Frequently Asked QuestionsGeneral
XMLBuddy Pro
XMLBuddyPayment
Problems and Workarounds
GeneralDoes XMLBuddy Pro 2.0 support Eclipse 3.0? Yes, but you should use Eclipse 3.0.1 or later; these fix some bugs that caused problems for XMLBuddy in Eclipse 3.0. The correct versions for Eclipse 3.0.1-3.1M4 are XMLBuddy 2.0.22 and XMLBuddy Pro 2.0.23. There is no difference between these versions except the extra Pro features. Syntax coloring only. XMLBuddy doesn't try to be a full JSP editor, because JSP != XML. It does support syntax coloring the special JSP tags and Java within JSP tags. If you want to use it, you need to use Window > Preferences > Workspace > File Associations to associate the *.jsp extension with XMLBuddy. Then use right-click Open With > XMLBuddy to open the JSP file. It's a good idea to turn off auto-validation in the XMLBuddy preferences, since every JSP tag will be flagged as an error. Why didn't my XMLBuddy install work? XMLBuddy uses the simple install procedure of unzipping the plug-in folder into the eclipse/plugins folder, as it has for several years. Unfortunately, Eclipse 3.0 has broken this procedure in several ways. 1. On some platforms, notably Windows 2000, adding a folder inside the plugins folder doesn't change the plugins folder mod date. Consequently, Eclipse doesn't notice the change at all. 2. Eclipse 3.0 doesn't notice any changes within a particular plug-in folder. This has forced us to use different version numbers for the free and Pro versions of XMLBuddy, so we don't do that any more, but you may run into the problem if you try to modify a plug-in in place. The cure is the same in both cases. Restart Eclipse with the -clean option on the command line. (Note that as of Eclipse 3.1M5, you can no longer delete the entire configurations folder. You must preserve at least the config.ini file.) What versions of Eclipse does XMLBuddy run in? There are two parallel versions of XMLBuddy and XMLBuddy Pro 2.0. One version runs in Eclipse 2.1.0 through Eclipse 3.0 M4. The other runs in Eclipse 3.0.1. XMLBuddy version numbers change only when both versions of XMLBuddy change and don't have any necessary relationship to milestones. See the next answer for how you can get the latest and greatest XMLBuddy for your needs. How do I keep XMLBuddy up to date with new Eclipse releases? Use the menu command XML → Update → Version to see what XMLBuddy updates are available. If an update is available, you can select it and click OK to start downloading it. This command checks the website dynamically and compares what is there with what you are running. It is the only accurate indicator that an update or upgrade is available. Some things not to do (please): Don't go through the download sequence and inspect the version numbers. This often won't tell you when support has been added for a milestone, and may tell you about bug fixes that have nothing to do with milestones. Don't look around the website for some clue about the latest version supported. We can't promise to keep every page constantly in sync. Don't read the newsgroups looking for announcements about new support. Sometimes we post there, sometimes we don't. Since an ANN posting is a form of spam, we try to do it infrequently. The Version command is accurate. Why doesn't Update Version use the proxy settings from Update preferences? Because the proxy information doesn't belong in Update. The update preferences are only active if the update plug-in has been loaded (which either opening the update perspective or an update preferences page should do). As a workaround, you can set the proxy settings system-wide by adding the following to the command line (or shortcut) you use to launch Eclipse: -vmargs -DproxySet=true -DproxyHost=<proxy_name>-DproxyPort=<proxy_port> However, if the update plug-in is loaded, it will override these settings, so make sure they are the same settings. (We know, it's not pretty.) Why did the version number jump from 0.2.8 to 2.0? After over 46,000 downloads, we realized that 0.2.8 was really our 1.0 release; we just didn't know it at the time. The new release has been almost a year in the making and is much more than a "dot" release, so it had to be 2.0. We'll try to be more predictable in future. Object Factory Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bocaloco Software LLC. Bocaloco does the creative part; Object Factory does the money part. No. We contribute code to open source projects. XMLBuddy is "free as in beer". But the "pay for support" model doesn't work for us, because we'd probably support the software whether you paid or not. Also, we have this idealistic view that the software business shouldn't be the private preserve of large corporations. Problems and WorkaroundsTask view fills up and XMLBuddy hangs? For one customer, the problem was that they used Perforce and/or manually copied files into their projects without doing a Refresh. Existing task view markers then couldn't find the files, even though the names and paths are the same. That meant the the markers couldn't be deleted. With auto-validation on, almost any change to a file would try to replace the task markers, which threw an exception. The user was in very bad shape, editing-wise. Always do a Refresh after changing project files outside Eclipse. We view the bad things that happened for lack of Refresh as an Eclipse bug, but it is easy to work around. Use XML Schema for document and XMLBuddy hangs? Two customers so far have reported this. In both cases,
the answer was The problem is that for values of Can't open XMLBuddy preferences and other strange behavior? Awful-looking bug-like behavior seen immediately after installing XMLBuddy may be caused by trying to run it under JRE 1.3. XMLBuddy requires JRE 1.4, even when run in Eclipse 2.1.x. If you are an XMLBuddy Pro customer and this is a serious issue with you, contact us. Otherwise, the fix is to install the latest version of JRE 1.4 from the http://java.sun.com/ website. If that's not the problem, it is still likely to be some sort of configuration-related issue. Please send us a bug report. See the next item for what to include in it. What should I include in a bug report? The following information will help you get a speedier fix: XMLBuddy or XMLBuddy Pro version number; Eclipse version number; JRE version number; your platform (Win2K, WinXP, Linux, etc.); the amount of memory you run Eclipse in ("default memory" if unknown). Very important: Check the .log file in your workspace/.metadata folder. If it shows any exceptions thrown, attach the .log file to your bug report. ProWhy didn't I get my license key? If you successfully completed a transaction to license XMLBuddy Pro and saw our "thank you" web page at the end but your license key email didn't show up, there are two likely causes: 1. You didn't specify an email address. We require one at the start of the transaction, but it is possible to clear it in the credit card verification dialogs. In that case, your license key had nowhere to go. In that case, Contact Us specifying a valid email address.
