Code formatting for xml file without extension

[chrisjfinlay]

In work, one of my colleagues is having a bit of a problem with extension-less XML files. We have it set up that DW will open it, but despite there being the XML DTD at the top, it is not recognising it in terms of code formatting and colouring or validation.

She is using DW CC 17.0.2

Mine is working fine, though I am on a much older licence - I'm using CS4.

We've been through all the configurations we can think of and can't see any differences between our setups. Is this a known issue, or is there something we're missing.

Note that it is NOT possible to add an extension to these files, as they come from another system and must be named the way they are.

[Preran]

Hi Chris,

I am not sure if this change has been made recently. Let me check with the team and get back to you.

Thanks,

Preran

[chrisjfinlay]

thanks Preran. It seems that back in the CS4 days, Dreamweaver would look at the DTD if there was no file extension, and behave accordingly, but this behaviour is now missing.

[pziecina]

Have you tried setting the code type to xml, at the bottom r/h side of the document window?

[chrisjfinlay]

While that turns on code colouring, it's only temporary - so no good when working with 50+ files - and it doesn't enable validation or source formatting.

[Nancy OShea]

XML files are formatted OK for me.  I didn't do anything special.  My Code Theme is RubyBlue -- a Brackets theme I downloaded from GitHub and applied through Preferences in DW.

[Niharika_Jha]

Hi,

As per Dw 17.5, we are now looking for extensions so that we can convey Linting errors to the users. If you open a file into Dw, which has no extension then there would be no linting and code coloring seen because it will be considered as a text file. Please refer to the screenshots below for more reference-

1. I opened an extension-less file into Dw to get the following message-

2. If you don't give extension even after that, we show it as a text file-

Hope it answers your query.

Regards,

Niharika Gupta

Adobe Dreamweaver

[chrisjfinlay]

Hi Niharika

Thanks for explaining that this is indeed expected behaviour and not a bug. I'm curious as to the reasoning, however, and what your development team hoped to achieve with this. The ability for DreamWeaver to fall back on DTDs is not just useful but, for our web team at least, rather essential - and there's a disturbing trend lately for useful features to be stripped from DW needlessly (see also: "find specific tag" feature).

Is this ever going to be re-implemented?

Failing that, is there a way to roll back to a pre-17.5 version on a Creative Cloud licence?

[pziecina]

To install a previous version please read the 1st answer to this discussion -

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2359319

The problem with Dw 2017, is that many users do like it, but for those developers who are not simply creating small web sites, or those users who develop outside the Bootstrap and pre/post-processor workflow, they have not been considered by those who make the decissions.

I could probably write an entire 1000 post thread just to list what I think is wrong, listing individual complaints, but untill someone senior from the Dw team is willing to listen the only method of complaining, unless it is a specific bug or feature request, is via this forum.

[Niharika_Jha]

Hi,

Once you open the extension-less file into Dw, you have to just go to the Status Bar at the bottom and select the file extension as "XML", you can then see the code coloring and linting being applied to your code effectively. And I don't think that this is too difficult. About the "Find and Replace in specific tag feature", as per the latest update of Dw 17.5 it is working fine and a lot of users are already using it. It can be seen in "Advanced Tab" of Find and Replace Dialog (invoked via Ctrl+Shift+F)- snapshot attached for reference.

We are continuously trying to add new improved features into Dw. I agree that with new updates, the workflows that were present earlier have changed a little bit but we feel that they have changed for better. We are still doing the same things that CC 2015 was doing but in an improved way. Let us know if you are facing any issues with the functionality in any thing, we did be more than happy to help.

Hoping to hear some constructive feedback from the community.

Regards,

Niharika Gupta

Adobe Dreamweaver

[chrisjfinlay]

I have unmarked your answer as correct because as already stated, selecting XML from the lower right of the window only turns on code colouring but the options for validation and formatting are not available. Also, doing this each time for 50+ files is not practical.

[Preran]

Hi Chris,

I am the one that marked the answer as correct not because of the solution itself, but you can get your issue addressed by requesting for a fix using the following channels

Logging a bug using Uservoice: Adobe Dreamweaver CC: Feature Ideas

Joining the prerelease forum: Adobe Prerelease

Thanks,

Preran

[chrisjfinlay]

Ok, thanks. I'm logging a bug report now.

[pziecina]

Just thinking out loud here.

It may be that older versions of Dw appeared to open extension less xml files without problems, because Dw previously had the default doctype set to xhtml, which was a xml complient version of html !

[chrisjfinlay]

You might be on to something there. I wonder is it possible to edit the default doctype in the configuration files...

[pziecina]

chrisjfinlay  wrote

You might be on to something there. I wonder is it possible to edit the default doctype in the configuration files...

I think the default doctype was changed from xhtml to the html, (html5) doctype in the first CC version, so I'm not certain if a simple change in the config file would work, as it probably depends on the code editor itself.

Worth a try though, if the config file can be edited

[chrisjfinlay]

Problem is, I'm not ENTIRELY sure what file to be looking in now...

[pziecina]

Sorry but i also have no idea where to look in Dw2017.

[pziecina]

Another thought, (yet another one ).

It may be possible to write an extension for Dw that would do what you wish, the only problem with that though is that although i know how to do that for the old CS versions, i have no idea how one would do so for 2017, or how one would go about installing  an extension in Dw 2017.

I did hear a rumour months ago that the documentation for extension development for Dw 2017 was being updated, but more than that i have not heard anything since. Maybe Preran​ could find out if the documentation has been released yet?

[Preran]

Thanks, Paula. Let me check with the content team and get back to you.

Thanks,

Preran

[Preran]

This isn't the latest info, but I am guessing it should still work for locating the config file.

Locating your personal configuration folder

[pziecina]

Hi Preran,

The config file required would be the one for the Brackets editor itself, which is why i think an extension would be required. I remember that in the old CS versions it was possible to extend the code editor for new code or different doctypes, simply by writting an extension, (have done so often).

Now though, i don't think anything really remains of the old CS version code that would make using the old extension development methods work correctly in Dw2017 as almost everything has changed.

[Preran]

Got you. Thanks, Paula. I am checking with the content team meanwhile. Will post as soon as I have an update.

[Niharika_Jha]

Hi,

For your information, we never had Code Formatting option available fin Dw CC 2015, this is a feature that we newly introduced in Dw CC 2017. Considering that, Code Formatting can only work if the editing surface knows the type of file you are working on which in your case you are not wanting to specify. You can always go ahead and raise this thing as an feature idea but in my opinion the requirement is very vague and we haven't had any users who want to use Source Formatting and keeping the type of file as a secret.

Regards,

Niharika Gupta

Adobe Dreamweaver

[chrisjfinlay]

You can format source code in pre-CC versions. I use CS4 and have it mapped to F11, and am always able to format the code of extensionless XML files.