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XML Introduction To

XML is a markup language that is used to define, carry and store data. It was designed to transport and store data with a focus on what the data is, rather than how it looks. XML allows users to define their own elements and tags. XML has a tree structure where elements are nested within each other with a single root element. XML documents must follow specific syntax rules such as having matching opening and closing tags and properly nested elements.

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PRATIK HANAMANT KADAM
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84 views

XML Introduction To

XML is a markup language that is used to define, carry and store data. It was designed to transport and store data with a focus on what the data is, rather than how it looks. XML allows users to define their own elements and tags. XML has a tree structure where elements are nested within each other with a single root element. XML documents must follow specific syntax rules such as having matching opening and closing tags and properly nested elements.

Uploaded by

PRATIK HANAMANT KADAM
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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XML

Introduction to XML
What is XML?
• XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language
• XML is a markup language much like HTML
• XML was designed to carry data, not to display data
• XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags
• XML is designed to be self-descriptive
• XML is a W3C Recommendation
The Difference Between XML and HTML
XML is not a replacement for HTML.
XML and HTML were designed with different goals:
• XML was designed to transport and store data, with focus on what data
is
• HTML was designed to display data, with focus on how data looks
HTML is about displaying information, while XML is about carrying
information.
With XML You Invent Your Own Tags
The tags in the example above (like <to> and <from>) are not defined in
any XML standard. These tags are "invented" by the author of the XML
document.
That is because the XML language has no predefined tags.
The tags used in HTML are predefined. HTML documents can only use tags
defined in the HTML standard (like <p>, <h1>, etc.).
XML allows the author to define his/her own tags and his/her own document
structure.
XML is Not a Replacement for HTML
XML is a complement to HTML.
It is important to understand that XML is not a replacement for HTML. In
most web applications, XML is used to transport data, while HTML is used to
format and display the data.
My best description of XML is this:
XML is a software- and hardware-independent tool for carrying
information.
XML is Everywhere
XML is now as important for the Web as HTML was to the foundation of the
Web.
XML is the most common tool for data transmissions between all sorts of
applications.

XML Tree
An Example XML Document
XML documents use a self-describing and simple syntax:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>


<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
The first line is the XML declaration. It defines the XML version (1.0) and the
encoding used (ISO-8859-1 = Latin-1/West European character set).
The next line describes the root element of the document (like saying: "this
document is a note"):
<note>
The next 4 lines describe 4 child elements of the root (to, from, heading,
and body):
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
And finally the last line defines the end of the root element:
</note>
You can assume, from this example, that the XML document contains a note
to Tove from Jani.
Don't you agree that XML is pretty self-descriptive?
XML Documents Form a Tree Structure
XML documents must contain a root element. This element is "the parent"
of all other elements.
The elements in an XML document form a document tree. The tree starts at
the root and branches to the lowest level of the tree.
All elements can have sub elements (child elements):
<root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
</root>
The terms parent, child, and sibling are used to describe the relationships
between elements. Parent elements have children. Children on the same
level are called siblings (brothers or sisters).
All elements can have text content and attributes (just like in HTML).

Example:

The image above represents one book in the XML below:


<bookstore>
<book category="COOKING">
<title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
<author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="CHILDREN">
<title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
</book>
<book category="WEB">
<title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
<author>Erik T. Ray</author>
<year>2003</year>
<price>39.95</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
The root element in the example is <bookstore>. All <book> elements in
the document are contained within <bookstore>.
The <book> element has 4 children: <title>,< author>, <year>, <price>.
XML Syntax Rules
The syntax rules of XML are very simple and logical. The rules are easy to
learn, and easy to use.

All XML Elements Must Have a Closing Tag


In HTML, elements do not have to have a closing tag:
<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is another paragraph
In XML, it is illegal to omit the closing tag. All elements must have a closing
tag:
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<p>This is another paragraph</p>
Note: You might have noticed from the previous example that the XML
declaration did not have a closing tag. This is not an error. The declaration is
not a part of the XML document itself, and it has no closing tag.

XML Tags are Case Sensitive


XML tags are case sensitive. The tag <Letter> is different from the tag
<letter>.
Opening and closing tags must be written with the same case:
<Message>This is incorrect</message>
<message>This is correct</message>
Note: "Opening and closing tags" are often referred to as "Start and end
tags". Use whatever you prefer. It is exactly the same thing.

