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XML Reference Guide

📄 Contents

  1. XML Reference Guide
  2. Overview
  3. What Is XML?
  4. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  5. Books and e-Books
  6. Official Documentation
  7. Table of Contents
  8. The Document Object Model
  9. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  10. Books and e-Books
  11. Official Documentation
  12. DOM and Java
  13. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  14. Books and e-Books
  15. Implementations
  16. DOM and JavaScript
  17. Using a Repeater
  18. Repeaters and XML
  19. Repeater Resources
  20. DOM and .NET
  21. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  22. Books and e-Books
  23. Documentation and Downloads
  24. DOM and C++
  25. DOM and C++ Resources
  26. DOM and Perl
  27. DOM and Perl Resources
  28. DOM and PHP
  29. DOM and PHP Resources
  30. DOM Level 3
  31. DOM Level 3 Core
  32. DOM Level 3 Load and Save
  33. DOM Level 3 XPath
  34. DOM Level 3 Validation
  35. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  36. Books and e-Books
  37. Documentation and Implementations
  38. The Simple API for XML (SAX)
  39. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  40. Books and e-Books
  41. Official Documentation
  42. SAX and Java
  43. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  44. Books and e-Books
  45. SAX and .NET
  46. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  47. SAX and Perl
  48. SAX and Perl Resources
  49. SAX and PHP
  50. SAX and PHP Resources
  51. Validation
  52. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  53. Books and e-Books
  54. Official Documentation
  55. Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
  56. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  57. Books and e-Books
  58. Official Documentation
  59. XML Schemas
  60. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  61. Books and e-Books
  62. Official Documentation
  63. RELAX NG
  64. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  65. Books and e-Books
  66. Official Documentation
  67. Schematron
  68. Official Documentation and Implementations
  69. Validation in Applications
  70. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  71. Books and e-Books
  72. XSL Transformations (XSLT)
  73. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  74. Books and e-Books
  75. Official Documentation
  76. XSLT in Java
  77. Java in XSLT Resources
  78. XSLT and RSS in .NET
  79. XSLT and RSS in .NET Resources
  80. XSL-FO
  81. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  82. Books and e-Books
  83. Official Documentation
  84. XPath
  85. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  86. Books and e-Books
  87. Official Documentation
  88. XML Base
  89. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  90. Official Documentation
  91. XHTML
  92. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  93. Books and e-Books
  94. Official Documentation
  95. XHTML 2.0
  96. Documentation
  97. Cascading Style Sheets
  98. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  99. Books and e-Books
  100. Official Documentation
  101. XUL
  102. XUL References
  103. XML Events
  104. XML Events Resources
  105. XML Data Binding
  106. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  107. Books and e-Books
  108. Specifications
  109. Implementations
  110. XML and Databases
  111. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  112. Books and e-Books
  113. Online Resources
  114. Official Documentation
  115. SQL Server and FOR XML
  116. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  117. Books and e-Books
  118. Documentation and Implementations
  119. Service Oriented Architecture
  120. Web Services
  121. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  122. Books and e-Books
  123. Official Documentation
  124. Creating a Perl Web Service Client
  125. SOAP::Lite
  126. Amazon Web Services
  127. Creating the Movable Type Plug-in
  128. Perl, Amazon, and Movable Type Resources
  129. Apache Axis2
  130. REST
  131. REST Resources
  132. SOAP
  133. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  134. Books and e-Books
  135. Official Documentation
  136. SOAP and Java
  137. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  138. Books and e-Books
  139. Official Documentation
