1.3. Edit menu

Tip

A simplified Edit menu will popup if the right mouse button is clicked anywhere in a document view. Some of the menu items of this popup Edit menu have more accurate titles than those of the menu bar Edit menu (example: "Undo Convert" instead of simply "Undo").

Undo

Undo last command.

Redo

Redo last undone command.

Repeat

Repeats last repeatable command.

Commands requiring the user to specify an argument (e.g. Replace, Insert Before, Insert, Insert After, Convert, Convert [wrap], Change Processing Instruction Target, etc) are repeatable.

Command History

Displays a dialog box listing last ten repeatable commands from newest to oldest.

Cut

Cuts

  • text selection

  • OR explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element

to system clipboard.

Tip

It is possible to cut and paste nodes between two instances of XXE (of course if the DTD or schema allows it).

Copy

Copies

  • text selection

  • OR explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element

to system clipboard.

Tip

Selected characters are automatically copied as system selection on platforms supporting system selection (X-Window) and automatically copied to an internal clipboard on other platforms.

Paste Before

Pastes the content of system clipboard before

  • explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element.

The system clipboard may contain one or several nodes or just plain text. The content of system clipboard, is parsed as XML if it begins with "<?xml" otherwise it is considered to be plain text.

Paste

Pastes the content of system clipboard replacing

  • text selection

  • OR explicitly selected node or node range,

OR if there is no explicit selection, pastes the content of system clipboard into

  • element containing caret, at caret position.

The system clipboard may contain one or several nodes or just plain text. The content of system clipboard, is parsed as XML if it begins with "<?xml" otherwise it is considered to be plain text.

Tip

Clicking with mouse button #2 (middle button or mouse wheel) can be used to paste the content of system selection on platforms supporting system selection and can be used to paste the content of an internal clipboard on other platforms (if allowed by grammar constraining the document, of course).

By default, this very handing feature is not enabled. You need to enable it using the Options dialog box.

Paste After

Pastes the content of system clipboard after

  • explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element.

The system clipboard may contain one or several nodes or just plain text. The content of system clipboard, is parsed as XML if it begins with "<?xml" otherwise it is considered to be plain text.

Delete

Deletes

  • text selection

  • OR explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element.

Force Deletion

Like Delete except that deletion will be performed even if the grammar constraining the document forbids to do so.

Example 1. Example of use:

The content model of element <a> is child element <b> or a sequence of child element <c> followed by child element <d>.

A new <a> is by default created with the simplest possible content model, that is <b>. Then how to replace <b> by the sequence <c><d>? Deleting <b> is forbidden because it would give us an invalid <a>.

The answer is:

  1. Force the deletion of <b> using the command described here. This makes <a> temporarily invalid but also relaxes the constraints on it.

  2. Insert a <c>.

  3. Insert a <d>. Element <a> is now valid.

Replace

Displays the Edit tool which can be used to specify an element replacing

  • explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element.

A dialog box can be displayed rather than the Edit tool if option "Use dialog box rather than Edit tab" is used.

Insert Before

Displays the Edit tool which can be used to specify an element inserted before

  • explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element.

A dialog box can be displayed rather than the Edit tool if option "Use dialog box rather than Edit tab" is used.

Insert

Displays the Edit tool which can be used to specify an element inserted into

  • explicitly selected empty element

  • OR element containing caret, at caret position.

A dialog box can be displayed rather than the Edit tool if option "Use dialog box rather than Edit tab" is used.

Insert After

Displays the Edit tool which can be used to specify an element inserted after

  • explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element.

A dialog box can be displayed rather than the Edit tool if option "Use dialog box rather than Edit tab" is used.

Convert

Displays the Edit tool which can be used to specify an element replacing

  • text selection

  • OR explicitly selected node or node range

  • OR implicitly selected element.

A dialog box can be displayed rather than the Edit tool if option "Use dialog box rather than Edit tab" is used.

Unlike Replace which creates an empty new element, Convert transfers the content of the selection to the new element which is the result of the conversion.

More precisely, in the case of the node selection:

  • When a single element is selected, all its children (but not its attributes) are transferred to the result of the conversion.

    Example:

    "<simpara>The <emphasis>little</emphasis> lamb.</simpara>"

    converted to <para> gives

    "<para>The <emphasis>little</emphasis> lamb.</para>".

  • When several nodes or a single non-element node are selected, all these nodes are given a new parent element which is the result of the conversion.

    Example:

    "<simpara>Once upon a time,</simpara>"

    plus

    "<simpara>the <emphasis>little</emphasis> girl.</simpara>"

    can be converted to <blockquote> and that gives us

    "<blockquote><simpara>Once upon a time,</simpara><simpara>the <emphasis>little</emphasis> girl.</simpara></blockquote>".

See also Wrap a variant of Convert.

Convert [wrap]

This command is a variant of Convert. The unique difference between Wrap and Convert is that, with Wrap, when a single element is selected, the selected element is given a new parent element.

Example, with Wrap (and not with Convert), it is possible to give a <blockquote> parent to the following <simpara>, when this <simpara> is implicitly or explicitly selected:

"<simpara>The <emphasis>little</emphasis> lamb.</simpara>"

That is, selecting <blockquote> using the Edit tool gives:

"<blockquote><simpara>The <emphasis>little</emphasis> lamb.</simpara></blockquote>"

Split

Splits explicitly selected element in two parts, the split point being specified by caret position.

