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8 views

XML

Uploaded by

ssreya873
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
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XML

What is XML?
 XML is a software- and hardware-independent tool for storing and transporting
data.
 XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language
 Define rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human readable and
machine readable .
 XML is a markup language much like HTML
 XML was designed to store and transport data
 XML was designed to be self-descriptive[contain both data and metadata]
 XML is a W3C Recommendation
 Plain text files, which makes them easy to create and manipulate with standard
text editors and tools.
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> // xml prolog
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body> //text content is the

actual data
</note>
The XML above is quite self-descriptive:

It has sender information


It has receiver information
It has a heading
It has a message body
The Difference Between XML and
HTML
 XML was designed to carry data - with focus on what data is
 HTML was designed to display data - with focus on how data looks
 XML tags are not predefined like HTML tags are
 XML is Extensible
 XML Simplifies Things
 XML Separates Data from Presentation
 XML is Often a Complement to HTML
An example XMLNews document:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>


<nitf>
<head>
<title>Colombia Earthquake</title>
</head>
<body>
<headline>
<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>
 XML Documents Must Have a Root Element
 <root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
</root
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
 XML Tags are Case Sensitive
 XML Elements Must be Properly Nested
 XML Attribute Values Must Always be Quoted
There are 5 pre-defined entity references in XML:

&lt; < less than

&gt; > greater than

&amp; & ampersand

&apos; ' apostrophe

&quot; " quotation mark


What is an XML Element?

 <price>29.99</price>
 An element can contain:
 text
 attributes
 other elements
 or a mix of the above
 <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>
<!ELEMENT bookstore (book+)>
<!ELEMENT book (title, author, year, price)>
<!ATTLIST book category CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT title (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT author (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT year (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT price (#PCDATA)>
XML Attributes

 <person gender="female">
 <person gender="female">
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>
 <person>
<gender>female</gender>
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>
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.
• No unescaped < or & signs may occur inside
character data.
Only well-formed documents
can be processed by XML
parsers.
Document Type Definitions
Sometimes XML is too flexible:
• Most Programs can only process a subset of all possible XML
applications
• For exchanging data, the format (i.e., elements, attributes and
their semantics) must be fixed
Document Type Definitions (DTD) for establishing the vocabulary for
one XML application (in some sense comparable to schemas in databases)
A document is valid with respect to a DTD if it conforms to the rules
specified in that DTD.
Most XML parsers can be configured to validate.
Components of a DTD

 Element Declarations: Define the elements that can appear in the document and the
order they must appear in.
 Attribute Declarations: Define attributes that elements can have and the types of those
attributes.
 Entity Declarations: Define reusable content chunks.
 Notation Declarations: Define how non-XML data can be referenced.
Element Declarations in
DTDs
One element declaration for each element type:
<!ELEMENT element_name content_specification>
where content_specification can be
• (#PCDATA) parsed character data
• (child) one child element
• (c1,…,cn) a sequence of child elements c1…cn
• (c1|…|cn) one of the elements c1…cn
DTD Example: Elements
<!ELEMENT article (title,author+,text)>
<!ELEMENT title (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT author (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT text (abstract,section*,literature?)>
<!ELEMENT abstract (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT section (#PCDATA|index)+>
<!ELEMENT literature (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT index
(#PCDATA)> Content of the text element
Content of the title may contain zero or more
element is parsed character section elements in this
data
Content of the article elementposition
is a title element,
followed by one or more author elements,
followed by a text element
Attribute Declarations in DTDs
Attributes are declared per element:
<!ATTLIST section number CDATA #REQUIRED
title CDATA
#REQUIRED>
declares two required attributes for element section.
element name

attribute name

attribute type

attribute default
Attribute Declarations in DTDs
Attributes are declared per element:
<!ATTLIST section number CDATA #REQUIRED
title CDATA
#REQUIRED>
declares two required attributes for element section.

Possible attributedefaults:
• #REQUIRED is required in each element instance
• #IMPLIED is optional
• #FIXED default always has this default value
• default has this default value if the attribute is
omitted from the element instance
XML DTD

 A DTD defines the structure and the legal elements and attributes of an XML
document
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE note SYSTEM "Note.dtd">
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
 Note.dtd:
 <!DOCTYPE note
[
<!ELEMENT note (to,from,heading,body)>
<!ELEMENT to (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT heading (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT body (#PCDATA)>
]>
Flaws of DTDs
• No support for basic data types like integers, doubles,
dates, times, …
• No structured, self-definable data types
• No type derivation
• id/idref links are quite loose (target is not specified)
Applications of XML
• Database applications
• Document Mark-up( with HTML)
• Mathematical Mark-up language(MATHML)
• Messaging b/w different business platforms
• Channel definition Format (CDF)
• Metacontent definition
• Platform for Internet Context Selection (PICS)
• Platform for Privacy References Syntax Specification
(P3P)
• Resource Description Format (RDF)
• Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG)
• Synchronized Multemedia Integration Language
XML Schema
 XML Schema, often referred to as XSD (XML Schema Definition), is a language used to define
the structure and constraints of XML documents.
 It is more powerful and expressive than DTD (Document Type Definition) and supports data
types, namespaces, and more complex content models.
 Elements: Define the elements that can appear in the XML document.
 Attributes: Define the attributes that elements can have.
 Complex Types: Define elements that can contain other elements and/or attributes.
 Simple Types: Define elements that contain only text.
 Restrictions: Define constraints on elements and attributes (e.g., length, range, pattern).
 Namespaces: Provide a way to avoid name conflicts by qualifying names.
XML Schema

 XML Schema is an XML-based alternative to DTD:


 <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>

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