XML(EXtensible Markup Language)

XML XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language. XML is a markup language much like HTML. XML was designed to describe data. XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags. XML uses a Document Type Definition (DTD) or an XML Schema to describe the data. XML with a DTD or XML Schema is designed to be self-descriptive.

XML Best description of XML is this: XML is a cross- platform, software and hardware independent tool for transmitting information.

XML-Example XML document : (file name: “xml_note.xml”) Aman Raman Reminder Don't forget me this weekend!

More Example North Indian Food Dr. Ram Parkash Harry Potter J K. Rowling

The Main Differences Between XML and HTML – XML was designed to carry data. – XML is not a replacement for HTML. – XML and HTML were designed with different goals: XML was designed to describe data and to focus on what data is. HTML was designed to display data and to focus on how data looks. – HTML is about displaying information, while XML is about describing information.

Advantages of Using XML Truly Portable Data Easily readable by human users Very expressive Very flexible and customizable Easy to use from programs (libs available) Easy to convert into other representations Many additional standards and tools Widely used and supported

A Simple XML Document Gerhard Weikum The Web in Ten Years In order to evolve... The Web provides the universal...

A Simple XML Document Gerhard Weikum The Web in Ten Years In order to evolve... The Web provides the universal... Freely definable tags

Elements in XML Documents (Freely definable) tags: article, title, author – with start tag: etc. – and end tag: etc. Elements:... Elements have a name ( article ) and a content (... ) Elements may be nested. Elements may be empty: Each XML document has exactly one root element and forms a tree. Elements with a common parent are ordered.

Elements vs. Attributes Elements may have attributes (in the start tag) that have a name and a value, e.g.. What is the difference between elements and attributes? Only one attribute with a given name per element (but an arbitrary number of subelements) Attributes have no structure, simply strings (while elements can have subelements) As a rule of thumb: Content into elements Metadata into attributes Example: Abc proved that…

XML Documents as Ordered Trees article authortitletext sectionabstract The index We b provides … title=“…“ number=“1“ In order … The Web in 10 years

Well-Formed XML Documents A well-formed document must adher to, among others, the following rules: Every start tag has a matching end tag. Elements may nest, but must not overlap. There must be exactly one root element. Attribute values must be quoted. An element may not have two attributes with the same name. Comments and processing instructions may not appear inside tags.

Well-Formed XML Documents A well-formed document must adher to, among others, the following rules: Every start tag has a matching end tag. Elements may nest, but must not overlap. There must be exactly one root element. Attribute values must be quoted. An element may not have two attributes with the same name. Comments and processing instructions may not appear inside tags. Only well-formed documents can be processed by XML parsers.

XML is not… A replacement for HTML (but HTML can be generated from XML) A presentation format (but XML can be converted into one) A programming language (but it can be used with almost any language) A network transfer protocol (but XML may be transferred over a network) A database (but XML may be stored into a database)

Conversion of XML into Tree Shiva Singh

A well-formed XML document has a tree structure and obeys all the XML rules. A particular application may add more rules in either a DTD (document type definition) or in a schema. Many specialized DTDs and schemas have been created to describe particular areas.

Document Type Definitions A DTD describes the tree structure of a document and something about its data. There are two data types, PCDATA and CDATA. – PCDATA is parsed character data. – CDATA is character data, not usually parsed. A DTD determines how many times a node may appear, and how child nodes are ordered.

DTD for address Example

Schemas Schemas are themselves XML documents. They were standardized after DTDs and provide more information about the document. They have a number of data types including string, decimal, integer, boolean, date, and time. They divide elements into simple and complex types. They also determine the tree structure and how many children a node may have.

Schema for address Example

Scripting Language