  140. WSDL
  141. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  142. Books and e-Books
  143. Official Documentation
  144. UDDI
  145. UDDI Resources
  146. XML-RPC
  147. XML-RPC in PHP
  148. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  149. Books and e-Books
  150. Official Documentation
  151. Ajax
  152. Asynchronous Javascript
  153. Client-side XSLT
  154. SAJAX and PHP
  155. Ajax Resources
  156. JSON
  157. Ruby on Rails
  158. Creating Objects
  159. Ruby Basics: Arrays and Other Sundry Bits
  160. Ruby Basics: Iterators and Persistence
  161. Starting on the Rails
  162. Rails and Databases
  163. Rails: Ajax and Partials
  164. Rails Resources
  165. Web Services Security
  166. Web Services Security Resources
  167. SAML
  168. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  169. Books and e-Books
  170. Specification and Implementation
  171. XML Digital Signatures
  172. XML Digital Signatures Resources
  173. XML Key Management Services
  174. Resources for XML Key Management Services
  175. Internationalization
  176. Resources
  177. Grid Computing
  178. Grid Resources
  179. Web Services Resource Framework
  180. Web Services Resource Framework Resources
  181. WS-Addressing
  182. WS-Addressing Resources
  183. WS-Notifications
  184. New Languages: XML in Use
  185. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  186. Books and e-Books
  187. Official Documentation
  188. Google Web Toolkit
  189. GWT Basic Interactivity
  190. Google Sitemaps
  191. Google Sitemaps Resources
  192. Accessibility
  193. Web Accessibility
  194. XML Accessibility
  195. Accessibility Resources
  196. The Semantic Web
  197. Defining a New Ontology
  198. OWL: Web Ontology Language
  199. Semantic Web Resources
  200. Google Base
  201. Microformats
  202. StructuredBlogging
  203. Live Clipboard
  204. WML
  205. XHTML-MP
  206. WML Resources
  207. Google Web Services
  208. Google Web Services API
  209. Google Web Services Resources
  210. The Yahoo! Web Services Interface
  211. Yahoo! Web Services and PHP
  212. Yahoo! Web Services Resources
  213. eBay REST API
  214. WordML
  215. WordML Part 2: Lists
  216. WordML Part 3: Tables
  217. WordML Resources
  218. DocBook
  219. Articles
  220. Books and e-Books
  221. Official Documentation and Implementations
  222. XML Query
  223. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  224. Books and e-Books
  225. Official Documentation
  226. XForms
  227. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  228. Books and e-Books
  229. Official Documentation
  230. Resource Description Framework (RDF)
  231. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  232. Books and e-Books
  233. Official Documentation
  234. Topic Maps
  235. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  236. Books and e-Books
  237. Official Documentation, Implementations, and Other Resources
  238. Rich Site Summary (RSS)
  239. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  240. Books and e-Books
  241. Official Documentation
  242. Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE)
  243. Atom
  244. Podcasting
  245. Podcasting Resources
  246. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
  247. Informit Articles and Sample Chapters
  248. Books and e-Books
  249. Official Documentation
  250. OPML
  251. OPML Resources
  252. Summary
  253. Projects
  254. JavaScript TimeTracker: JSON and PHP
  255. The Javascript Timetracker
  256. Refactoring to Javascript Objects
  257. Creating the Yahoo! Widget
  258. Web Mashup
  259. Google Maps
  260. Indeed Mashup
  261. Mashup Part 3: Putting It All Together
  262. Additional Resources
  263. Frequently Asked Questions About XML
  264. What's XML, and why should I use it?
  265. What's a well-formed document?
  266. What's the difference between XML and HTML?
  267. What's the difference between HTML and XHTML?
  268. Can I use XML in a browser?
  269. Should I use elements or attributes for my document?
  270. What's a namespace?
  271. Where can I get an XML parser?
  272. What's the difference between a well-formed document and a valid document?
  273. What's a validating parser?
  274. Should I use DOM or SAX for my application?
  275. How can I stop a SAX parser before it has parsed the entire document?
  276. 2005 Predictions
  277. 2006 Predictions
  278. Nick's Book Picks

