XHTML Author Mode Actions

A variety of actions are available for XHTML documents that can be found in XHTML menu, toolbar, contextual menu, and the Content Completion Assistant.

XHTML Toolbar Actions

The following default actions are available on the XHTML toolbar when editing in Author mode (by default, they are also available in the XHTML menu and some of them are in various submenus of the contextual menu):

Bold: Changes the style of the selected text to bold by surrounding it with the <b> tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Italic: Changes the style of the selected text to italic by surrounding it with <i> tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Underline: Changes the style of the selected text to underline by surrounding it with <u> tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Link: Inserts an <a> element with an @href attribute at the cursor position. You can type the URL of the reference you want to insert or use the browsing actions in the Browse drop-down menu.
Insert Image: Inserts a graphic object at the cursor position. This is done by inserting an <img> element regardless of the current context. The following graphical formats are supported: GIF, JPG, JPEG, BMP, PNG, SVG.
Insert Media Resource: Opens a Choose Media dialog box that allows you to select the URL of a media object to be inserted into a document at the cursor position. The result will be that a reference to the specified video, audio, or embedded HTML frame is inserted and rendered in Author mode so that it can be played directly from there.
Headings Drop-down Menu: A drop-down menu that includes actions for inserting <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6> elements.
Insert Paragraph: Insert a new paragraph element at current cursor position.
Insert Equation: Opens the XML Fragment Editor that allows you to insert and edit MathML notations.
Insert List Item: Inserts a list item in the current list type.
Insert Unordered List: Inserts an unordered list at the cursor position. A child list item is also automatically inserted by default. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to an unordered list.
Insert Ordered List: Inserts an ordered list at the cursor position. A child list item is also automatically inserted by default. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to an ordered list.
Insert Definition List: Inserts a definition list (<dl> element) with one list item (a <dt> child element and a <dd> child element). You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to a definition list.
Sort: Sorts cells or list items in a table.
Insert Table: Opens a dialog box that allows you to configure and insert a table. You can generate a header and footer, set the number of rows and columns of the table and decide how the table is framed. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs, lists, and inline content (mixed content, text plus markup, that is rendered inside a block element) into a table, with the selected content inserted in the first column, starting from the first row after the header (if a header is inserted).
Note: If the selection contains a mixture of elements that cannot be converted, you will receive an error message saying that Only lists, paragraphs, or inline content can be converted to tables.
Insert Row: Inserts a new table row with empty cells below the current row. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
Insert Row Above: Inserts a new table row with empty cells above the current row. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
Insert Column: Inserts a new table column with empty cells after the current column. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
Insert Cell: Inserts a new empty cell depending on the current context. If the cursor is positioned between two cells, Oxygen XML Author Eclipse plugin a new cell at the cursor position. If the cursor is inside a cell, the new cell is created after the current cell.
Delete Column(s): Deletes the table column located at the cursor position or multiple columns in a selection.
Delete Row(s): Deletes the table row located at the cursor position or multiple rows in a selection.
Join Cells: Joins the content of the selected cells (both horizontally and vertically).
Split Cell: Splits the cell at the cursor location. If Oxygen XML Author Eclipse plugin detects more than one option to split the cell, a dialog box will be displayed that allows you to select the number of rows or columns to split the cell into.

XHTML Contextual Menu Actions

The following actions are available in the contextual menu when editing in Author mode (most of them are also available in the XHTML menu at the top of the interface):

Edit Attributes

Displays an in-place attributes editor that allows you to manage the attributes of an element.

Edit Profiling Attributes

Allows you to change the profiling attributes defined on all selected elements.

Cut (Ctrl + X (Command + X on macOS))

Removes the currently selected content from the document and places it in the clipboard.

Copy (Ctrl + C (Command + C on macOS))

Places a copy of the currently selected content in the clipboard.

The clipboard contains the precise node structure that is preserved when pasting to another place within the same document or to another document opened in the Author mode. The copied content also contains a plain Text flavor that attempts to convert the copied content to Markdown when the content gets pasted into a plain text area and also an HTML flavor that attempts to convert the copied structure to plain HTML, which can be useful for preserving the styles when pasting into editors such as MS Word.

Paste (Ctrl + V (Command + V on macOS))

Inserts the current clipboard content into the document at the cursor position.

Image Map Editor

This action is available in the contextual menu when it is invoked on an image. This action applies an image map to the current image (if one does not already exist) and opens the Image Map Editor dialog box. This feature allows you to create hyperlinks in specific areas of an image that will link to various destinations.

Insert submenu

This submenu includes the following insert actions:

Insert Table

Opens a dialog box that allows you to configure and insert a table. You can generate a header and footer, set the number of rows and columns of the table and decide how the table is framed. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs, lists, and inline content (mixed content, text plus markup, that is rendered inside a block element) into a table, with the selected content inserted in the first column, starting from the first row after the header (if a header is inserted).

Note: If the selection contains a mixture of elements that cannot be converted, you will receive an error message saying that Only lists, paragraphs, or inline content can be converted to tables.

