- XML Reference Guide
- Overview
- What Is XML?
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Table of Contents
- The Document Object Model
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- DOM and Java
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Implementations
- DOM and JavaScript
- Using a Repeater
- Repeaters and XML
- Repeater Resources
- DOM and .NET
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Documentation and Downloads
- DOM and C++
- DOM and C++ Resources
- DOM and Perl
- DOM and Perl Resources
- DOM and PHP
- DOM and PHP Resources
- DOM Level 3
- DOM Level 3 Core
- DOM Level 3 Load and Save
- DOM Level 3 XPath
- DOM Level 3 Validation
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Documentation and Implementations
- The Simple API for XML (SAX)
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- SAX and Java
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- SAX and .NET
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- SAX and Perl
- SAX and Perl Resources
- SAX and PHP
- SAX and PHP Resources
- Validation
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- XML Schemas
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- RELAX NG
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Schematron
- Official Documentation and Implementations
- Validation in Applications
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- XSL Transformations (XSLT)
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- XSLT in Java
- Java in XSLT Resources
- XSLT and RSS in .NET
- XSLT and RSS in .NET Resources
- XSL-FO
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- XPath
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- XML Base
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Official Documentation
- XHTML
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- XHTML 2.0
- Documentation
- Cascading Style Sheets
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- XUL
- XUL References
- XML Events
- XML Events Resources
- XML Data Binding
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Specifications
- Implementations
- XML and Databases
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Online Resources
- Official Documentation
- SQL Server and FOR XML
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Documentation and Implementations
- Service Oriented Architecture
- Web Services
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Creating a Perl Web Service Client
- SOAP::Lite
- Amazon Web Services
- Creating the Movable Type Plug-in
- Perl, Amazon, and Movable Type Resources
- Apache Axis2
- REST
- REST Resources
- SOAP
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- SOAP and Java
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- WSDL
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- UDDI
- UDDI Resources
- XML-RPC
- XML-RPC in PHP
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Ajax
- Asynchronous Javascript
- Client-side XSLT
- SAJAX and PHP
- Ajax Resources
- JSON
- Ruby on Rails
- Creating Objects
- Ruby Basics: Arrays and Other Sundry Bits
- Ruby Basics: Iterators and Persistence
- Starting on the Rails
- Rails and Databases
- Rails: Ajax and Partials
- Rails Resources
- Web Services Security
- Web Services Security Resources
- SAML
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Specification and Implementation
- XML Digital Signatures
- XML Digital Signatures Resources
- XML Key Management Services
- Resources for XML Key Management Services
- Internationalization
- Resources
- Grid Computing
- Grid Resources
- Web Services Resource Framework
- Web Services Resource Framework Resources
- WS-Addressing
- WS-Addressing Resources
- WS-Notifications
- New Languages: XML in Use
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Google Web Toolkit
- GWT Basic Interactivity
- Google Sitemaps
- Google Sitemaps Resources
- Accessibility
- Web Accessibility
- XML Accessibility
- Accessibility Resources
- The Semantic Web
- Defining a New Ontology
- OWL: Web Ontology Language
- Semantic Web Resources
- Google Base
- Microformats
- StructuredBlogging
- Live Clipboard
- WML
- XHTML-MP
- WML Resources
- Google Web Services
- Google Web Services API
- Google Web Services Resources
- The Yahoo! Web Services Interface
- Yahoo! Web Services and PHP
- Yahoo! Web Services Resources
- eBay REST API
- WordML
- WordML Part 2: Lists
- WordML Part 3: Tables
- WordML Resources
- DocBook
- Articles
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation and Implementations
- XML Query
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- XForms
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Resource Description Framework (RDF)
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Topic Maps
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation, Implementations, and Other Resources
- Rich Site Summary (RSS)
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE)
- Atom
- Podcasting
- Podcasting Resources
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
- Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
- Books and e-Books
- Official Documentation
- OPML
- OPML Resources
- Summary
- Projects
- JavaScript TimeTracker: JSON and PHP
- The Javascript Timetracker
- Refactoring to Javascript Objects
- Creating the Yahoo! Widget
- Web Mashup
- Google Maps
- Indeed Mashup
- Mashup Part 3: Putting It All Together
- Additional Resources
- Frequently Asked Questions About XML
- What's XML, and why should I use it?
- What's a well-formed document?
- What's the difference between XML and HTML?
- What's the difference between HTML and XHTML?
- Can I use XML in a browser?
- Should I use elements or attributes for my document?
- What's a namespace?
- Where can I get an XML parser?
- What's the difference between a well-formed document and a valid document?
- What's a validating parser?
- Should I use DOM or SAX for my application?
- How can I stop a SAX parser before it has parsed the entire document?
- 2005 Predictions
- 2006 Predictions
- Nick's Book Picks
Conceptually, namespaces have existed in programming for a long time. For example, if two programmers both have a method called getName(), there will be a conflict if both are in the same namespace.
In XML, we can define a namespace and provide it with an alias that we can use to identify elements and attributes that are part of that namespace. For example, consider the following document:
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head><title>Namespaces in XML</title></head> <body> <h1>SVG Demonstration</h1> <svgraf:svg width="500" height="300" xmlns:svgraf="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <svgraf:line x1="20" y1="-20" x2="0" y2="-35"/> <svgraf:line x1="20" y1="-10" x2="0" y2="-20"/> </svgraf:svg> </body> </html>
The elements without a prefix are part of the XHTML namespace, http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml. The elements prefixed with svgraf: are part of the SVG namespace, http://www.w3.org/2000/svg. A namespace-aware browser understands that it needs to treat each differently.
In fact, in XML, a namespace often serves as a sort of version number for an application. For example, the XSLT style sheet shown here:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl"> <!-- Templates snipped --> ... </xsl:stylesheet>
uses an older, working-draft version of the XSLT specification, so early versions of MSXML (and subsequently, the versions of Internet Explorer that used them) can transform the document appropriately. On the other hand, another transformation engine that doesn't support the working draft specification knows immediately that it can't process the document. This style sheet uses the final recommendation, so both the current version of MSXML and other transformation engines can interpret it properly:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <!-- Templates snipped --> ... </xsl:stylesheet>