Thursday, February 9, 2012

Notepad++ and XMLTools Setup

I had a need to check an XML file at work and was looking for a tool. I found out that notepad++ can do this but it requires you to install the xml tools plugin which is not included by default. I looked around for a while and eventually found directions to set this up but think it should not have been this hard to typing this up in hopes that it helps someone in need.

  • Download notepad++ and install it.
  • Go to resources from the notepad++ website and check the directory of plugins available for it or click here plugin directory.
  • Download the XML Tools plugin and follow the directions on the directory page for installing it.
  • Now you should be able to see the XML Tools in the Plugins menu of notepad++.  If you click the "How to Use" link in the menu you will be promoted that your missing libxml/libxslt and you need to download it. It also provides links but this is where I got confused because the links, one does not work and the other does not have the correct files or at least I was unable to figure them out.
  • Now you need to download a file called ext_lib.zip and unzip it. You need to put the unzipped .dll files in the root directory of notepad++ which should be something like "C:\Program Files\Notepad++".
  • Restart notepad++ and you'll be able to see the full menu. 
  • Enjoy!
This post is not written to take credit away from anyone. I am not the creator or developer of any of the above tools. I just wrote this for my self and if this helps someone else, good.

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