Working with XML Data

XML and its related technologies play a large role in the way data is handled in Windows Server 2008 Visual Studio. Visual Studio includes tools and features that make it easier to work with XML, XSLT, and XML schemas.

XML Editor

The XML Editor is used to edit XML documents. It provides full XML 1.0 syntax checking, schema validation while you type, color-coding, and IntelliSense. If a schema or document type definition is provided, it is used by IntelliSense to list allowable elements and attributes.

Additional features include:

  • XML snippet support, including schema-generated snippets.

  • Document outlining so that elements can be expanded and collapsed.

  • The ability to execute XSLT transformations and to view the results as text, XML, or HTML.

  • The ability to generate XML Schema definition language (XSD) schemas from the XML instance document.

  • Support for editing XSLT style sheets, including IntelliSense support.

  • XML Schema Explorer

XML Schema Designer

The XML Schema Designer is integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and the XML Editor to enable you to work with XML Schema definition language (XSD) schemas.

XSLT Debugging

Visual Studio supports debugging XSLT style sheets. Using the debugger, you can set break points in an XSLT style sheet, step into an XSLT style sheet from code, and so on.

Note

XSLT debugging is available in the Professional and Team Editions.

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Other Resources

XML Tools in Visual Studio