# Structured text editors for markup languages

"Structured text editor" is any of several text editors that you can use to edit various markup languages such as HTML, JavaScript, or XML.

The structured text editor is represented by various editors that you can use to edit files coded with markup tags:

File type | Editor | Content assist?
--- | --- | ---
Cascading style sheet | CSS source page editor | Yes
Document type definitions | DTD source page editor | No
HTML | HTML source page editor | Yes
JavaScript™ | JavaScript source page editor or source tab of JavaScript editor | Yes
JSP | JSP source page editor | Yes
XML | Source tab of XML editor | Yes
XSD (schema) | Source tab of XML schema editor | Yes

You can access the structured text editor by right-clicking on a relevant file name in Navigator or Package Explorer view and then clicking Open With and selecting the editor mentioned above.

The structured text editor provides a consistent interface regardless of the markup language with which it is associated. It provides capabilities such as find and replace, undo, redo, a spelling checker, and coding assistance (unless otherwise noted). It also highlights syntax in different colors. Following is a brief description of some of the structured text editor's capabilities:

syntax highlighting
  Each keyword type and syntax type is highlighted differently, enabling you to easily find a certain kind of keyword for editing. For example, in HTML, element names, attribute names, attribute values, and comments have different colors; in JavaScript, function and variable names, quoted text strings, and comments have different colors.
unlimited undo and redo
  These options allow you to incrementally undo and redo every change made to a file for the entire editing session. For text, changes are incremented one character or set of selected characters at a time.
content assist
  Content assist helps you to insert JavaScript functions, HTML tags, or other keywords. Choices available in the content assist list are based on functions defined by the syntax of the language in which the file is coded.
user-defined templates and snippets
  By using the Snippets view, you can access user-defined code snippets and (for all code types except JavaScript) templates to help you quickly add regularly used text strings.
function selection
  Based on the location of your cursor, the function or tag selection indicator highlights the line numbers that include a function or tag in the vertical ruler on the left area of the Source page.
pop-up menu options
  These are the same editing options available in the workbench Edit menu.

Related concepts
Content assist
Related tasks
Editing text coded in markup languages - overview