# Editing XML files

This file contains information about editing XML files.

To open an XML file in the XML editor, right-click it in the Navigator view and select Open With > XML Editor.

We recommend working in the Resource perspective when you are developing XML files. The views that appear by default in this perspective (such as the Outline view) help facilitate XML development.

The XML editor enables you to directly edit XML files. There are several different views you can use to edit your files:

- Source view: you can manually insert, edit, and delete elements and attributes in the Source view of the XML editor. To facilitate this effort, you can use content assist while you are in the Source view.
- Design view: you can insert, delete, and edit elements, attributes, comments, and processing instructions in this view.
- Outline view: you can insert and delete elements attributes, comments, and processing instructions in this view.

Often, you may find that you have more than one way to perform a specific task. For example, you have an XML file "MySchoolSubjects.xml" associated with an XML schema file "SchoolSubjects.xsd", which list all the subjects taught in a school. You want to insert a new element "Math" into your file. You can do so in the following ways:

- In the Outline or Design view, right-click the appropriate parent element and select Add Child > Math or New Element and enter the name of the child element.
- In the Source view, use content assist to help you find the appropriate location and code for the Math element.
- In the Source view, type the code for the Math element in the file.

Related concepts
XML editor
Related tasks
Editing in the Design view
Editing in the Source view