XML viewer or editor is used for viewing or modifying the XML tags. XML which stands for Extensible Markup Language is a markup language that can be understood by us humans as well machines.
If you are a software developer and have worked with XML before, you might be aware that there are tons of editing tools present out there. You could pick any editor and then make use of syntax highlighting and XML format plugins which allow you to edit XML easily.
Some editors also support the XML autosuggest tag, which will help to add new XML tags.
If you are a first time XML user or you are seeing the XML syntax for the first time, you will need an XML editor for non-programmers, which is used to edit and view the code written in XML.
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What is a good XML editor?
XML is more than just a structural representation. XML Editor will help you to structure XML node because XML is a collection of nested nodes. XML editor will auto-suggest syntax and also highlight if there is an error in the code.
You will need a good XML Editor or XML viewer. There is so much to know about XML, and you can find many articles on the web which can help you understand XML better.
For any purpose, if you want to view the XML document or XML editor, then you have come to the right place. In this article, I have listed down a couple of best XML viewer and editor, which will help serve your purpose.
EditX (commercial)
EditX is a feature-rich editor. This XML editor is packed with may editing features. This tool is specially made for designers and agencies.
It supports Visual Schema Editor, which helps to edit the XML file with a preview mode. XSLT debugger is another feature that allows you to debug the XML file in case there are errors in your XML document.
If your purpose is to view or edit the XML file and you need only minimal features, then this product is not worth it.
Features:
- XSLT Editor and Debugger
- XQuery Editor
- Powerful Grid editor
- W3C Schema Validation
- Template support
- Drag and drop for building XSLT documents
Price: $119
Website: https://www.editix.com
Oxygen XML Editor (commercial)
Oxygen XML Editor is a complete XML editor (macintosh XML editor) which includes many features. Oxygen XML Editor contains features of both Oxygen XML Developer and Oxygen XML Author. It provides one of the best ways to view XML files.
If you need to use both these features in one place, then this editor is the best choice for you. Else the individual cost of each product is more. They have multiple License plans like Enterprise, Professional, Personal Etc.
If you are a Developer and looking for the perfect tool to edit your XML code, then you can go for the Oxygen XML Developer.
Oxygen XML editor is one of the best OSX XML editor (XML editor MAC) present in the market.
Features:
- Community Support
- Allow you to publish to PDF, ePUB, HTML in one click
- Supports many XML Publishing Frameworks
- Allows you to connect databases for the data source.
- Support multiple collaborate with tracking
- Intelligent XML Editor
- XQuery support
- XSLT & XQuery Debugging
Price: $198/-Per year (Personal License)
Website: https://www.oxygenxml.com
XML Edita (commercial)
XML Edita allows you to compose schema visually. You can edit each XML node in the visual composer. It comes for a price of $32.99 and covers all the necessary features. It also supports assistant suggests while you type the XML tag. XML Edita is available in the Mac app store.
Features:
- XML document validation.
- Structure and regroup your documents
- Visual Composer
Price: $32.99
Website: https://www.coxone.com
XMPlify (commercial)
XMPlify is yet another XML editor which supports DTD and XML Schema-based auto-completion etc. XMPlify may not provide all the features as above editors. For a price of $59, it offers some good useful features for day to day usage.
For Educational purposes, XMPlify provides a discounted price, which is a good deal. XMPlify is a mac native app because of which it provides better performance. Especially useful while editing the large XML file.
Features:
- Intelligent editing suggestions
- Auto-complete XML based on its DTD or XML Schema
- Node documentation
- Navigate to element definitions
- Web Preview
Price: 59$
Website:http://xmplifyapp.com/
Altova XMLSpy (commercial)
Altova XMLSpy claims that it is the best selling JSON and an XML editor. This XML editor provides the support to modify and view the XML file along with JSON. JSON is a new way to represent your structured data with faster speed.