XML Elements Must be Properly Nested


In HTML, you might see improperly nested elements:
<b><i>This text is bold and italic</b></i>
In XML, all elements must be properly nested within each other:
<b><i>This text is bold and italic</i></b>
In the example above, "Properly nested" simply means that since the <i>
element is opened inside the <b> element, it must be closed inside the <b>
element.

XML Documents Must Have a Root Element


XML documents must contain one element that is the parent of all other
elements. This element is called the root element.
<root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
</root>

XML Attribute Values Must be Quoted


XML elements can have attributes in name/value pairs just like in HTML.
In XML, the attribute values must always be quoted.
Study the two XML documents below. The first one is incorrect, the second is
correct:
<note date=12/11/2007>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>

<note date="12/11/2007">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
The error in the first document is that the date attribute in the note element
is not quoted.

Entity References
Some characters have a special meaning in XML.
If you place a character like "<" inside an XML element, it will generate an
error because the parser interprets it as the start of a new element.
This will generate an XML error:
<message>if salary < 1000 then</message>
To avoid this error, replace the "<" character with an entity reference:
<message>if salary &lt; 1000 then</message>
There are 5 predefined entity references in XML:
&lt; < less than
&gt; > greater than
&amp; & ampersand
&apos; ' apostrophe
&quot; " quotation mark
Note: Only the characters "<" and "&" are strictly illegal in XML. The greater
than character is legal, but it is a good habit to replace it.

Comments in XML
The syntax for writing comments in XML is similar to that of HTML.
<!-- This is a comment -->

White-space is Preserved in XML


HTML truncates multiple white-space characters to one single white-space:
HTML: Hello Tove
Output: Hello Tove
With XML, the white-space in a document is not truncated.

XML Stores New Line as LF


In Windows applications, a new line is normally stored as a pair of
characters: carriage return (CR) and line feed (LF). In Unix applications, a
new line is normally stored as an LF character. Macintosh applications also
use an LF to store a new line.
XML stores a new line as LF.
XML Elements
What is an XML Element?
An XML element is everything from (including) the element's start tag to
(including) the element's end tag.
An element can contain other elements, simple text or a mixture of both.
Elements can also have attributes.
<bookstore>
<book category="CHILDREN">
<title>Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
</book>
<book category="WEB">
<title>Learning XML</title>
<author>Erik T. Ray</author>
<year>2003</year>
<price>39.95</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
In the example above, <bookstore> and <book> have element contents,
because they contain other elements. <author> has text content because
it contains text.
In the example above only <book> has
an attribute (category="CHILDREN").

XML Naming Rules


XML elements must follow these naming rules:
• Names can contain letters, numbers, and other characters
• Names cannot start with a number or punctuation character
• Names cannot start with the letters xml (or XML, or Xml, etc)
• Names cannot contain spaces
Any name can be used, no words are reserved.

Best Naming Practices


Make names descriptive. Names with an underscore separator are nice:
<first_name>, <last_name>.
Names should be short and simple, like this: <book_title> not like this:
<the_title_of_the_book>.
Avoid "-" characters. If you name something "first-name," some software
may think you want to subtract name from first.
Avoid "." characters. If you name something "first.name," some software
may think that "name" is a property of the object "first."
Avoid ":" characters. Colons are reserved to be used for something called
namespaces (more later).
XML documents often have a corresponding database. A good practice is to
use the naming rules of your database for the elements in the XML
documents.
Non-English letters like éòá are perfectly legal in XML, but watch out for
problems if your software vendor doesn't support them.

XML Elements are Extensible


XML elements can be extended to carry more information.
Look at the following XML example:
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
Let's imagine that we created an application that extracted the <to>,
<from>, and <body> elements from the XML document to produce this
output:
MESSAGE
To: Tove
From: Jani
Don't forget me this weekend!

Imagine that the author of the XML document added some extra information
to it:
<note>
<date>2008-01-10</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
Should the application break or crash?
No. The application should still be able to find the <to>, <from>, and
<body> elements in the XML document and produce the same output.
One of the beauties of XML, is that it can be extended without breaking
applications.
XML Attributes
XML elements can have attributes, just like HTML.
Attributes provide additional information about an element.

