- Sams Teach Yourself XML in 21 Days, Third Edition
- Table of Contents
- About the Author
- Acknowledgments
- We Want to Hear from You!
- Introduction
- Part I: At a Glance
- Day 1. Welcome to XML
- All About Markup Languages
- All About XML
- Looking at XML in a Browser
- Working with XML Data Yourself
- Structuring Your Data
- Creating Well-Formed XML Documents
- Creating Valid XML Documents
- How XML Is Used in the Real World
- Online XML Resources
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 2. Creating XML Documents
- Choosing an XML Editor
- Using XML Browsers
- Using XML Validators
- Creating XML Documents Piece by Piece
- Creating Prologs
- Creating an XML Declaration
- Creating XML Comments
- Creating Processing Instructions
- Creating Tags and Elements
- Creating CDATA Sections
- Handling Entities
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 3. Creating Well-Formed XML Documents
- What Makes an XML Document Well-Formed?
- Creating an Example XML Document
- Understanding the Well-Formedness Constraints
- Using XML Namespaces
- Understanding XML Infosets
- Understanding Canonical XML
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 4. Creating Valid XML Documents: DTDs
- All About DTDs
- Validating a Document by Using a DTD
- Creating Element Content Models
- Commenting a DTD
- Supporting External DTDs
- Handling Namespaces in DTDs
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Declaring Attributes in DTDs
- Day 5. Handling Attributes and Entities in DTDs
- Specifying Default Values
- Specifying Attribute Types
- Handling Entities
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 6. Creating Valid XML Documents: XML Schemas
- Using XML Schema Tools
- Creating XML Schemas
- Dissecting an XML Schema
- The Built-in XML Schema Elements
- Creating Elements and Types
- Specifying a Number of Elements
- Specifying Element Default Values
- Creating Attributes
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 7. Creating Types in XML Schemas
- Restricting Simple Types by Using XML Schema Facets
- Creating XML Schema Choices
- Using Anonymous Type Definitions
- Declaring Empty Elements
- Declaring Mixed-Content Elements
- Grouping Elements Together
- Grouping Attributes Together
- Declaring all Groups
- Handling Namespaces in Schemas
- Annotating an XML Schema
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Part I. In Review
- Well-Formed Documents
- Valid Documents
- Part II: At a Glance
- Day 8. Formatting XML by Using Cascading Style Sheets
- Our Sample XML Document
- Introducing CSS
- Connecting CSS Style Sheets and XML Documents
- Creating Style Sheet Selectors
- Using Inline Styles
- Creating Style Rule Specifications in Style Sheets
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 9. Formatting XML by Using XSLT
- Introducing XSLT
- Transforming XML by Using XSLT
- Writing XSLT Style Sheets
- Using <xsl:apply-templates>
- Using <xsl:value-of> and <xsl:for-each>
- Matching Nodes by Using the match Attribute
- Working with the select Attribute and XPath
- Using <xsl:copy>
- Using <xsl:if>
- Using <xsl:choose>
- Specifying the Output Document Type
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 10. Working with XSL Formatting Objects
- Introducing XSL-FO
- Using XSL-FO
- Using XSL Formatting Objects and Properties
- Building an XSL-FO Document
- Handling Inline Formatting
- Formatting Lists
- Formatting Tables
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Part II. In Review
- Using CSS
- Using XSLT
- Using XSL-FO
- Part III: At a Glance
- Day 11. Extending HTML with XHTML
- Why XHTML?
