DocFlex/XSD 1.0 - Template-driven XML Schema Documentation Generator

DocFlex/XSD is a new easy adjustable template-driven XML Schema documentation generator able to produce by any W3C XML Schema(s) the professional quality documentation in both framed HTML and RTF formats.

The multi-framed Javadoc-like HTML documentation generated with DocFlex/XSD will allow you to quickly decipher any XML schemas and represent them in a beautiful clear-cut form with great a lot of details about the schema components and all interconnections between them. This may dramatically save your time in understanding what those schemas actually describe and largely relieve you of working through the verbose syntax of original XML schema documents.

The documentation generated in RTF format reproduces the same sophisticated content and formatting, however, now in the form of a single RTF document friendly to open with both MS Word and OpenOffice.org Writer under Linux. In addition, most of hyperlinks are supplemented with page number references, which helps navigating the documentation in printed form.

If you are an XML schema author yourself, DocFlex/XSD may be even more useful tool for you. In fact, it may greatly help you to automat the process of documenting your XML schemas!

Using DocFlex/XSD, you won't need anymore to write a separate documentation for every XML schema in your project. Instead, using the <xs:annotation> elements, you can insert all your descriptions directly into the schemas themselves. What's new now is that along with the text you can also insert the XHTML markup tags so as to format your descriptions in almost any imaginable way you wish:

Moreover, using <img> tags you can even insert images directly into your XML schema annotations!

Since, according to the W3C XML Schema specification, each <xs:documentation> element (where the annotation's text is exactly specified) is allowed to contain children from any other namespaces, the XML schemas containing annotations preformatted with XHTML tags will be the valid W3C XML schemas as well. At the same time, DocFlex/XSD will process such XML schemas into a splendid HTML or RTF documentation.

DocFlex/XSD is a pure Java application able to run on any computer platform with the installed JRE version 1.4.x or later. In particular, it is supplied with the command files prepared to run immediately on MS Windows and Linux.

The DocFlex/XSD software includes three base components:

  1. The graphic Templates Designer.
  2. The templates interpreter / output generator.
  3. The "XSDDoc" template set.

The XML Schema Documentation Generator itself is implemented entirely as a set of "XSDDoc" templates processed by a special interpreter that generates the output documentation. It can be run both in command-line mode (including seamless integration with Apache Ant) and with a generator GUI.

Using the generator GUI, you can specify all the generator settings interactively in special inspector dialogs (including numerous template parameters which control great a lot of documentation details), start the generation and visually track its progress (with the possibility to stop it at any time).

The "XSDDoc" templates are open for any changes and modifications. The high quality graphic Template Designer included in the package represents the templates in the form that visualizes the result output documentation. Using it, you can quickly and easily customize the generated XML schema documentation according to your specific requirements and needs.

The entire DocFlex/XSD system is based on a much more general innovative technology that to some degree may be considered as a rival to XSL Transformations.

Using DocFlex/XSD requires licensing. However, there is a freeware edition called DocFlex/XML (Kit), which includes only "XSDDoc" templates and interpreter. So, you can start using the best quality XML Schema documentation generator immediately and absolutely free!

Screenshots

This image combines a number of screenshots of the following things (clockwise): the Template Designer with the generator dialog invoked over it; the template parameter inspector; the RTF output option inspector; pages of a demo RTF documentations; framed HTML documentation (click to see a large image):

Links

DocFlex/XSD home page:
http://www.filigris.com/products/docflex_xsd/

Examples of generated XML Schema documentation:
http://www.filigris.com/products/docflex_xsd/examples/

Free downloads:
http://www.filigris.com/downloads/