Unit 2.2

Web Technology ECS-604
Prepared By: Abhishek kesharwani Lecturer, United College of Engineering and Research
Lecture No. 11
Introduction to XML
What is XML?
XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language
XML is a markup language much like HTML
XML was designed to carry data, not to display data
XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags
XML is designed to be self-descriptive
XML is a W3C Recommendation
The Difference Between XML and HTML
XML is not a replacement for HTML.
XML and HTML were designed with different goals:
XML was designed to transport and store data, with focus on what data is
HTML was designed to display data, with focus on how data looks
HTML is about displaying information, while XML is about carrying information.
XML Does Not DO Anything
Maybe it is a little hard to understand, but XML does not DO anything. XML was created to
structure, store, and transport information.
The following example is a note to Tove, from Jani, stored as XML:
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
The note above is quite self descriptive. It has sender and receiver information, it also has a
heading and a message body.
But still, this XML document does not DO anything. It is just information wrapped in tags.
Someone must write a piece of software to send, receive or display it.

With XML You Invent Your Own Tags
The tags in the example above (like <to> and <from>) are not defined in any XML
standard. These tags are "invented" by the author of the XML document.
That is because the XML language has no predefined tags.
The tags used in HTML are predefined. HTML documents can only use tags defined in the
HTML standard (like , <h1>, etc.).
XML allows the author to define his/her own tags and his/her own document structure.
XML is Not a Replacement for HTML
XML is a complement to HTML.
It is important to understand that XML is not a replacement for HTML. In most web
applications, XML is used to transport data, while HTML is used to format and display the
data.
My best description of XML is this:
XML is a software- and hardware-independent tool for carrying information.
XML is a W3C Recommendation
XML became a W3C Recommendation on February 10, 1998.
XML is everywhere
XML is now as important for the Web as HTML was to the foundation of the Web.
XML is the most common tool for data transmissions between all sorts of applications.
How Can XML be Used?
XML is used in many aspects of web development, often to simplify data storage and
sharing.

XML Separates Data from HTML
If you need to display dynamic data in your HTML document, it will take a lot of work to edit
the HTML each time the data changes.
With XML, data can be stored in separate XML files. This way you can concentrate on using
HTML/CSS for display and layout, and be sure that changes in the underlying data will not
require any changes to the HTML.
With a few lines of JavaScript code, you can read an external XML file and update the data
content of your web page.
XML Simplifies Data Sharing
In the real world, computer systems and databases contain data in incompatible formats.
XML data is stored in plain text format. This provides a software- and hardware-independent
way of storing data.
This makes it much easier to create data that can be shared by different applications.
XML Simplifies Data Transport
One of the most time-consuming challenges for developers is to exchange data between
incompatible systems over the Internet.
Exchanging data as XML greatly reduces this complexity, since the data can be read by
different incompatible applications.
XML Simplifies Platform Changes
Upgrading to new systems (hardware or software platforms), is always time consuming.
Large amounts of data must be converted and incompatible data is often lost.
XML data is stored in text format. This makes it easier to expand or upgrade to new
operating systems, new applications, or new browsers, without losing data.
XML Makes Your Data More Available
Different applications can access your data, not only in HTML pages, but also from XML data
sources.

With XML, your data can be available to all kinds of "reading machines" (Handheld
computers, voice machines, news feeds, etc.), and make it more available for blind people,
or people with other disabilities.
XML Tree
XML documents form a tree structure that starts at "the root" and branches to "the
leaves".
An Example XML Document
XML documents use a self-describing and simple syntax:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
The first line is the XML declaration. It defines the XML version (1.0).
The next line describes the root element of the document (like saying: "this document is a
note"):
<note>
The next 4 lines describe 4 child elements of the root (to, from, heading, and body):
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
And finally the last line defines the end of the root element:
</note>
You can assume, from this example, that the XML document contains a note to Tove from
Jani.
Don't you agree that XML is pretty self-descriptive?