- Writing XHTML Documents
- Validating XHTML Documents
- The Basic XHTML Elements
- Organizing Text
- Formatting Text
- Selecting Fonts: <font>
- Comments: <!-->
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 12. Putting XHTML to Work
- Creating Hyperlinks: <a>
- Linking to Other Documents: <link>
- Handling Images: <img>
- Creating Frame Documents: <frameset>
- Creating Frames: <frame>
- Creating Embedded Style Sheets: <style>
- Formatting Tables: <table>
- Creating Table Rows: <tr>
- Formatting Table Headers: <th>
- Formatting Table Data: <td>
- Extending XHTML
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 13. Creating Graphics and Multimedia: SVG and SMIL
- Introducing SVG
- Creating an SVG Document
- Creating Rectangles
- Adobe's SVG Viewer
- Using CSS Styles
- Creating Circles
- Creating Ellipses
- Creating Lines
- Creating Polylines
- Creating Polygons
- Creating Text
- Creating Gradients
- Creating Paths
- Creating Text Paths
- Creating Groups and Transformations
- Creating Animation
- Creating Links
- Creating Scripts
- Embedding SVG in HTML
- Introducing SMIL
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 14. Handling XLinks, XPointers, and XForms
- Introducing XLinks
- Beyond Simple XLinks
- Introducing XPointers
- Introducing XBase
- Introducing XForms
- Summary
- Workshop
- Part III. In Review
- Part IV: At a Glance
- Day 15. Using JavaScript and XML
- Introducing the W3C DOM
- Introducing the DOM Objects
- Working with the XML DOM in JavaScript
- Searching for Elements by Name
- Reading Attribute Values
- Getting All XML Data from a Document
- Validating XML Documents by Using DTDs
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 16. Using Java and .NET: DOM
- Using Java to Read XML Data
- Finding Elements by Name
- Creating an XML Browser by Using Java
- Navigating Through XML Documents
- Writing XML by Using Java
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 17. Using Java and .NET: SAX
- An Overview of SAX
- Using SAX
- Using SAX to Find Elements by Name
- Creating an XML Browser by Using Java and SAX
- Navigating Through XML Documents by Using SAX
- Writing XML by Using Java and SAX
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 18. Working with SOAP and RDF
- Introducing SOAP
- A SOAP Example in .NET
- A SOAP Example in Java
- Introducing RDF
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Part IV. In Review
- Part V: At a Glance
- Day 19. Handling XML Data Binding
- Introducing DSOs
- Binding HTML Elements to HTML Data
- Binding HTML Elements to XML Data
- Binding HTML Tables to XML Data
- Accessing Individual Data Fields
- Binding HTML Elements to XML Data by Using the XML DSO
- Binding HTML Tables to XML Data by Using the XML DSO
- Searching XML Data by Using a DSO and JavaScript
- Handling Hierarchical XML Data
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 20. Working with XML and Databases
- XML, Databases, and ASP
- Storing Databases as XML
- Using XPath with a Database
- Introducing XQuery
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Day 21. Handling XML in .NET
- Creating and Editing an XML Document in .NET
- From XML to Databases and Back
- Reading and Writing XML in .NET Code
- Using XML Controls to Display Formatted XML
- Creating XML Web Services
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
- Part V. In Review
- Appendix A. Quiz Answers
- Quiz Answers for Day 1
- Quiz Answers for Day 2
- Quiz Answers for Day 3
- Quiz Answers for Day 4
- Quiz Answers for Day 5
- Quiz Answers for Day 6
- Quiz Answers for Day 7
- Quiz Answers for Day 8
- Quiz Answers for Day 9
- Quiz Answers for Day 10
- Quiz Answers for Day 11
- Quiz Answers for Day 12
- Quiz Answers for Day 13
- Quiz Answers for Day 14
- Quiz Answers for Day 15
- Quiz Answers for Day 16
- Quiz Answers for Day 17
- Quiz Answers for Day 18
- Quiz Answers for Day 19
- Quiz Answers for Day 20
- Quiz Answers for Day 21
Recommended Book
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All About Markup Languages
The term markup refers to codes or tokens you put into a document to indicate how to interpret the (non-markup) data in the document. In other words, markup describes the data in the document and how it should be interpreted. For example, a markup language most people have heard of is HTML for creating Web pages, and you can see a sample HTML Web page in Listing 1.1.
Example 1.1. A Sample HTML Web Page (ch01_01.html)
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Hello From HTML</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<CENTER>
<H1>
An HTML Document
</H1>
</CENTER>
This is an HTML document!