This XML editor provides all the features that some of its competitors provide along with other handy features, like code and chart generation. The only downside is that the Altova XMLSpy editor is a bit pricy, the Professional edition will cost you around $549.00.
Features:
- JSON editor
- JSON transformation
- Validation & error correction
- XSLT debugger & profiler
- Database integration
- Chart generation based on XML data
Price: $ 549.00 (Personal License)
Website: https://www.altova.com/xmlspy-xml-editor
QXmlEdit (Open source) Free
QXmlEdit is a free open source simple XML editor and XML viewer. It’s one among open-source XML editor for mac. The tool is easy to use, manipulation of XML is easy as a breeze. It provides features like the splitting of XML files if your XML document is huge.
This tool provides all the necessary features to edit or view the XML document for free. QXmlEdit is based out of Qt libraries. Since QXmlEdit is an open-source tool, feel free to contribute to this open-source project.
Features:
- Hierarchical view of XML elements.
- XML Snippets
- Graphical XML file view.
- Base 64 data handling.
- Custom visualization styles
- The split of big XML files
Price: Free
Website: http://qxmledit.org/
Visual Studio Code(Open source) Free
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is the best XML viewer and Editor for Mac and Windows systems. It’s one of the best Open-source XML editor out there. VS code supports almost all programming languages and Mark up languages. In our use case scenario VS code support XML by default.
To extend the functionality, we need to install the XML plugin. There are many free plugins in the VS code editor.
You need to navigate to the Extention tab in Visual Studio Code Editor and search for “XML”. It will show the list of XML plugin, choose plugin whose features match your need and install it. You may need to restart the editor.
Features:
- Syntax error reporting
- General code completion
- Symbol highlighting
- Document folding
- Document symbols and outline
- Renaming support
- DTD validation
- XSD validation
- XSD based hover
- XSD based code completion
- XSL support
- XML catalogs
- Schema Caching
Price: Free (Open Source)
Website: https://code.visualstudio.com/
XML notepad for MAC
XML Notepad is a lightweight XML editor. It’s a simple tool for non-programmer clients to view and edit an XML file. It lay’s out your document in a tree structure.
Though currently there is a minor bug in this application, it is still a handy tool to edit your XML files, XML notepad is available in Apple app store.
Features:
- Lightweight
- Edit and Rearrange of XML nodes
Price: 0.99$
Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xml-notepad/id604275546
Online XML Viewer for Mac
If you need basic viewing, you can use an online XML viewer, which allows you to view the XML content in a structured manner and also provides you with an ability to format your content. Along with this, it also supports basic validation and file conversion.
There are many online XML viewers or XML editor and XML Viewer which support features that offline editors offer. The only concern is privacy. If the XML file contains sensitive data, then it’s not a good idea to use an online XML Viewer.
FAQ:
How to open an XML file on a mac?
You can use any editor to open the XML file. But if you need more feature like formatting and autosuggestion etc., you can try the editor’s mentioned in this article.
How do I view an XML file on a Mac
You can use an offline tool mentioned in this article like QXmlEdit, XML notepad, Oxygen XML Editor etc. Or use any free online XML editor or Viewer to view you XML document without downloading.
How to create an XML file on a mac?
Open any editor in Mac and type XML syntax and save it in.XML extension. The XML syntax should be valid. You may need to use free or paid XML Editor to validate or to format the XML document.
How to edit XML files on mac?
If you need to do minor changes in the XML file, then you can use any editor. If you need a feature like formatting, auto-suggest then and syntax highlighting etc. You can use the Editor mentioned in this article.
Conclusion:
In the article, I have listed down the best XML viewer or XML editor for mac. The best editor for you is based cost and functionality the XML editor provides.
If you need a feature-rich editor and the cost is not a concern, then Altova XMLSpy or Oxygen XML Editor will be okay. Else If you need a basic editor, then QXmlEdit and VS code will suffice.
I hope this article helped you out to decide the best XML viewer or XML editor. Do let us know which editor you choose and why.
