text highlighter

[philyrobo]

I am currently writting a basic XML parser and text highlighter.
At the moment I am scanning through the text (document in a scrolling text pane) and looking through each character for a starting tab character. Then using the position in the text I specify where to start the text caret and select the appropriate text. This is very innefeicient, and Im sure their must be an easier way, but as I have found with Java the languages specification is very hindering.

Was wondering if anyone had any idea of a simpler or more powerfull solution.

Thanks for your time
Phil