Up to now, we've seen what the Semantic Web can do, we've seen microformats, and we've even seen a way to easily create them. But we haven't seen what you can actually do with them.

Ray Ozzie, who is the brains behind RSS+Shared Server Extensions, has had another thought. You can use the clipboard on your computer to copy information between applications, why can't you count the information between web pages, or even between a web page and an off-line application? Yes, you can move text easily, but what about more complex information such as objects?

After all, what good is a common format if you can't do anything with the data?

And so Ray, who works for Microsoft, and has cadres of people who can do this kind of thing, suggested that they work on a "live clipboard". In other words, he suggested that they make use of the fact that this standard information is available in order to "wire the Web". This group came up with that exact technique, and in fact has suggested several cool things you can do with it. They've also put together a simple web page, and a description of how to do it.

The description, however, is a bit cursory, and takes a bit of thinking about, so let's dissect it here.

Let's start by looking at the example. Point your browser to http://spaces.msn.com/editorial/rayozzie/demo/liveclip/liveclipsample/clipboardexample.html or click the link to open it in a new window. Notice that there are several items on the page, some of them hCards, some of them hCalendar events. Each of them has a control next to it, represented by the little scissor icon.

If you right-click the icon, it gives you the option to copy, cut, delete, or paste, just as you would in most applications. If you copy the item, and then move down to the empty control, you can click that control and paste the item. Note that you are not limited to this page. You can, in fact, copy and paste from page to page, which we'll see in a moment, when we create our own implementation of this example.

Let's start by taking a look at how the overall process works.

Essentially, this is a good example of "data binding". Text, in this case XHTML text, is converted to an object, which gets manipulated, and then is turned back into text when appropriate. To that end, you'll need to start with a script that represents the object for each microformat type you want to deal with. Microsoft provides example scripts for the hCard and hCalendar formats:

http://spaces.msn.com/editorial/rayozzie/demo/liveclip/liveclipsample/microformats/hCard.js
http://spaces.msn.com/editorial/rayozzie/demo/liveclip/liveclipsample/microformats/hCal.js

Download these scripts. Rather than referencing the live versions, which may change, you'll put them on your web server and reference the local copies from your page.

To make the copying and pasting happen, you will bind these objects and their associated actions to an object that Microsoft likes to refer to as a control, as represented by the small scissor graphic. Microsoft also provides two sample graphics for this purpose, one in its selected state, and one in its unselected state. Download these two graphics as well:

You'll also need the script that actually contains the actions available when you interact with the control. Download it here:

http://spaces.msn.com/editorial/rayozzie/demo/liveclip/liveclipsample/control/script.js

Finally, you'll need the stylesheet that goes along with all of these scripts:

http://spaces.msn.com/editorial/rayozzie/demo/liveclip/liveclipsample/control/webClipControl.css

Edit this stylesheet so that the icon url's point to the location in which you've saved your local copies of the graphics.

What we're going to do is create a page that includes a couple of hCards and a blank control into which you can paste additional hCards. The script will then create a new empty control each time you paste one, so you'll always have room for one more. You'll also have the option to delete or cut existing hCards.

Let's start by creating the actual page:

<html>
<head>

  <title>Live Clipboard demo</title>

  <link href="webClipControl.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />
  <script src="script.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
  <script src="hCard.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

  <script src="hCal.js" type="text/javascript"></script>


</head>
<body>

<h1>Demo</h1>

</body>

</html>

Here we have a basic page, along with the stylesheet and scripts. I've added the hCal script for completeness, but we won't actually be dealing with calendar events. (You'll see, however, that it wouldn't be difficult to add them.)

The next step is to set up the interface. Note that we are using Ray Ozzie's example as a guide, but you don't have to be this complicated. Start by adding a div for the contacts and their controls:

<html>
<head>
  <title>Live Clipboard demo</title>

  <link href="webClipControl.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />
  <script src="script.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
  <script src="hCard.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
  <script src="hCal.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

  <style type="text/css">
    .ControlContainer { 
         position: relative; 
         overflow:hidden; 
         float:left; 
         width:32px; 
         height:130px; 
         padding:0px;
         clear: left;
    }
  </style>

</head>
<body>

<h1>Demo</h1>

<div class="ContactContainer">

   <div class="ControlContainer" id="webClipControl1"></div>
   <div class="hcardContainer" id="contactHcard1"></div>

   <div class="ControlContainer" id="webClipControl2"></div>

   <div class="hcardContainer" id="contactHcard2"></div>

</div>

</body>
</html>

We're going to start by adding just two contacts, so we'll create two sets of divs. The first is the webClipControl, and the second is the contactHcard div. Notice that each of these divs has a unique ID value. We're going to be binding objects to them, so we need a way to refer to them uniquely.

If you pull up the page now, you won't see much of anything. This is because much of the presentation, including the control graphics, will be handled using the stylesheet, and the various styles will get added dynamically by the code. Again, you don't have to do it this way. You could just as easily add a graphic right now and bind to it and so on, but to use the example scripts, this is the way it has to be.

