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Favorites System

Version: 1.10.0

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


Overview

Favorites Overview The Favorites panel with Smart Collections, Categories, Projects, and Templates & Snippets

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
Custom Categories Create folders like "Project Files", "Templates", "Schemas"
Easy Management Create, rename, and delete categories
Mixed Files Store different file types in the same category

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 File Type (Unified Shell)

The Favorites panel in the Unified Shell (star icon in the activity bar) groups your favorites by file type - 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.

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

  1. Open a file in any editor
  2. Click the star button in the toolbar
  3. Fill in the form:
  4. Name: A descriptive name (auto-filled with filename)
  5. Category: Choose or create a category
  6. Description: Optional notes about the file

Opening Favorites

  1. Open the "Favorites" activity from the activity bar on the left
  2. Browse categories if you have multiple
  3. Click any file to open it immediately

Managing Favorites

The favorites menu includes: - Remove missing files - Clean up favorites that point to deleted files - Edit favorites - Change names, categories, or descriptions


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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