Insert Link

Inserts an <a> element with an @href attribute at the cursor position. You can type the URL of the reference you want to insert or use the browsing actions in the

Browse drop-down menu.

Insert Image

Inserts an image reference at the cursor position. Depending on the current location, an image-type element is inserted.

Insert Media Resource

Opens a Choose Media dialog box that allows you to select the URL of a media object to be inserted into a document at the cursor position. The result will be that a reference to the specified video, audio, or embedded HTML frame is inserted and rendered in Author mode so that it can be played directly from there.

Insert Equation

Opens the XML Fragment Editor that allows you to insert and edit MathML notations.

Insert Paragraph

Inserts a new paragraph element at current cursor position.

Headings Drop-down Menu

A drop-down menu that includes actions for inserting <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6> elements.

Insert Entity

Allows you to insert a predefined entity or character entity. Surrogate character entities (range #x10000 to #x10FFFF) are also accepted. Character entities can be entered in one of the following forms:

#<decimal value> - e.g. #65
&#<decimal value> - e.g. &#65
#x<hexadecimal value> - e.g. #x41
&#x<hexadecimal value> - e.g. &#x41

Style submenu

This submenu includes the following text styling actions:

Bold: Emphasizes the selected text by surrounding it with a bold tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Italic: Emphasizes the selected text by surrounding it with an italic tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Underline: Emphasizes the selected text by surrounding it with an underline tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Subscript: Surrounds the selected text with a subscript tag, used for inserting a character (number, letter, or symbol) that will appear slightly below the baseline and slightly smaller than the rest of the text.
Superscript: Surrounds the selected text with a superscript tag, used for inserting a character (number, letter, or symbol) that will appear slightly above the baseline and slightly smaller than the rest of the text.

Table actions

The following table editing actions are available in the contextual menu when it is invoked on a table:

Insert Rows: Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of rows and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current row).
Delete Row(s): Deletes the table row located at the cursor position or multiple rows in a selection.
Insert Columns: Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of columns and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current column).
Delete Column(s): Deletes the table column located at the cursor position or multiple columns in a selection.
Join Cells: Joins the content of the selected cells (both horizontally and vertically).
Split Cell: Splits the cell at the cursor location. If Oxygen XML Author Eclipse plugin detects more than one option to split the cell, a dialog box will be displayed that allows you to select the number of rows or columns to split the cell into.
Sort: Sorts cells or list items in a table.
Table Properties: Opens the Table properties dialog box that allows you to configure properties of a table (such as frame borders).
Other Actions submenu: This submenu give you access to all the usual contextual menu actions.

Select submenu

This submenu allows you to select the following:

Element: Selects the entire element at the current cursor position.
Content: Selects the entire content of the element at the current cursor position, excluding the start and end tag. Performing this action repeatedly will result in the selection of the content of the ancestor of the currently selected element content.
Parent: Selects the entire parent element at the current cursor position.

Text submenu

This submenu contains the following actions:

To Lower Case

Converts the selected content to lower case characters.

To Upper Case

Converts the selected content to upper case characters.

Capitalize Sentences

Converts to upper case the first character of every selected sentence.

Capitalize Words

Converts to upper case the first character of every selected word.

Count Words

Counts the number of words and characters (no spaces) in the entire document or in the selection for regular content and read-only content.

Note: The content marked as deleted with change tracking is ignored when counting words.

Convert Hexadecimal Sequence to Character (Ctrl + Shift + H (Command + Shift + H on macOS))

Converts a sequence of hexadecimal characters to the corresponding Unicode character. The action can be invoked if there is a selection containing a valid hexadecimal sequence or if the cursor is placed at the right side of a valid hexadecimal sequence. A valid hexadecimal sequence can be composed of 2 to 4 hexadecimal characters and may or may not be preceded by the 0x or 0X prefix. Examples of valid sequences and the characters they will be converted to:

0x0045 will be converted to E
0X0125 to ĥ
265 to ɥ
2190 to ←
Note: For more information about finding the hexadecimal value of a character, see Finding the Decimal, Hexadecimal, or Character Entity Equivalent.

Refactoring submenu

Contains a series of actions designed to alter the XML structure of the document:

Toggle Comment

Encloses the currently selected text in a comment, or removes the comment if it is commented.

Move Up (Alt + UpArrow (Option + UpArrow on macOS))

Moves the current node or selected nodes in front of the previous node.

Move Down (Alt + DownArrow (Option + DownArrow on macOS))

Moves the current node or selected nodes after the subsequent node.

Split Element

Splits the content of the closest element that contains the position of the cursor. Thus, if the cursor is positioned at the beginning or at the end of the element, the newly created sibling will be empty.

Join Elements

Joins two adjacent block elements that have the same name. The action is available only when the cursor position is between the two adjacent block elements. Also, joining two block elements can be done by pressing the Delete or Backspace keys and the cursor is positioned between the boundaries of these two elements.

Surround with Tags (Alt + Shift + E)

Allows you to choose a tag to enclose a selected portion of content. If there is no selection, the start and end tags are inserted at the cursor position.

