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XML Reference Guide

📄 Contents

  1. XML Reference Guide
  2. Overview
  3. What Is XML?
  4. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  5. Books and e-Books
  6. Official Documentation
  7. Table of Contents
  8. The Document Object Model
  9. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  10. Books and e-Books
  11. Official Documentation
  12. DOM and Java
  13. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  14. Books and e-Books
  15. Implementations
  16. DOM and JavaScript
  17. Using a Repeater
  18. Repeaters and XML
  19. Repeater Resources
  20. DOM and .NET
  21. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  22. Books and e-Books
  23. Documentation and Downloads
  24. DOM and C++
  25. DOM and C++ Resources
  26. DOM and Perl
  27. DOM and Perl Resources
  28. DOM and PHP
  29. DOM and PHP Resources
  30. DOM Level 3
  31. DOM Level 3 Core
  32. DOM Level 3 Load and Save
  33. DOM Level 3 XPath
  34. DOM Level 3 Validation
  35. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  36. Books and e-Books
  37. Documentation and Implementations
  38. The Simple API for XML (SAX)
  39. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  40. Books and e-Books
  41. Official Documentation
  42. SAX and Java
  43. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  44. Books and e-Books
  45. SAX and .NET
  46. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  47. SAX and Perl
  48. SAX and Perl Resources
  49. SAX and PHP
  50. SAX and PHP Resources
  51. Validation
  52. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  53. Books and e-Books
  54. Official Documentation
  55. Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
  56. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  57. Books and e-Books
  58. Official Documentation
  59. XML Schemas
  60. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  61. Books and e-Books
  62. Official Documentation
  63. RELAX NG
  64. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  65. Books and e-Books
  66. Official Documentation
  67. Schematron
  68. Official Documentation and Implementations
  69. Validation in Applications
  70. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  71. Books and e-Books
  72. XSL Transformations (XSLT)
  73. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  74. Books and e-Books
  75. Official Documentation
  76. XSLT in Java
  77. Java in XSLT Resources
  78. XSLT and RSS in .NET
  79. XSLT and RSS in .NET Resources
  80. XSL-FO
  81. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  82. Books and e-Books
  83. Official Documentation
  84. XPath
  85. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  86. Books and e-Books
  87. Official Documentation
  88. XML Base
  89. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  90. Official Documentation
  91. XHTML
  92. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  93. Books and e-Books
  94. Official Documentation
  95. XHTML 2.0
  96. Documentation
  97. Cascading Style Sheets
  98. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  99. Books and e-Books
  100. Official Documentation
  101. XUL
  102. XUL References
  103. XML Events
  104. XML Events Resources
  105. XML Data Binding
  106. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  107. Books and e-Books
  108. Specifications
  109. Implementations
  110. XML and Databases
  111. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  112. Books and e-Books
  113. Online Resources
  114. Official Documentation
  115. SQL Server and FOR XML
  116. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  117. Books and e-Books
  118. Documentation and Implementations
  119. Service Oriented Architecture
  120. Web Services
  121. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  122. Books and e-Books
  123. Official Documentation
  124. Creating a Perl Web Service Client
  125. SOAP::Lite
  126. Amazon Web Services
  127. Creating the Movable Type Plug-in
  128. Perl, Amazon, and Movable Type Resources
  129. Apache Axis2
  130. REST
  131. REST Resources
  132. SOAP
  133. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  134. Books and e-Books
  135. Official Documentation
  136. SOAP and Java
  137. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  138. Books and e-Books
  139. Official Documentation
