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The Extensible Markup Language (XML)

The document discusses XML (eXtensible Markup Language), including: 1) XML simplifies data sharing, transport, platform changes, and availability. 2) XML uses markup to describe data structure in a platform and language neutral way. 3) The document outlines basic XML concepts like elements, attributes, comments, and provides examples of XML code.

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neha
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75 views

The Extensible Markup Language (XML)

The document discusses XML (eXtensible Markup Language), including: 1) XML simplifies data sharing, transport, platform changes, and availability. 2) XML uses markup to describe data structure in a platform and language neutral way. 3) The document outlines basic XML concepts like elements, attributes, comments, and provides examples of XML code.

Uploaded by

neha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The eXtensible Markup

Language (XML)
Outline
 Part 1: The basics of creating an XML
document
 Part 2: Developing constraints for a well
formed XML document
 Part 3: XML and supplementary
technologies
XML Simplifies Things

 It simplifies data sharing


 It simplifies data transport
 It simplifies platform changes
 It simplifies data availability
Background for XML
 An Extensible Markup Language (XML) document describes the
structure of data
 Xml uses markup and can be extended.
 XML is a tool for data transportation and data storage in platform and
language neutral way.
 XML and HTML have a similar syntax … both derived from SGML
 An XML document resides in its own file with an ‘.xml’ extension
 XML plays an important role in the exchange of a wide variety of data
on the web
 XML defines set of rules for encoding documents which is both
human-readable and machine-readable
 All rules are defined in XML 1.0 specification developed by W3C an
open standard
History of XML
• Standardized Generalized Markup Language
(SGML) - allows information about the
document's structure to be preserved
• SGML is used to specify mark up languages.
• The purpose of SGML is to create the
vocabularies which could be used to mark up
documents with structural tags.
• HTML - one of the most popular
applications of SGML
• HTML - mark up language used for
presentation i.e design a webpage
• HTML - All tags predefined
• Limitation of HTML – Data storage and
interchange of data is not possible using
HTML
• XML bridges this gap – human readable,
while being flexible enough to support
platform and architecture independent data
interchange
Difference Between HTML and
XML
 HTML tags have a fixed meaning and
browsers know what it is.
 XML tags are different for different
applications, and users know what they
mean.
 HTML tags are used for display.
 XML tags are used to describe
documents and data.
Example of an HTML Document
<html>
<head><title>Example</title></head.
<body>
<h1>This is an example of a page.</h1>
<h2>Some information goes here.</h2>
</body>
</html>
Example of an XML Document
<?xml version=“1.0”/>
<address>
<name>Alice Lee</name>
<email>[email protected]</email>
<phone>212-346-1234</phone>
<birthday>1985-03-22</birthday>
</address>
The Basic Rules
 XML is case sensitive
 All start tags must have end tags
 Tags must be properly nested.
◦ <name><email>…</name></email> is not
allowed.
◦ <name><email>…</email><name> is.
 XML declaration is optional and if present then
should be the first statement
 Every document must contain a root element
 Attribute values must have quotation marks.” “ or ‘ ‘
Eg. <mail name=“Abc “>
 Certain characters are reserved for parsing
 Tags are case sensitive.
◦ <address> is not the same as <Address>
 Tags that do not have end-tags must be terminated
by a ‘/’.
◦ <br /> is an html example.
<element></element> or <element />
 Empty elements can have attributes.
Eg. <mail id=“id1” />
 XML document comprises of
– XML Declaration
– Root element
– Child elements
XML Declaration
• Declarations gives the information to the browser about the
xml file. XML declaration prepares XML processor to work with
the XML document. It is an optional line in a XML file but when
used, it must be the first line of the XML file.
• The basic XML declaration statement only needs the language
and the version.
Example: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<? indicates that the markup is a SGML declaration rather than
a HTML tag.
 There are two current versions of XML. The first (XML 1.0) was initially defined in
1998. It has undergone minor revisions since then, without being given a new
version number, and is currently in its fifth edition, as published on November 26,
2008. It is widely implemented and still recommended for general use. The second
(XML 1.1) was initially published on February 4, 2004. XML 1.1 is not very widely
implemented and is recommended for use only by those who need its unique
features.
syntax shows XML declaration
<?xml version="version_number"
encoding="encoding_declaration"
standalone="standalone_status" ?>
XML - ENCODING
 Encoding is the process of converting unicode characters into
their equivalent binary representation. When the XML
processor reads an XML document, it encodes the document
depending on the type of encoding. Hence, we need to specify
the type of encoding in the XML declaration.
 Encoding Types: There are mainly two types of encoding:
UTF-8 and UTF-16
UTF stands for UCS Transformation Format, and UCS itself means
Universal Character Set. The number 8 or 16 refers to the
number of bits used to represent a character. They are either
8(one byte) or 16(two bytes). For the documents without
encoding information, UTF-8 is set by default.
Following example shows declaration of encoding:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>
<contact-info>
<name>Tanmay Patil</name>
<company>TutorialsPoint</company>
<phone>(011) 123-4567</phone>
</contact-info>
In the above example encoding="UTF-8", specifies that 8-bits
are used to represent the characters. To represent 16-bit
characters, UTF-16 encoding can be used.
The XML files encoded with UTF-8 tend to be smaller in size
than those encoded with UTF-16 format.
Rules
An XML declaration should abide with the following rules:
 If the XML declaration is present in the XML, it must be
placed as the first line in the XML document.
 If the XML declaration is included, it must contain version
number attribute.
 The Parameter names and values are case-sensitive.
 The names are always in lower case.
 The order of placing the parameters is important. The
correct order is: version, encoding and standalone.
 Either single or double quotes may be used.
 The XML declaration has no closing tag i.e. </?xml>
XML Declaration Examples
XML declaration with version definition:
<?xml version="1.0">
XML declaration with all parameters defined:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>
XML declaration with all parameters defined in single quotes:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='iso-8859-1' standalone='no' ?>
Comments
• Notes that are declared within the XML
which will describe the XML elements and
attributes.
• It is not interpreted by the XML processor.
<!-- XML comments -->
Two dashes in the middle of a comment are
not allowed. Eg. <!-- This is a -- comment -->
Strange, but allowed:
<!-- This is a - - comment -->
XML Comments Rules
Following rules are needed to be followed
for XML comments:
 Comments cannot appear before XML
declaration.
 Comments may appear anywhere in a
document.
 Comments must not appear within
attribute values.
 Comments cannot be nested inside the
other comments.
XML - WHITE SPACES