If the Position cursor between tags option is selected in the Content Completion preferences page, the cursor is placed between the start and end tag.
If the Position cursor between tags option is not selected in the Content Completion preferences page, the cursor is placed at the end of the start tag, in an insert-attribute position.

Surround with '[tag]' (Alt + Shift + ForwardSlash)

Surround the selected content with the last tag used.

Rename Element

The element from the cursor position, and any elements with the same name, can be renamed according with the options from the Rename dialog box.

Delete Element Tags

Deletes the tags of the closest element that contains the position of the cursor. This operation is also executed if the start or end tags of an element are deleted by pressing the Delete or Backspace keys.

Remove All Markup

Removes all the XML markup inside the selected block of content and keeps only the text content.

Remove Text

Removes the text content of the selected block of content and keeps the markup intact with empty elements.

Attributes Refactoring Actions

Contains built-in XML refactoring operations that pertain to attributes with some of the information preconfigured based upon the current context.

Add/Change attribute: Allows you to change the value of an attribute or insert a new one.
Convert attribute to element: Allows you to change an attribute into an element.
Delete attribute: Allows you to remove one or more attributes.
Rename attribute: Allows you to rename an attribute.
Replace in attribute value: Allows you to search for a text fragment inside an attribute value and change the fragment to a new value.

Comments Refactoring Actions

Contains built-in XML refactoring operations that pertain to comments with some of the information preconfigured based upon the current context.

Delete comments: Allows you to delete comments found inside one or more elements.

Elements Refactoring Actions

Contains built-in XML refactoring operations that pertain to elements with some of the information preconfigured based upon the current context.

Delete element: Allows you to delete elements.
Delete element content: Allows you to delete the content of elements.
Insert element: Allows you to insert new elements.
Rename element: Allows you to rename elements.
Unwrap element: Allows you to remove the surrounding tags of elements, while keeping the content unchanged.
Wrap element: Allows you to surround elements with element tags.
Wrap element content: Allows you to surround the content of elements with element tags.

Fragments Refactoring Actions

Contains built-in XML refactoring operations that pertain to XML fragments with some of the information preconfigured based upon the current context.

Insert XML fragment: Allows you to insert an XML fragment.
Replace element content with XML fragment: Allows you to replace the content of elements with an XML fragment.
Replace element with XML fragment: Allows you to replace elements with an XML fragment.

Review submenu

This submenu includes the following actions:

Track Changes: Enables or disables the Track Changes support for the current document.
Accept Change(s) and Move to Next: Accepts the Tracked Change located at the cursor position or all of the changes in a selection and then moves to the next change. If you select a part of a deletion or insertion change, only the selected content is accepted.
Accept All Changes: Accepts all Tracked Changes in the current document.
Reject Change(s) and Move to Next: Rejects the Tracked Change located at the cursor position or all of the changes in a selection and then moves to the next change. If you select a part of a deletion or insertion change, only the selected content is rejected.
Reject All Changes: Rejects all Tracked Changes in the current document.
Comment Change: Opens a dialog box that allows you to add a comment to an existing Tracked Change. The comment will appear in a callout and a tooltip when hovering over the change. If the action is selected on an existing commented change, the dialog box will allow you to edit the comment.
Highlight: Enables the highlighting tool that allows you to mark text in your document.
Colors: Allows you to select the color for highlighting text.
Stop highlighting: Use this action to deactivate the highlighting tool.
Remove highlight(s): Use this action to remove highlighting from the document.
Add Comment: Inserts a comment at the cursor position. The comment appears in a callout box and a tooltip (when hovering over the change).
Show/Edit Comment: Opens a dialog box that displays the discussion thread and allows the current user to edit comments that do not have replies. If you are not the author who inserted the original comment, the dialog box just displays the comment without the possibility of editing it.
Remove Comment: Removes a selected comment. If you remove a comment that contains replies, all of the replies will also be removed.
Manage Reviews: Opens the Review view.

Folding submenu

This submenu includes the following actions:

Toggle Fold: Toggles the state of the current fold.
Collapse Other Folds: Folds all the elements except the current element.
Collapse Child Folds: Folds the elements indented with one level inside the current element.
Expand Child Folds (Ctrl + NumPad+ (Command + NumPad+ on macOS)): Unfolds all child elements of the currently selected element.
Expand All: Unfolds all elements in the current document.

About Element > Go to Definition

Moves the cursor to the definition of the current element.

Inspect Styles

Opens the CSS Inspector view that allows you to examine the CSS rules that match the currently selected element.

Options

Opens the Author mode preferences page where you can configure various options with regard to the Author editing mode.

XHTML Drag/Drop (or Copy/Paste) Actions

Dragging a file from the Project Explorer view and dropping it into an XHTML document that is edited in Author mode, creates a link to the dragged file (the <a> element with the @href attribute) at the drop location. Copy and paste actions work the same.

You can also drag images or media files from your system explorer or the Project Explorer view and drop them into an XHTML document (or copy and paste). This will insert the appropriate element at the drop or paste location (for example, dropping/pasting an image will insert the <img> element with the @src attribute).

Tip: For information about customizing Author mode actions for a particular framework (document type), see the Customizing the Author Mode Editing Experience for a Framework section.