Favorites System¶

Version: 2.1.0

Save your frequently used files for quick access. The favorites system works across all editors in FreeXmlToolkit.

Overview¶

Favorites Overview The Favorites panel with its Add current and Manage… buttons, the search field, and favorites grouped by file type

The favorites system helps you quickly access the files you use most often. Save any file as a favorite and open it with one click from any editor.

Key Features¶

Quick Access¶

Feature	Description
Works Everywhere	Access favorites from any editor
File Recognition	Automatically detects file types (XML, XSD, etc.)
One-Click Loading	Open files instantly

Organization¶

Feature	Description
Folders	Move favorites into folders like "Project Files", "Templates", "Schemas" (context menu Move to folder)
Easy Management	Rename or remove favorites from the panel; the Manage… view offers smart collections and clean-up
Mixed Files	Store different file types in the same folder

File Information¶

Feature	Description
Custom Names	Give favorites easy-to-remember names
Descriptions	Add notes about what each file is for
File Icons	Quickly see file types at a glance

Grouped by Folder or File Type (Unified Shell)¶

The Favorites panel in the Unified Shell (star icon in the activity bar, or Ctrl+Shift+D) groups your favorites by folder as soon as at least one favorite has been moved into a folder; favorites without a folder are listed under Uncategorized at the end. While no folder is in use, the panel groups by file type instead - for example XML Document, JSON Document, XSD Schema, Schematron Rules, and XSLT Stylesheet. Each entry shows a colored type icon, so you can tell the file kinds apart at a glance. Click an entry to open it as an editor tab; the search field filters by name or path.

Keystore and trust store files (.jks, .p12, .pfx, .keystore) are recognized as their own Keystore type with a lock icon - they form their own group in the Favorites panel and feed the keystore star menus in the Signature panel (see below).

Star Menus in the Side Panels¶

Wherever a side panel asks you to pick a file, a star button next to the row's Change link opens a quick-select menu of your matching favorites - pick one to use it in a single click, without browsing the file system:

Panel	Row	Favorites Listed
Validation	XSD schema	XSD favorites
Validation	Schematron rules	Schematron favorites
Validation	JSON Schema (shown for JSON documents)	JSON favorites
Transform	STYLESHEET / INPUT	XSLT / XML favorites
PDF / FOP	XML input / XSL-FO stylesheet	XML / XSLT favorites
Signature	Keystore (KEYSTORE section)	Keystore favorites
Signature	Trust store (Expert Mode)	Keystore favorites

The menu is rebuilt each time you open it, so newly added favorites appear immediately. When you use more than one favorites folder, the entries are grouped by folder as submenus. While you have no matching favorites, the star button is grayed out.

How to Use¶

Adding Files to Favorites¶

Open a file (it must be saved to disk - unsaved buffers cannot be added)
Press Ctrl+D or click Add current in the Favorites panel - the file is added immediately under its file name, without a dialog
Optionally, right-click the new entry to give it a different name (Rename…) or to put it into a folder (Move to folder)

Opening Favorites¶

Open the "Favorites" activity from the activity bar on the left (or press Ctrl+Shift+D)
Browse the folder or file-type groups, or type in the search field
Click any file to open it immediately

Managing Favorites¶

Right-click an entry in the Favorites panel for its context menu: - Open - Open the file as an editor tab - Rename… - Change the display name - Move to folder - Put the favorite into an existing folder or a new one - Remove - Delete the favorite (the file itself is untouched)

Click Manage… for the full-size Favorites Manager view: it adds smart collections (recently used, most used) and a Clean up button that removes favorites whose files no longer exist.

Tips¶

Organization Ideas¶

Strategy	Description
By Project	Create a category for each project
By Type	Organize by file type ("Schemas", "Templates")
By Frequency	"Daily Use", "Archive"

Best Practices¶

Use descriptive names that make sense to you
Add descriptions for complex files
Clean up favorites regularly when files are moved or deleted

Supported File Types¶

Type	Extension
XML documents	.xml
JSON documents (incl. JSON Schemas)	.json, .jsonc, .json5
XSD schemas	.xsd
Schematron rules	.sch
XSLT stylesheets	.xsl, .xslt
Keystores / trust stores	.jks, .p12, .pfx, .keystore

Auto-Populated Categories¶

Some optional features add their own files to your Favorites automatically:

Category	Source
FundsXML Examples	Sample XML documents (and the examples folder) downloaded by the FundsXML Extensions feature
FundsXML Schema	The active FundsXML XSD schema
FundsXML Schematron	Schematron rule files downloaded by the FundsXML Extensions feature
FundsXML XSLT	XSLT stylesheets shipped with the FundsXML examples

These categories are created automatically: right after you enable the FundsXML feature (the content downloads in the background - no manual download step needed) and again on every application start, when they are re-registered from the on-disk cache.

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