Unlike almost all other commands, this command requires the element to be explicitly selected.

Keyboard shortcut (not displayed in menu): Esc-Enter.

Tip

A less generic form of the Split command is often bound to key Enter (for example, this is the case for XHTML and DocBook).

Typing Enter inside a paragraph (that is, <p> for XHTML and <para> or <simpara> for DocBook) will split this element in two parts.

Example: <simpara> is explicitly selected and the caret is in the middle of word "little". Splitting

"<simpara>the <emphasis>little</emphasis> girl.</simpara>"

gives us

"<simpara>the <emphasis>lit</emphasis></simpara><simpara><emphasis>tle</emphasis> girl.</simpara>"

Tip

Therefore, typing Enter at the end of a paragraph will create an empty new paragraph after it.

Typing Enter at the beginning of a paragraph will create an empty new pagraph before it.

Join

Joins explicitly selected element to its preceding sibling, an element of same type. This gives a single element containing the child nodes of the two joined elements.

This command is the inverse command of Split.

Unlike almost all other commands, this command requires the element to be explicitly selected.

Keyboard shortcut (not displayed in menu): Esc-BackSpace. It is also possible to type Esc-Del to join explicitly selected element to its following sibling, an element of same type.

Tip

A less generic form of the Join command is often bound (for example, this is the case for XHTML and DocBook) to

  • key Backspace when the caret is at the beginning of a paragraph

  • and to key Delete when the caret is at the end of a paragraph.

Typing Backspace at the beginning of a paragraph joins this element to the preceding paragraph.

Typing Delete at the end of a paragraph joins this element to the following paragraph.

1.3.1. Text menu

Insert Text Before

Inserts text node before

  • explicitly selected node

  • OR implicitly selected element.

Insert Text

Inserts text node into

  • explicitly selected empty element

  • OR element containing caret, at caret position.

Insert Text After

Inserts text node after

  • explicitly selected node

  • OR implicitly selected element.

1.3.2. Comment menu

Insert Comment Before

Inserts comment node before

  • explicitly selected node

  • OR implicitly selected element.

Insert Comment

Inserts comment node into

  • explicitly selected empty element

  • OR element containing caret, at caret position.

Insert Comment After

Inserts comment node after

  • explicitly selected node

  • OR implicitly selected element.

1.3.3. Processing instruction menu

Insert Processing Instruction Before

Inserts processing instruction node (with a target called "target") before

  • explicitly selected node

  • OR implicitly selected element.

Insert Processing Instruction

Inserts processing instruction node (with a target called "target") into

  • explicitly selected empty element

  • OR element containing caret, at caret position.

Insert Processing Instruction After

Inserts processing instruction node (with a target called "target") after

  • explicitly selected node

  • OR implicitly selected element.

Change Processing Instruction Target

Displays a dialog box that can be used to change the target of

  • explicitly selected processing instruction node

  • OR implicitly selected processing instruction node (that is the processing instruction node containing the caret).

1.3.4. Document Reference menu

Copy as Reference

Copies to the clipboard a reference to the explicitly or implicitly selected element.

This reference can be later pasted in another document, using the normal paste command (Ctrl-V), in places where the grammar constraining the target document allows to do so.

It is possible to ``copy as reference'' an element reference already pasted in a document. This is handy because it sometimes spares the effort of switching from the view of the referencing document to the view of the referenced document.

It is not possible to ``copy as reference'' a descendant element found deep inside an element reference already pasted in a document.

Note

  • The pasted element reference cannot be edited in place. It is displayed with a light gray background to clearly indicate this. Use command Edit|Document Reference|Edit Referenced Document (or tool bar button ) to open a new window allowing to edit the referenced document.

  • Specifying how a reference to an element contained in an other document is to be saved can be specified (to a certain extent) using the Options dialog, Edit section.

Edit Referencing Document

If current document is referenced by another document already loaded in XXE and displayed by another window, this command brings all the windows of this other document to front. If there is no such referencing document, this command is silently disabled.

Example 2. Book with referenced chapters example

For example, if a book document book.xml references chapters chap1.xml, chap2.xml, chap3.xml, etc, created in separate documents.

Clicking anywhere inside first chapter displayed by book.xml window and using command Edit|Document Reference|Edit Referenced Document (or tool bar button ) will bring all windows containing chap1.xml to front. (If needed, chap1.xml is opened.)

Now being inside chap1.xml window, using command Edit|Document Reference|Edit Referencing Document (or tool bar button ) will bring all windows containing book.xml to front.

As of XXE V2.6, the views of referencing documents are not automatically refreshed after modifications made to referenced documents. If you need to refresh the view of a referencing document, you'll have manually reload this document in XXE. A quick way to do so is to drag in the document view the bookmark-like icon found in the node path bar.

Edit Referenced Document

If explicitly or implicitly selected element or any of its ancestors is a reference to an element contained in another document, this command brings all the windows of this other document to front. If the referenced document is not yet opened in XXE, this command will open it.

See example above.