 Whitespace is a collection of spaces, tabs,


and newlines.
 They are generally used to make a
document more readable.
 White-space is Preserved in XML .
 XML does not truncate multiple white-
spaces (HTML truncates multiple white-
spaces to one single white-space):
XML: Hello Tove
XML document contain two types of white spaces (a)
Significant whitespace. (b) Insignificant whitespace
Significant Whitespace
 significant whitespace occurs within the element which
contain text and markup present together. for example:
 <Fname>TanmayPatil</Fname>
and
 <Fname>Tanmay Patil</Fname>
 The above two elements are different because of the space
between Tanmay and Patil. Any program reading this
element in an XML file is obliged to maintain the
distinction.
Main Components of an XML Document

 Elements: <hello>

 Attributes: <item id=“33905”>

 Entities: &lt; (<)


XML Elements
 XML elements can be defined as building
blocks of an XML.
 Elements can behave as containers to
hold text, elements, attributes, media
objects or all of these.
 Syntax: <element-name attribute1
attribute2> ....content </element-name>
Naming Rule
• XML element's name contains:
– alphanumeric characters
– special characters
• underscore (_)
• hyphen(-)
• period(.).
• Starts with letter or underscore.
• Names are case sensitive.
Eg. <name>, <address1>,<address_1>,<_dob>
If you choose a naming style, it is good to be
consistent!
Common Errors for Element Naming

 Do not use white space when creating


names for elements
 Element names cannot begin with a digit,
although names can contain digits
 Only certain punctuation allowed –
periods, colons, and hyphens
Root and child Element
• Root element is the top most element
which will contain the other elements in it.
• It is the first element of the xml document.
<person>
<name> Tom </name>
<gender> Male </gender>
</person>
Name and gender are the child elements
Attributes
• The attributes provides additional
information about the element
<Employee id=“123”>