Next we'll go ahead and create the actual hCard instances. We'll do that by creating instances of the hCard class we've already defined (by virtue of the fact that we included the hCard.js script):

...
<h1>Demo</h1>

<div class="ContactContainer">
<div class="ControlContainer" id="webClipControl1"></div>
<div class="hcardContainer" id="contactHcard1"></div>

<div class="ControlContainer" id="webClipControl2"></div>
<div class="hcardContainer" id="contactHcard2"></div>

</div>

  <script type="text/javascript">


    var hCard1 = new HCard("Nicholas", "Chase", "lotsaspam@nicholaschase.com", 
                          "212 555 1212", null, null, null, null, null, 
                           null, null, "73 Main St.", "New York", "NY", 
                          "10101","USA");

    var hCard2 = new HCard();


  </script>

</body>
</html>

Again, the hCard object is defined in the hCard.js script we downloaded from the sample files. You could just as easily create your own script, but if you want it to interoperate with other implementations, (in other words, if you want to copy and paste data between web pages) you'll need to make sure it follows the format and specification expected by the main control script.

Also note that here we are simply defining the objects by hardcoding them, but we could just as easily have created a form on the page to accept all of the different parameters. In this case, I've added only my name and a few pieces of information.

The second hCard instance is simply an empty instance we can populate later. In other words, we can take this empty object and "paste" data into it. To do that, we will need to bind it to specific actions:

...
<div class="ContactContainer">
<div class="ControlContainer" id="webClipControl1"></div>

<div class="hcardContainer" id="contactHcard1"></div>

<div class="ControlContainer" id="webClipControl2"></div>
<div class="hcardContainer" id="contactHcard2"></div>

</div>

  <script type="text/javascript">

    function MicroFormatObjectBinding( displayDiv, 
                                       microFormatObject, 
                                       inactiveStyleClassName, 
                                       activeStyleClassName)
    {

        var webClip;
        var self = this;
          
        this.updateDisplayAndWebClipData = function()
        {
            webClip = new LiveClipboardContent();
            displayDiv.innerHTML = microFormatObject.HTML;
            webClip.data.formats[0] = new DataFormat();
            webClip.data.formats[0].type = microFormatObject.formatType;
            webClip.data.formats[0].contentType = "application/xhtml+xml";
            webClip.data.formats[0].items = new Array(1);
            webClip.data.formats[0].items[0] = new DataItem();
            webClip.data.formats[0].items[0].xmlData = microFormatObject.xmlData;
        }
         
        this.onActive = function()
        {
            if (displayDiv.childNodes[0] && 
                  (displayDiv.childNodes[0].className == microFormatObject.formatRootClassName))
                displayDiv.className = activeStyleClassName;
        }
        
        this.onInactive = function()
        {
            displayDiv.className = inactiveStyleClassName;
        }
         
        this.onCopy = function()
        {     
            return webClip;
        }
        
        this.onPaste = function(clipData)
        {

            for (var i = 0; i < clipData.data.formats.length; i++)
            {
                if ((clipData.data.formats[i].contentType = "application/xhtml+xml") 
                       && (clipData.data.formats[i].type == microFormatObject.formatType) 
                       && (clipData.data.formats[i].items.length > 0) 
                       && (clipData.data.formats[i].items[0].xmlData))
                {
                    microFormatObject.initFromXml(clipData.data.formats[i].items[0].xmlData);
                    self.updateDisplayAndWebClipData();
                        
                    // For now, just look at the first microFormatObject found.
                    return;
                }
            }
            
            // No matching formats found -- this could mean cut/delete -- so clear the associated data.
            microFormatObject.clearProps();
            self.updateDisplayAndWebClipData();
        }            
        
        self.updateDisplayAndWebClipData();
    }

    var hCard1 = new HCard("Nicholas", "Chase", "lotsaspam@nicholaschase.com", 
                          "212 555 1212", null, null, null, null, null, 
                           null, null, "73 Main St.", "New York", "NY", 
                          "10101","USA");

    var hCard2 = new HCard();


  </script>

</body>
</html>

Now, this is straight from the example, and is probably more than you need, but before you agonize over it, just understand that it defines various actions, and what should be done when those events occur, such as when the control becomes active or inactive, or when the user pastes data into the control. Also, in the updateDisplayAndWebClipData() function, you can see how the microformat object (in this case the hCard) and its various attributes can be used.