XML Attributes
In HTML, attributes provide additional information about elements:
<img src="computer.gif">
<a href="demo.asp">
Attributes often provide information that is not a part of the data. In the
example below, the file type is irrelevant to the data, but can be important
to the software that wants to manipulate the element:
<file type="gif">computer.gif</file>

XML Attributes Must be Quoted


Attribute values must always be quoted. Either single or double quotes can
be used. For a person's sex, the person element can be written like this:
<person sex="female">
or like this:
<person sex='female'>
If the attribute value itself contains double quotes you can use single quotes,
like in this example:
<gangster name='George "Shotgun" Ziegler'>
or you can use character entities:
<gangster name="George &quot;Shotgun&quot; Ziegler">

XML Elements vs. Attributes


Take a look at these examples:
<person sex="female">
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>
<person>
<sex>female</sex>
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>
In the first example sex is an attribute. In the last, sex is an element. Both
examples provide the same information.
There are no rules about when to use attributes or when to use elements.
Attributes are handy in HTML. In XML my advice is to avoid them. Use
elements instead.

My Favorite Way
The following three XML documents contain exactly the same information:
A date attribute is used in the first example:
<note date="10/01/2008">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
A date element is used in the second example:
<note>
<date>10/01/2008</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
An expanded date element is used in the third: (THIS IS MY FAVORITE):
<note>
<date>
<day>10</day>
<month>01</month>
<year>2008</year>
</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
Avoid XML Attributes?
Some of the problems with using attributes are:
• attributes cannot contain multiple values (elements can)
• attributes cannot contain tree structures (elements can)
• attributes are not easily expandable (for future changes)
Attributes are difficult to read and maintain. Use elements for data. Use
attributes for information that is not relevant to the data.
Don't end up like this:
<note day="10" month="01" year="2008"
to="Tove" from="Jani" heading="Reminder"
body="Don't forget me this weekend!">
</note>

XML Attributes for Metadata


Sometimes ID references are assigned to elements. These IDs can be used
to identify XML elements in much the same way as the id attribute in HTML.
This example demonstrates this:
<messages>
<note id="501">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
<note id="502">
<to>Jani</to>
<from>Tove</from>
<heading>Re: Reminder</heading>
<body>I will not</body>
</note>
</messages>
The id attributes above are for identifying the different notes. It is not a part
of the note itself.
What I'm trying to say here is that metadata (data about data) should be
stored as attributes, and the data itself should be stored as elements.
XML Validation
XML with correct syntax is "Well Formed" XML.
XML validated against a DTD is "Valid" XML.

Well Formed XML Documents


A "Well Formed" XML document has correct XML syntax.
The syntax rules were described in the previous chapters:
• XML documents must have a root element
• XML elements must have a closing tag
• XML tags are case sensitive
• XML elements must be properly nested
• XML attribute values must be quoted
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

Valid XML Documents


A "Valid" XML document is a "Well Formed" XML document, which also
conforms to the rules of a Document Type Definition (DTD):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE note SYSTEM "Note.dtd">
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
The DOCTYPE declaration in the example above, is a reference to an external
DTD file. The content of the file is shown in the paragraph below.

XML DTD
The purpose of a DTD is to define the structure of an XML document. It
defines the structure with a list of legal elements:
<!DOCTYPE note
[
<!ELEMENT note (to,from,heading,body)>
<!ELEMENT to (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT heading (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT body (#PCDATA)>
]>
If you want to study DTD, you will find our DTD tutorial on our homepage.

XML Schema
W3C supports an XML-based alternative to DTD, called XML Schema:
<xs:element name="note">

<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="to" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="from" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="heading" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="body" type="xs:string"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

</xs:element>
If you want to study XML Schema, you will find our Schema tutorial on
our homepage.

A General XML Validator


To help you check the syntax of your XML files, we have created an XML
validator to syntax-check your XML.
Please see the next chapter.
XML Validator
Use our XML validator to syntax-check your XML.

XML Errors Will Stop You


Errors in XML documents will stop your XML applications.
The W3C XML specification states that a program should stop processing an
XML document if it finds an error. The reason is that XML software should be
small, fast, and compatible.
HTML browsers will display documents with errors (like missing end tags).
HTML browsers are big and incompatible because they have a lot of
unnecessary code to deal with (and display) HTML errors.
With XML, errors are not allowed.

