authentic View. For example, in the document shown in the screenshot above, the following Authentic formatting and editing features are used:
•Paragraph and other block formatting
•Table structures
•Text formatting, such as color and font face
•Combo boxes (see the State and Zip fields) enable the user to select from a group of valid choices, which can be taken from schema enumerations, as has been done in the case above
•Additional information can be calculated from the data in the document and be presented (in the example above, the office summary details have not been entered by the user but calculated from other data in the document)
SPSs are created specifically for viewing and editing XML documents in Authentic View and for generating standard output (such as HTML, PDF, RTF, and Word 2007 documents) from XML. SPSs are created with Altova StyleVision.
Editing document structure
Valid nodes can be added to the document at any time by selecting a location and then adding the required node via the entry helpers (Elements and Attributes) or context menu. The nodes available at any given location are restricted to the nodes that can be validly added as siblings or children at the selected location. For example, when the cursor is located within a paragraph, you can append another paragraph if this is allowed by the schema.
When editing the structure of an XML document in Authentic View, it could be useful to see the markup of the document. Markup can therefore be switched on as tags (screenshot below) using the Authentic | Show Large Markup command (or the corresponding toolbar icon).
Editing content
Content is created and edited by typing it into the nodes of the document. Entities and CDATA sections can be added via the context menu (entities also via the Entities entry helper).
More about editing in Authentic View
For more details of how to edit in Authentic View, see the Authentic View section.