INCORRECT:
<note date=12/11/2007></note>
Correct:
<note date="12/11/2007"></note>
XML References
 References usually allow you to add or include additional
text or markup in an XML document. References always
begin with the symbol "&" ,which is a reserved character and
end with the symbol ";".
XML has two types of references:
 Entity References: An entity reference contains a name
between the start and the end delimiters. For example &amp;
where amp is name. The name refers to a predefined string
of text and/or markup.
 Character References: These contain references, such as
&#65;, contains a hash mark (“#”) followed by a number. The
number always refers to the Unicode code of a character. In
this case, 65 refers to alphabet "A".
Entity References
<message>salary < 1000</message>
To avoid this error, replace the "<" character with an entity reference:
<message>salary &lt; 1000</message>
There are 5 pre-defined entity references in XML:
&lt; < less than
&gt; > greater than
&amp; & ampersand
&apos; ' apostrophe
&quot; " quotation mark
Only < and & are strictly illegal in XML, but it is a good habit to replace >
with &gt; as well.
XML Files are Trees
address

name email phone birthday

first last year month day


Expanded Example
<?xml version = “1.0” ?>
<address>
<name>
<first>Alice</first>
<last>Lee</last>
</name>
<email>[email protected]</email>
<phone>123-45-6789</phone>
<birthday>
<year>1983</year>
<month>07</month>
<day>15</day>
</birthday>
</address>
XML Trees
 An XML document has a single root
node.
 The tree is a general ordered tree.
◦ A parent node may have any number of
children.
◦ Child nodes are ordered, and may have
siblings.
 Preorder traversals are usually used for
getting information out of the tree.
XML Tree
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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>
XML Elements are Extensible
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

produce this output:


MESSAGE
To: Tove
From: Jani

Don't forget me this weekend!


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>
 application will still be able to find the <to>,
<from>, and <body> elements in the XML
document and produce the same output.
 Xml can be extended without breaking
applications.
XML Attributes
Attribute values must always be quoted.
Either single or double quotes
<gangster name="George
&quot;Shotgun&quot; Ziegler">
XML Elements vs. Attributes
<person gender="female">
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>
Can be written as:
<person>
<gender>female</gender>
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>
 There are no rules about when to use
attributes or when to use elements in XML.
Avoid XML Attributes?
Some things to consider when 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)
 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>
Well-Formed Documents
 An XML document is said to be well-formed if it follows all the
rules.
 An XML parser is used to check that all the rules have been
obeyed.
 Recent browsers such as Internet Explorer 5 and Netscape 7
come with XML parsers.
 Parsers are also available for free download over the Internet.
One is Xerces, from the Apache open-source project.
 Java 1.4 also supports an open-source parser.
 A "Valid" XML document is a "Well Formed" XML document,
which also conforms to the rules of a Document Type
Definition(DTD) or XML schema
Applications of XML
few example
– Cell Phones : Android App
– File Converters
– Voice XML
– Web Publishing
– Web Searching and automating Web Task
– Meta data applications
- Web services
Benefits of XML
• XML format is not a computer language. It is highly human
readable. It is not difficult to code compared to HTML(XML tags
are highly user defined).
• XML is highly compatible with Java and is hundred percent
portable.
• Any application regardless of the platform or architecture can us
the XML data
• XML is highly extendable - can create our own tags or can use t
tags created by others.
• Complex data searches can be easily performed in XML
documents.
• XML data can be made to display on different types of devices.
Drawbacks of XML

• Lack of adequate processing applications to process the XML.


• XML is not specific to any platform, and it has a neutral
platform requirement
• All the XML standards are not yet fully standardized.
• Users have reported problems with the parser and there are
problems with XML and HTTP which are still being resolved.
• XML flexibility could be some times its biggest disadvantage.
Different tags in XML
Structure of XML
Example: XML News
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<nitf>
<head>
<title>Colombia Earthquake</title>
</head>
<body>
<headline id=“1”>
<hl1>143 Dead in Colombia Earthquake</hl1>
</headline>
<byline>
<bytag>By Jared Kotler, Associated Press Writer</bytag>
</byline>
<dateline>
<location>Bogota, Colombia</location>
<date>Monday January 25 1999 7:28 ET</date>
</dateline>
</body>
</nitf>

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