Syntax-Check Your XML


To help you syntax-check your XML, we have created an XML validator.
Paste your XML into the text area below, and syntax-check it by clicking the
"Validate" button.
Top of Form
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</Ffrom>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this w eekend!</body>
</note>

Bottom of Form
Note: This only checks if your XML is "Well formed". If you want to validate
your XML against a DTD, see the last paragraph on this page.

Syntax-Check an XML File


You can syntax-check an XML file by typing the URL of the file into the input
field below, and then click the "Validate" button:
Top of Form
Filename:
http://w w w .w 3schools.com/xml/note_error.xml

Validate

Bottom of Form
Note: If you get an "Access denied" error, it's because your browser security
does not allow file access across domains.
The file "note_error.xml" demonstrates your browsers error handling. If you
want see an error free message, substitute the "note_error.xml" with
"cd_catalog.xml".

Validate Your XML Against a DTD


If you know DTD, you can validate your XML in the text area below.
Just add the DOCTYPE declaration to your XML and click the "Validate"
button:
Top of Form
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<!DOCTYPE note [
<!ELEMENT note (to,from,heading,body)>
<!ELEMENT to (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT heading (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT body (#PCDATA)>
]>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<message>Don't forget me this w eekend!</message>
</note>

Bottom of Form
Note: Only Internet Explorer will actually check your XML against the DTD.
Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, and Opera will not.

Viewing XML Files

Raw XML files can be viewed in all major browsers.


Don't expect XML files to be displayed as HTML pages.

Viewing XML Files


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
- <note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
Look at this XML file: note.xml
The XML document will be displayed with color-coded root and child
elements. A plus (+) or minus sign (-) to the left of the elements can be
clicked to expand or collapse the element structure. To view the raw XML
source (without the + and - signs), select "View Page Source" or "View
Source" from the browser menu.
Note: In Chrome, Opera, and Safari, only the element text will be displayed.
To view the raw XML, you must right click the page and select "View Source"

Viewing an Invalid XML File


If an erroneous XML file is opened, the browser will report the error.
Look at this XML file: note_error.xml

Other XML Examples


Viewing some XML documents will help you get the XML feeling.
An XML CD catalog
This is a CD collection, stored as XML data.
An XML plant catalog
This is a plant catalog from a plant shop, stored as XML data.
A Simple Food Menu
This is a breakfast food menu from a restaurant, stored as XML data.

Why Does XML Display Like This?


XML documents do not carry information about how to display the data.
Since XML tags are "invented" by the author of the XML document, browsers
do not know if a tag like <table> describes an HTML table or a dining table.
Without any information about how to display the data, most browsers will
just display the XML document as it is.
In the next chapters, we will take a look at different solutions to the display
problem, using CSS, XSLT and JavaScript.
Displaying XML with CSS
With CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) you can add display information to an
XML document.

Displaying your XML Files with CSS?


It is possible to use CSS to format an XML document.
Below is an example of how to use a CSS style sheet to format an XML
document:
Take a look at this XML file: The CD catalog
Then look at this style sheet: The CSS file
Finally, view: The CD catalog formatted with the CSS file
Below is a fraction of the XML file. The second line links the XML file to the
CSS file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="cd_catalog.css"?>
<CATALOG>
<CD>
<TITLE>Empire Burlesque</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bob Dylan</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>USA</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>Columbia</COMPANY>
<PRICE>10.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1985</YEAR>
</CD>
<CD>
<TITLE>Hide your heart</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bonnie Tyler</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>UK</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>CBS Records</COMPANY>
<PRICE>9.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1988</YEAR>
</CD>
.
.
.
</CATALOG>
Formatting XML with CSS is not the most common method.
W3C recommend using XSLT instead. See the next chapter.
Displaying XML with XSLT
With XSLT you can transform an XML document into HTML.

Displaying XML with XSLT


XSLT is the recommended style sheet language of XML.
XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) is far more
sophisticated than CSS.
XSLT can be used to transform XML into HTML, before it is displayed by a
browser:
Display XML with XSLT
If you want to learn more about XSLT, find our XSLT tutorial on
our homepage.
Transforming XML with XSLT on the Server
In the example above, the XSLT transformation is done by the browser,
when the browser reads the XML file.
Different browsers may produce different result when transforming XML with
XSLT. To reduce this problem the XSLT transformation can be done on the
server.
View the result.
Note that the result of the output is exactly the same, either the
transformation is done by the web server or by the web browser.

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