This function takes as arguments the div that will display the hCard, the hCard object to display, and class names to use for active and inactive states. This means that you can create your own styles, and simply specify them in a local stylesheet. For now, however, we'll use the provided stylesheet.

Now let's look at creating actual bindings:

...
    var hCard1 = new HCard("Nicholas", "Chase", "lotsaspam@nicholaschase.com", 
                          "212 555 1212", null, null, null, null, null, 
                           null, null, "73 Main St.", "New York", "NY", 
                          "10101","USA");

    var contactBinding1 = new MicroFormatObjectBinding(
                          document.getElementById("contactHcard1"), 
                          hCard1, 
                          "hcardContainer", 
                          "hcardContainer selected");

    var clipBoardControl1 = new WebClip(
                          document.getElementById("webClipControl1"), 
                          contactBinding1.onCopy, 
                          contactBinding1.onPaste, 
                          contactBinding1.onActive, 
                          contactBinding1.onInactive);

    var hCard2 = new HCard();

    var contactBinding2 = new MicroFormatObjectBinding(
                                   document.getElementById("contactHcard2"), 
                                   hCard2, 
                                   "hcardContainer", 
                                   "hcardContainer selected");

    var clipBoardControl2 = new WebClip(
                                   document.getElementById("webClipControl2"), 
                                   contactBinding2.onCopy, 
                                   contactBinding2.onPaste, 
                                   contactBinding2.onActive, 
                                   contactBinding2.onInactive);

  </script>

</body>
</html>

We start by creating a binding object, which includes the hCard to display, and where to display it. Once we have that binding, we then create the actual control. To create the control, we pass the div in which the control lives, (and which actually acts as the control in this case). It also contains information on what functions to call when the user copies, pastes, activates, and inactivates the control.

Now we can see how this looks when we execute it:

Notice that the first control has hCard information associated with it, but the second does not. That's because the hCard object was empty. Now right-click the top icon and choose Copy>. Then right-click the bottom icon and click Paste. Notice that browser pastes the data into the second control:

You can even copy an hCard from this page to Ray Ozzie's sample page:

Basically, when you choose to "Copy", the information that gets added to your clipboard is all of the microformat data, which is just text. But just as you can copy and paste text from one page to another, you can copy and paste text that includes markup specifying a microformat object. So when you copy on this page and paste on Ray Ozzie's page, it's really just text moving around. But the text has enough information to re-create the object.

We can also extend this example so that we are not limited to how many examples with it on the page. Consider this example:

...
<body>

<h1>Demo</h1>

<div class="ContactContainer" id="Contacts">

</div>

  <script type="text/javascript">


    function MicroFormatObjectBinding( displayDiv, 
                                       microFormatObject, 
                                       inactiveStyleClassName, 
                                       activeStyleClassName)
    {
...
    }

    var hCards = new Array();
    var contactBindings = new Array();
    var clipBoardControls = new Array();


    hCards[0] = new HCard("Nicholas", "Chase", "lotsaspam@nicholaschase.com", 
                                 "212 555 1212", null, null, null, null, null, 
                                 null, null, "73 Main St.", "New York", "NY", 
                                 "10101","USA");

    hCards[1] = new HCard("Sarah", "Chase", "lotsaspam@nicholaschase.com", 
                                 "212 555 1212", null, null, null, null, null, 
                                 null, null, "73 Main St.", "New York", "NY", 
                                 "10101","USA");


  </script>

</body>
</html>

In this case, we start with an empty Contacts div, and rather than specifying individual hCards and bindings, we create three arrays to hold them. We can then specify to hCard objects to start with.