2. Your SPAM filter ate the license key email. This can be a significant problem, as the same filter may make it impossible for us to reply to your support requests! See Problems With SPAM Filters for full details.
See Products. How to decide between XMLBuddy Pro and XMLBuddy? If you were perfectly happy with XMLBuddy 0.2.8 and you work only with DTDs or without any schema, XMLBuddy 2.0 is all you need. If you're migrating to XML Schema or RELAX NG, or use XSLT, or need advanced generation and conversion features, XMLBuddy Pro will make you more productive. Why is there no "trial version"? We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. At our prices, XMLBuddy Pro is the demo version. No one who might actually license it can't afford to try it. Another reason is that it's a tradition in Macintosh software, where we grew up, to provide useful, free "lite" versions people can use forever if that's all they need, rather than time-dated "fully functional" trial versions that expire about the time you remember to try them. You can use XMLBuddy 2.0 as long as you want at no cost. If you want to upgrade to XMLBuddy Pro, it's risk-free. What happens if I download XMLBuddy Pro and try to use it without a license? It will work just like XMLBuddy, except it is a larger download, takes up more space on disk and has a number of menus, wizards and toolbar buttons that are never enabled. These will enable when you enter your license key. How do I request new features? Send them to Report Bugs. We try to respond to every bug report and feature request, and we try to implement the most-requested and/or most useful feature requests. Why can't I enter my license key? There are two likely reasons. 1. You don't have XMLBuddy Pro properly installed. The symptom is, you see the XML menu, but XML > Update has no License item. Either you don't have the plug-in in the plugins folder, or Eclipse has not recognized the change. See Eclipse Bug for further details. 2. You don't see the XML menu. The answer below covers this. You don't have a .xml file open with XMLBuddy Pro. To do so reliably, right-click on the name of a .xml file in the Package Explorer or Navigator view. Select Open With > XMLBuddy Pro. You will then see the XML menu. The problem is usually caused by the fact that Eclipse always reuses the editor most recently used to open a file, regardless of changes in the default editor. XMLBuddyShould I upgrade from XMLBuddy 0.2.8 to XMLBuddy 2.0? If you want to use Eclipse 3.0 M5 or beyond, XMLBuddy 2.0 is required. With written permission. We like to keep track of the number of copies out there, and each copy adds a miniscule support burden, so we don't particularly want mirror sites. Otherwise, ask. PaymentDoes this mean you're going to charge me for what I used to get for free? No. XMLBuddy 2.0 has every feature that 0.2.8 had and lots of things XMLBuddy 0.2.8 users requested, like line numbering, spaces for tabs, better formatting, auto-validation, standalone DTD validation, DTD code assist, etc. Our plan is that as long as there is an XMLBuddy Pro there will be an XMLBuddy and it will be free. What if I try it and don't like it? Save us both some trouble and try XMLBuddy first. Set your expectations correctly: XMLBuddy Pro is a nuts and bolts, down-to-earth, small-is-beautiful XML editor. But if you are unsatisfied with XMLBuddy Pro for any reason in the first 30 days, we'll cheerfully refund your money. How do I pay with a credit card? The standard Buy sequence gets you to a page with two buttons, labeled "Continue to Secure Payment Form" and "Pay With PayPal", respectively. The former takes you to a website hosted by LinkPoint, an independent credit card processor, which accepts MasterCard, Visa and Discover. The latter takes you to PayPal, which requires you to set up a PayPal account, but accepts MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express. You can also get PayPal to accept other forms of payment, e.g., bank transfer, but you have to set it up in advance. PayPal accepts payments in U.S. Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Euros, Pounds Sterling, and Yen. Is credit card processing secure? Both LinkPoint and PayPal are very high-volume processors and maintain high levels of security as a prerequisite for doing business. They don't share any credit card information with us, so we never have an opportunity to be insecure. Of course, any information you provide to us or to them as part of the payment sequence uses SSL encryption. Do you offer volume discounts? Yes. You can enter a quantity from 2 to 100 in the order form and receive discounts ranging from $5 to $21 per developer. If you have more than 100 developers, please Contact Us. When you purchase a group license, you will receive email answering common questions. In general, though, a group license is just a bulk purchase of individual licenses, except all developers under the license share a single license key. Do you offer academic discounts? Sorry, no. Professors, teachers, students, etc. pay full price. The price of our product is about the same as a restaurant meal for two in the US, Europe and Japan. Since almost everyone dines out once in awhile, it isn't a matter of price, but priorities. We are sympathetic to the plight of students and if we charged more, we would definitely offer a discount! If you think you should be an exception to this rule (or you think the policy is just wrong), please Contact Us. Can I pay with a purchase order? For a volume purchase of more than 10 units, government and university employees in the US can use a purchase order. For individual purchases, processing a purchase order would cost more than we charge. Contact Us for details. You can pay with a checking account using PayPal. This has to be set up in advance. Link a checking account with your PayPal account and then use that account to license XMLBuddy. |
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