Sorry, Shmuel, but this is incorrect on a couple of
levels.
First of all, it's simply impossible for MIF to have been *based
on* XML. MIF has existed since the very beginning of FrameMaker
in 1986. XML, on the other hand, was initially defined (XML 1.0
first edition) in 1998, 12 years after MIF was first included in
a released product.
Second, the syntax may look similar, but the similarity extends
no deeper than the use of angle brackets as delimiters.
In MIF, both the property/parameter name and its value or values
(which may themselves be bracket-delimited properties) are
contained inside the brackets. The end of each element is marked
by a simple right angle-bracket. This is not a problem in
simple, single-value elements that begin and end on the same
line; but to accommodate multi-line elements have multiple
properties nested within it, it is necessary to include a
commentary string that identifies what element is closed by the
immediately preceding bracket since all brackets have identical
appearance.
In XML, on the other hand, the angle brackets only contain the
name of the element type. The content (e.g., the value of the
property or parameter) is *outside* the angle brackets,
delimited by a bracketed start tag (e.g., <elementX>) and
a corresponding explicitly named end tag (e.g.,
</elementX>) .
When your text editor highlights it as XML, it would highlight
the opening angle bracket and parameter name string as if they
were XML start tags. But the parameter values would not be
highlighted because they appear in a location where XML does not
allow text. Depending on your editor, numerical parameter values
might be highlighted just because they are numerical. This
degree of highlighting might be useful, but it is essentially
accidental rather than by design.
-Fred Ridder
> From:
shmue...@gmail.com
> To:
framers@lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: Re: What free Windows text editor should I use
to look at MIF files?
>
> MIF is based on XML, so select XML highlighting in the
text editor. I
> just tried it in SciTE and it looks good after selecting
XML. It may
> also work in NotePad++ but I didn't try it.
>
> --
> Shmuel Wolfson
> Technical Writer
> 052-763-7133