Now we need a script that sets up the controls in the contact on the page:

...
<div class="ContactContainer" id="Contacts">

</div>

  <script type="text/javascript">

    function createNewContact(thisCard){

        var thisGroupNumber = clipBoardControls.length;
        var contactDivName = "contactHcard"+thisGroupNumber;
        var webClipDivName = "webClipControl"+thisGroupNumber;

        var newControlDiv = document.createElement("div");
        newControlDiv.setAttribute("class", "ControlContainer");
        newControlDiv.setAttribute("id", webClipDivName);

        var newDisplayDiv = document.createElement("div");
        newDisplayDiv.setAttribute("class", "hcardContainer");
        newDisplayDiv.setAttribute("id", contactDivName);

        document.getElementById("Contacts").appendChild(newControlDiv);
        document.getElementById("Contacts").appendChild(newDisplayDiv);

        contactBindings[thisGroupNumber] = new MicroFormatObjectBinding(
                                    document.getElementById(contactDivName), 
                                    thisCard, 
                                    "hcardContainer", 
                                    "hcardContainer selected");
        clipBoardControls[thisGroupNumber] = new WebClip(
                                    document.getElementById(webClipDivName), 
                                    contactBindings[thisGroupNumber].onCopy, 
                                    contactBindings[thisGroupNumber].onPaste, 
                                    contactBindings[thisGroupNumber].onActive, 
                                    contactBindings[thisGroupNumber].onInactive);
 
    }


    function createEmptyContact(){

        var thisGroupNumber = clipBoardControls.length;
        hCards[thisGroupNumber] = new HCard();
        createNewContact(hCards[thisGroupNumber]);

    }

    function MicroFormatObjectBinding( displayDiv, 
                                       microFormatObject, 
                                       inactiveStyleClassName, 
                                       activeStyleClassName)
    {
...

In essence, to createNewContact() function simply creates the divs that we had previously specified by hardcoding them, right down to unique ID values. It starts with the knowledge of how many controls have already been added to the array, so the first one is number zero, the second is number one, and so on. Once it creates the divs, it adds them to the page. From there, we can create the new bindings and controls just as before, but again, we are referenceing an array of objects rather than a hardcoded object.

We can also easily create an empty control by simply calling createEmptyContact(), which calls createNewContact() with an empty hCard.

Finally, we need to go ahead and find the hCard to their various controls:

...
    hCards[0] = new HCard("Nicholas", "Chase", "lotsaspam@nicholaschase.com", 
                                 "212 555 1212", null, null, null, null, null, 
                                 null, null, "73 Main St.", "New York", "NY", 
                                 "10101","USA");

    hCards[1] = new HCard("Sarah", "Chase", "lotsaspam@nicholaschase.com", 
                                 "212 555 1212", null, null, null, null, null, 
                                 null, null, "73 Main St.", "New York", "NY", 
                                 "10101","USA");


    for (i=0; i<hCards.length; i++){
        createNewContact(hCards[i]);
    }

    createEmptyContact();

  </script>

</body>
</html>

It's a simple process of looking through each of the cards in the hCards array and creating a new contact for it. When we're done, we create an empty contact, so that additional items can be added. We can also have the browser add an empty contact when you paste an hCard into the list:

...
   this.onPaste = function(clipData)
   {

       for (var i = 0; i < clipData.data.formats.length; i++)
       {
           if ((clipData.data.formats[i].contentType = "application/xhtml+xml") 
                  && (clipData.data.formats[i].type == microFormatObject.formatType) 
                  && (clipData.data.formats[i].items.length > 0) 
                  && (clipData.data.formats[i].items[0].xmlData))
           {
               microFormatObject.initFromXml(clipData.data.formats[i].items[0].xmlData);
               self.updateDisplayAndWebClipData();


               createEmptyContact();

               // For now, just look at the first microFormatObject found.
               return;
           }
       }
            
       // No matching formats found -- this could mean cut/delete -- so clear the associated data.
       microFormatObject.clearProps();
       self.updateDisplayAndWebClipData();
   }            
...

From here you should be able to create as many contacts as you want, and to copy and paste them to and from anywhere you like, as long as the source and destination implements Live Clipboard.

This is really just a simple idea of what Live Clipboard and related technologies can do. In fact, several of the screencasts Microsoft put up to demonstrate this include discussion of copying and pasting RSS feeds. You can also see hints of that in the scripts. Of course, you would have to have your own object to bind to in order to make that work, but you can create that yourself, if a sample doesn't come around fast enough for you.

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