</BODY>
</HTML>
The markup in this HTML document is there to tell a browser how to interpret the document's data—which data is a header, which is text for the body of the document, and so on. This HTML markup is made up of HTML tags such as <HEAD>, <BODY>, and so on, and those tags give directions to the browser. You can see this HTML page in the Netscape Navigator in Figure 1.1. Note in particular that because the HTML markup in this document is only there to give directions to the browser, none of the markup itself appears directly in the browser's display of this document.
)
Figure 1.1 An HTML page in a browser.
When you think of it, there are already many markup languages around. For example, you might use a word processor like Microsoft Word, or a text editor like Windows WordPad, which can store text in Rich Text Format (RTF) files. RTF files are usually filled with markup indicating how to display text and holding directions to the word processor. For example, here's the RTF markup for a file created with Microsoft Word holding the text "No worries!" in bold (hint: the "No worries!" text is at the very end) :
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\uc1 \deff0\deflang1033\deflangfe1033
{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\fcharset0\fprq2{\*\panose 02020603050405020304}
Times New Roman;}{\f153\froman\fcharset238\fprq2 Times New Roman CE;}
{\f154\froman\fcharset204\fprq2 Times New Roman Cyr;}
{\f156\froman\fcharset161\fprq2 Times New Roman Greek;}
{\f157\froman\fcharset162\fprq2 Times New Roman Tur;}
{\f158\froman\fcharset177\fprq2 Times New Roman (Hebrew);}
{\f159\froman\fcharset178\fprq2 Times New Roman (Arabic);}
{\f160\froman\fcharset186\fprq2 Times New Roman Baltic;}}
{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue255;
\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;
\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue128;
\red0\green128\blue128;\red0\green128\blue0;\red128\green0\blue128;
\red128\green0\blue0;\red128\green128\blue0;\red128\green128\blue128;red192\green192\blue192;}{\stylesheet{\ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha
\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\lang1033\langfe1033
\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 \snext0 Normal;}{\*\cs10 \additive
Default Paragraph Font;}}{\info{\title No worries}{\author Steven Holzner}
{\operator Steven Holzner}{\version1}{\edmins0}{\nofpages1}{\nofwords0}
{\nofchars0}{\*\company Your Company Name}{\nofcharsws0}{\vern8269}}
\widowctrl\ftnbj\aenddoc\noxlattoyen\expshrtn\noultrlspc\dntblnsbdb
\nospaceforul\formshade\horzdoc\dgmargin\dghspace180\dgvspace180
\dghorigin1701\dgvorigin1984\dghshow1\dgvshow1
{\*\pnseclvl1\pnucrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}
{\*\pnseclvl2\pnucltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}
{\*\pnseclvl3\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}
{\*\pnseclvl4\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl5
\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}
{\*\pnseclvl6\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl7\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl8\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang
{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl9\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang
{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}\pard\plain \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum
\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 \fs24\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid
\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\b No worries!\par }}
All the codes you see here are markup. As you can see, markup is just the general name for directives indicating how you want your data treated.
You might think of HTML (which, of course, stands for Hypertext Markup Language) first when someone mentions markup languages, but the fact is that HTML is a very limited language. It's OK for creating standard Web pages, but it can't go much farther than that.
For example, HTML is great for creating Web pages that display standard text and some images, and the HTML tags like <img>, <table>, and others are fine for that. But as things got more complex, HTML couldn't keep up—in the original HTML version, 1.0, there were only about a dozen tags. In the current version, HTML 4.01, there are nearly 100 tags—and still many more are needed (if you add the nonstandard ones that various browsers support to fill in some holes, there are over 120 HTML tags in current use).
Even so, to really fill the needs of Web developers, HTML could use hundreds of additional tags. But there's no way those additional tags could handle all kinds of situations—for example, what if you wanted to store information about your close friends instead? There are no HTML tags like <firstname>, <lastname>, <phone>, or <age>. What if you are a bank that offers loans and you want tags like <amount>, <term>, <rate>, and <accountID>? There's no way HTML could fit in all these kinds of tags. In other words, there are as many reasons to create markup as there are ways of handling data—and that's infinite. That's where XML comes in, because the whole idea behind XML is to let you create your own markup.