Cooking up an XML storm with Cooktop

What is this development environment that creates, edits and tests XML documents, XSLT style sheets, DTDs, and XPATHs? It is also a fast Windows application, runs under 95/98/98SE/ME/NT4/2000/XP, and is free.

The answer is XML Cooktop written by a team led by Victor Pavlov (www.xmlcooktop.com/). This is an amazing piece of freeware that despite being fast and reasonably simple offers a huge range of functionality.

Cooktop color-codes your XML while editing and dynamically checks for well-formedness. It also validates XML documents via DTDs (www.w3schools.com/dtd/default.asp) and XDRs (www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1014.html). XML Schemas (www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-0/) will be supported when Microsoft XML4 ships (check for announcements at Microsoft's Developer Network msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/nhp/Default.asp?contentid=28000438).

You can open documents via URLs and Cooktop offers an "extensible library of Code Bits - cataloged text fragments that can be inserted into any document and shared with other users. Code Bits can insert code around selected XML. For example, you can select some XML and insert xsl:for-each element around it [and] automatically remembers the pairs of xml/xsl files used and can group them into files called 'workspaces'. "

If you have Microsoft Word installed Cooktop can spell check documents and the "Bookmarks" feature allows you to mark lines in a document for easy identification. The product supports external tools such as XSL processors, XML formatters, and Web browsers which makes it very much part of your development environment.

Cooktop can test and generate XPATHs (www.w3.org/TR/xpath), test stylesheets (www.w3.org/Style/CSS/), displays generated HTML in browser window (integrated or external) and integrates instant messaging through the Jabber client (www.jabber.org/).

Other features include:

* Support for multilevel XSL includes and imports.

* XSLT (www.w3.org/TR/xslt) Run-Time Parameters.

* Document formatters and reports.

* XML indenting.

* MS XSL to XSLT converter.

* Peer-to-peer features.

* Extensible library of XML and XSLT related resources on the 'net.

Cooktop is a fantastic piece of engineering and the authors note that it is: "an unfunded project run by software developers who love and believe in XML and XSL. There is a clear need for simple XML and XSLT tools and Cooktop seeks to address that need with high-quality software that's fun to use. " And it's free!

We should start awarding for merit like Gearhead does (www.nwfusion.com/columnists/gearhead.html): Cooktop gets nine Webs out of ten.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist. He writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist. He writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World. Gibbs is also co-conspirator of the Vitally Important Information Web site.

Gibbs can be contacted at webapps@gibbs.com. Press releases to pr@gibbs.com.