  140. WSDL
  141. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  142. Books and e-Books
  143. Official Documentation
  144. UDDI
  145. UDDI Resources
  146. XML-RPC
  147. XML-RPC in PHP
  148. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  149. Books and e-Books
  150. Official Documentation
  151. Ajax
  152. Asynchronous Javascript
  153. Client-side XSLT
  154. SAJAX and PHP
  155. Ajax Resources
  156. JSON
  157. Ruby on Rails
  158. Creating Objects
  159. Ruby Basics: Arrays and Other Sundry Bits
  160. Ruby Basics: Iterators and Persistence
  161. Starting on the Rails
  162. Rails and Databases
  163. Rails: Ajax and Partials
  164. Rails Resources
  165. Web Services Security
  166. Web Services Security Resources
  167. SAML
  168. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  169. Books and e-Books
  170. Specification and Implementation
  171. XML Digital Signatures
  172. XML Digital Signatures Resources
  173. XML Key Management Services
  174. Resources for XML Key Management Services
  175. Internationalization
  176. Resources
  177. Grid Computing
  178. Grid Resources
  179. Web Services Resource Framework
  180. Web Services Resource Framework Resources
  181. WS-Addressing
  182. WS-Addressing Resources
  183. WS-Notifications
  184. New Languages: XML in Use
  185. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  186. Books and e-Books
  187. Official Documentation
  188. Google Web Toolkit
  189. GWT Basic Interactivity
  190. Google Sitemaps
  191. Google Sitemaps Resources
  192. Accessibility
  193. Web Accessibility
  194. XML Accessibility
  195. Accessibility Resources
  196. The Semantic Web
  197. Defining a New Ontology
  198. OWL: Web Ontology Language
  199. Semantic Web Resources
  200. Google Base
  201. Microformats
  202. StructuredBlogging
  203. Live Clipboard
  204. WML
  205. XHTML-MP
  206. WML Resources
  207. Google Web Services
  208. Google Web Services API
  209. Google Web Services Resources
  210. The Yahoo! Web Services Interface
  211. Yahoo! Web Services and PHP
  212. Yahoo! Web Services Resources
  213. eBay REST API
  214. WordML
  215. WordML Part 2: Lists
  216. WordML Part 3: Tables
  217. WordML Resources
  218. DocBook
  219. Articles
  220. Books and e-Books
  221. Official Documentation and Implementations
  222. XML Query
  223. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  224. Books and e-Books
  225. Official Documentation
  226. XForms
  227. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  228. Books and e-Books
  229. Official Documentation
  230. Resource Description Framework (RDF)
  231. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  232. Books and e-Books
  233. Official Documentation
  234. Topic Maps
  235. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  236. Books and e-Books
  237. Official Documentation, Implementations, and Other Resources
  238. Rich Site Summary (RSS)
  239. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  240. Books and e-Books
  241. Official Documentation
  242. Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE)
  243. Atom
  244. Podcasting
  245. Podcasting Resources
  246. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
  247. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  248. Books and e-Books
  249. Official Documentation
  250. OPML
  251. OPML Resources
  252. Summary
  253. Projects
  254. JavaScript TimeTracker: JSON and PHP
  255. The Javascript Timetracker
  256. Refactoring to Javascript Objects
  257. Creating the Yahoo! Widget
  258. Web Mashup
  259. Google Maps
  260. Indeed Mashup
  261. Mashup Part 3: Putting It All Together
  262. Additional Resources
  263. Frequently Asked Questions About XML
  264. What's XML, and why should I use it?
  265. What's a well-formed document?
  266. What's the difference between XML and HTML?
  267. What's the difference between HTML and XHTML?
  268. Can I use XML in a browser?
  269. Should I use elements or attributes for my document?
  270. What's a namespace?
  271. Where can I get an XML parser?
  272. What's the difference between a well-formed document and a valid document?
  273. What's a validating parser?
  274. Should I use DOM or SAX for my application?
  275. How can I stop a SAX parser before it has parsed the entire document?
  276. 2005 Predictions
  277. 2006 Predictions
  278. Nick's Book Picks

