XML: The Changing Phase of e-Documentation Jyothi Jandhyala

2 Page 2  Windows Help  Portable Document Format  HTML Help  JavaHelp  SGML  XML Popular Electronic Formats

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4 Page 4  Retains the format of the source document  Acrobat Reader available on various platforms  Supports hyperlinks  Cannot dynamically update the document  Difficult to reuse information  Search facility is limited PDF- Pros and Cons

5 Page 5  Easy to create and maintain  Hyperlink across documents  Random navigation  Manipulate the format of the document  Multimedia support HTML - Pros

6 Page 6  Limited set of tags  Dependency on browsers  Output cannot be predicted  Multiple versions of HTML  Very little internal structure  No validation of syntax  Imprecise hits on search HTML - Cons

7 Page 7  Very structured language  Custom tag definition  Stable and portable (ISO standard )  Validation for completeness and correctness  DTD is mandatory  Difficult to write and maintain parsers  Difficult to understand and complex to implement  Limited mainstream browser support  Limited support for styles SGML- Pros and Cons

8 Page 8 Extensible Markup Language Subset of SGML Meta language What is XML?

9 Page 9  Contains the best of SGML  Custom markup tags to suit requirements  Structure of the document defined  DTD not mandatory  Parsers easier to create and maintain  Allows transformation to other formats  Powerful hyperlinking  Smart searching of documents Why XML?

10 Page 10  Well Formed  Valid Types of XML

11 Page 11 While writing XML documents, ensure that:  All opening tags have a closing tag  Elements are nested properly  Empty tags have the proper syntax  Each XML document has a unique root Element  Attribute values are delimited with quotation marks  All Entities are declared before use  XML tags match (case sensitive) Well Formed XML

12 Page 12  Prolog w XML declaration w Doctype declaration w Element declaration w Attribute declaration w Entity declaration  Document Instance XML Document

13 Page 13 Hello World! Welcome to the first STC-India Conference. Well Formed XML Document

14 Page 14  Defines the structure of the XML document  Requires validation by parser  Associates with the XML document Document Type Definition

15 Page 15 Sample DTD

16 Page 16 Information Developers Jyothi Jandhyala Your impressions Now that you are almost done with the presentation, you must be getting an idea about XML. These emerging technologies sometimes take time though before they catch on. For more details, check out etc. Jyothi Valid XML Document

17 Page 17  Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)  Extensible Style Language (XSL) w Reorder w Filter w Transform Working in XML with Style

18 Page 18  Links to multiple destinations (Using Xlink)  Bi-directional links  Points to specific hierarchical location in the target document (Using Xpath)  Indirect links Hyperlinking in XML

19 Page 19  XML tags form part of search  Precise search results Smart Searching Using XML

20 Page 20 XML and supporting markup languages are still evolving, but they have the potential to change e-documentation for the better. Conclusion