Custom user tools

Custom user tools are a great way to enhance the functionalities of XML ValidatorBuddy and to offer the user new possibilities to work with XML files.

In general it is possible to call any executable, Java class or XSL transformation (requires the free AltovaXML parser) and to pass different arguments to the external tool. To add, delete or modify a custom user tool open the Options dialog from the Tools menu and select the "Tools setup" page.

A custom user tool is also a great way to link your favorite text editor to XML ValidatorBuddy. This enables you to quickly edit your XML files while XML ValidatorBuddy is still open to do any XML related task. The screenshot below shows how to add the popular text editor Notepad++ to the application:

 

Please note that you should put the path argument which is passed to the external tool in quotes to avoid problems if the path contains spaces. Several pre-defined variables can be accessed with the ">" button on the right side of the "Arguments" field.

One-click XSL transformations are also possible using a custom user-tool. Please note that you should not encapsulate arguments in qutoes in this case as the parameters are only used internally and not passed to any external tool.

Below is a sample on how to add the simple batch log file XSL transformation which is installed with XML ValidatorBuddy to convert the XML log to HTML output:

 

If "Show tool as button" is checked the custom user-tool will be added as button to the bottom of the File Explorer view. A user-tool can also be invoked by command if the "Show tool in Explorer tab menu" is checked.

 

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