Index: src/main/java/com/modulo/kafkaesque/Controller.java
IDEA additional info:
Subsystem: com.intellij.openapi.diff.impl.patch.CharsetEP
<+>UTF-8
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/com/modulo/kafkaesque/Controller.java	(revision 0303f2f6aa0c77c8b767f5ea5a0b89b268ff70d9)
+++ src/main/java/com/modulo/kafkaesque/Controller.java	(date 1545141786551)
@@ -34,7 +34,12 @@
 import javafx.fxml.FXML;
 import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader;
 import javafx.scene.Parent;
+import javafx.scene.control.Button;
 import javafx.scene.control.*;
+import javafx.scene.control.Label;
+import javafx.scene.control.MenuItem;
+import javafx.scene.control.TextArea;
+import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
 import javafx.scene.control.cell.PropertyValueFactory;
 import javafx.scene.image.Image;
 import javafx.stage.DirectoryChooser;
@@ -60,10 +65,12 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.awt.*;
 import java.io.*;
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.time.Instant;
 import java.util.*;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
@@ -172,7 +179,13 @@
                     MenuItem openinPublisher = new MenuItem("open in publisher");
                     openinPublisher.setGraphic(new FontIcon(FontAwesome.SHARE));
                     openinPublisher.setOnAction(event -> showPublishMessageDialog(row.getItem()));
-                    rowMenu.getItems().addAll(openinPublisher);
+                    MenuItem openAsTxt = new MenuItem("open in text editor");
+                    openAsTxt.setGraphic(new FontIcon(FontAwesome.EDIT));
+                    openAsTxt.setOnAction(event -> openInTextEditor(row.getItem(), "txt"));
+                    MenuItem openAsJson = new MenuItem("open in json editor");
+                    openAsJson.setGraphic(new FontIcon(FontAwesome.EDIT));
+                    openAsJson.setOnAction(event -> openInTextEditor(row.getItem(), "json"));
+                    rowMenu.getItems().addAll(openinPublisher, openAsTxt, openAsJson);
 
                     // only display context menu for non-null items:
                     row.contextMenuProperty().bind(
@@ -238,6 +251,24 @@
         bindDisableProperties();
     }
 
+    private void openInTextEditor(KafkaMessage value, String suffix) {
+        File temp;
+        try {
+            temp = File.createTempFile("kafkaEsque-export", "." + suffix);
+
+            try (BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(temp))) {
+                bw.write(value.getValue());
+            }
+
+            Desktop.getDesktop().edit(temp);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            //TODO: this can be thrown if no default program is set
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+
+
+    }
+
     private void bindDisableProperties() {
         BooleanProperty backgroundTaskInProgressProperty = backGroundTaskHolder.isInProgressProperty();
         topicListView.disableProperty().bind(backgroundTaskInProgressProperty);