One of the advantages of XML is its flexibility, but in the wrong hands, that can also be a disadvantage. For example, if you were going to represent a graphic image using XML, you could create your own format, but why should you? Why not use Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) instead, so your users can simply use the existing SVG viewer? Simiarly, writing a web page in HTML means that there are existing cleints (browsers) that can read it. But what about producing longer works? DocBook is designed for just such a situation.

Like XML, DocBook is based on Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). It's actually been around since before XML, but has subsequently been adapted to XML's peculiarities. Originally designed for book-length works, DocBook documents are easily converted to HTML, PDF, or other environments using transformative or stylistic technhologes such as Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) or Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and standard solutions for these processses exist from the army of developers dedicated to the standard.

Let's take a look at a sample DocBook document. We'll start by looking at the informational elements. For example, a DocBook document containing the content of XML Primer Plus might start with:

<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
               "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd">
<book>
<bookinfo>
   <title>XML Primer Plus</title>
   <author>
      <firstname>Nicholas</firstname>
      <surname>Chase</surname>
   </author>
   <copyright>
      <year>2002</year>
      <holder>Sams Publishing</holder>
   </copyright>
</bookinfo>
...
</book>

From there, we can add parts and chapters:

<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
               "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd">
<book>
<bookinfo>
  <title>XML Primer Plus</title>
  <author>
    <firstname>Nicholas</firstname>
    <surname>Chase</surname>
  </author>
  <copyright>
    <year>2002</year><holder>Sams Publishing</holder>
  </copyright>
</bookinfo>
<preface>
    <title>Introduction</title>
...
</preface>
<part>>
    <title>XML Fundamentals</title>
    <chapter>
        <title>Basic XML Document Structure</title>
        ...
    </chapter>
    <chapter>
        <title>Designing XML Documents and Applications</title>
        ...
    </chapter>
    <chapter>
        <title>Manipulating Documents: The Document Object Model (DOM)</title>
        ...
    </chapter>
...
</part>
<part>
    <title>Using XML</title>
    <chapter>
        <title>Browser-Based XML: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)</title>
        ...
    </chapter>
    <chapter>
        <title>Browser-Based XML:  XHTML</title>
        ...
    </chapter>
    <chapter>
        <title>XML Linking Language (XLink)</title>
        ...
    </chapter>
...
</part>
<part>
    <title>Appendixes</title>
    <appendix>
        <title>Resources</title>
        ...
    </appendix>
    <appendix>
        <title>XML Information Set</title>
        ...
    </appendix>
    <appendix>
        <title>Questions and Answers</title>
        ...
    </appendix>
</part>
</book>

Now, within each of these chapters (or for that matter, within any sections that can contain content, such as the preface or an appendix) there are a myriad of useful elements that define the structure of the content. Perhaps the most commonly used would be the paragraph and section elements. For example:

...
    <chapter>
        <title>Designing XML Documents and Applications</title>
        <para>Before we actually build anything, let's look at 
planning the structure of the data. Yes, yes, I know, you're anxious to get 
your hands dirty, and so am I, but planning is an essential part of any 
applicaton and XML-related applications are no exception.  The structure 
of your documents is the underpinning for your entire system.  If you don't 
take the time to understand exactly what you're building, and more 
importantly, why you're building it, you're setting yourself up for failure.</para>
        <para>In this chapter, we're going to discuss the various 
aspects of planning for the data and structure ...</para>
        ...
        <sect1>
              <title>The Planning Process</title>
              <para>Because XML is inherenetly simple, the 
temptation is to simply create the structure as you go along, a process 
known as "designing at the keyboard."  As tempting as this may be, a 
multitute of reasons exists for avoiding it.</para>
              ...
        <sect1>
...
    </chapter>
...

In actuality, there are serveral types of sections. Here I've used sect1, which can contain one or more sect2s, which can contain one or more sect3s, and so on, up to sect5 (but no further). You can also use sections, which can be infinitely recursed, or simplesects, which can't contain any other sections.

There are also numerous elements for dealing with items such as lists, code sections, references, tables, and so on. In fact, there are so many elements that a leaner version of DocBook, Simplified DocBook, has been created to make things a bit simpler.

Simplified DocBook is meant for smaller peices, such as articles, but you can also create these smaller pieces in DocBook proper. For example, an article from InformIT might look like this:

<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
               "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd">
<article>
<articleinfo>
    <title>Using XML and XSLT to Personalize a Web Site Part 1</title>
    <subtitle>Using XSLT to Transform XML to HTML</subtitle>
    <author>
        <firstname>Norman</firstname>
        <surname>Walsh</surname>
    </author>
  <copyright>
    <year>2001</year><holder>Nicholas Chase</holder>
  </copyright>
</articleinfo>
<para>You might assume that adding the word "personalization" to 
your Web site means adding a digit or two to your budget, but it doesn't 
have to be that way. Personalization means creating a Web site that adjusts
to your visitors' preferences and interests, and to some extent, you can 
accomplish this with XML and XSL Transformations.</para>
...
<section>
    <title>The Basic Idea</title>
    <para>You may already be familiar with the way that Cascading 
Style Sheets (CSS) can be used to change the look and feel of your Web 
site. With CSS, you specify the way that you want certain items to look 
by creating styles for classes of items, or even for specific HTML tags. 
Changing the site's look and feel means simply changing the style sheet. 
The browser then carries the changes through to each affected page. In 
this way, the same HTML page can look profoundly different, depending 
on the style sheet chosen.</para>
    ...
</section>
...
</article>

Overall, you can see that DocBook provides a ready-made structure for information content. Check out the resoruces for more information on using DocBook in your own projects, particularly when it comes to transforming it into other formats.

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Last Update: November 17, 2020