XML Documents Form a Tree Structure
XML documents must contain a root element. This element is "the parent" of all other
elements.
The elements in an XML document form a document tree. The tree starts at the root and
branches to the lowest level of the tree.
All elements can have sub elements (child elements):
<root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
</root>
XML Syntax Rules
The syntax rules of XML are very simple and logical. The rules are easy to learn, and
easy to use.
All XML Elements Must Have a Closing Tag
In HTML, some elements do not have to have a closing tag:
This is a paragraph.
 
In XML, it is illegal to omit the closing tag. All elements must have a closing tag:
This is a paragraph.
 
XML Tags are Case Sensitive
XML tags are case sensitive. The tag <Letter> is different from the tag <letter>.
XML Elements Must be Properly Nested
In HTML, you might see improperly nested elements:
This text is bold and italic
In XML, all elements must be properly nested within each other:

This text is bold and italic
In the example above, "Properly nested" simply means that since the element is
opened inside the element, it must be closed inside the element.
XML Documents Must Have a Root Element
XML documents must contain one element that is the parent of all other elements. This
element is called theroot element.
XML Attribute Values Must be quoted
XML elements can have attributes in name/value pairs just like in HTML.
In XML, the attribute values must always be quoted.
Study the two XML documents below. The first one is incorrect, the second is correct:
<note date=12/11/2007>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
<note date="12/11/2007">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
Entity References
Some characters have a special meaning in XML.
If you place a character like "<" inside an XML element, it will generate an error because
the parser interprets it as the start of a new element.
This will generate an XML error:
<message>if salary < 1000 then</message>
To avoid this error, replace the "<" character with an entity reference:
<message>if salary < 1000 then</message>
There are 5 predefined entity references in XML:
< < less than

> > greater than
& & ampersand
' ' apostrophe
" " quotation mark
Comments in XML
The syntax for writing comments in XML is similar to that of HTML.

Solving the Name Conflict Using a Prefix
Name conflicts in XML can easily be avoided using a name prefix.
This XML carries information about an HTML table, and a piece of furniture:
<h:table>
<h:tr>
<h:td>Apples</h:td>
<h:td>Bananas</h:td>
</h:tr>
</h:table>
<f:table>
<f:name>African Coffee Table</f:name>
<f:width>80</f:width>
<f:length>120</f:length>
</f:table>
In the example above, there will be no conflict because the two <table> elements have
different names.
Namespaces can be declared in the elements where they are used or in the XML root
element:
XML Encoding

XML documents can contain international characters, like Norwegian æøå, or French
êèé.
To avoid errors, you should specify the encoding used, or save your XML files as UTF-8.
Character Encoding
Character encoding defines a unique binary code for each different character used in a
document.
In computer terms, character encoding are also called character set, character map, code
set, and code page.
Unicode
Unicode is an industry standard for character encoding of text documents. It deﬁnes
(nearly) every possible international character by a name and a number.
Unicode has two variants: UTF-8 and UTF-16.
UTF = Universal character set Transformation Format.
UTF-8 uses a single byte (8-bits) to represent commonly used characters and two (or three)
bytes for the rest.
UTF-16 uses two bytes (16 bits) for most characters, and three bytes for the rest.
UTF-8 - The Web Standard
UTF-8 is the standard character encoding on the web.
UTF-8 is the default character encoding for HTML-5, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, and XML.
XML Encoding
The ﬁrst line in an XML document is called the prolog:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
The prolog is optional. Normally it contains the XML version number.
It can also contain information about the encoding used in the document. This prolog
specifies UTF-8 encoding:

The XML standard states that all XML software must understand both UTF-8 and UTF-16.
UTF-8 is the default for documents without encoding information.
In addition, most XML software systems understand encodings like ISO-8859-1, Windows-
1252, and ASCII.
XML Errors
Most often, XML documents are created on one computer, uploaded to a server on a second
computer, and displayed by a browser on a third computer.
If the encoding is not correctly interpreted by all the three computers, the browser might
display meaningless text, or you might get an error message.
Viewing XML Files
Raw XML files can be viewed in all major browsers.
Don't expect XML files to be displayed as HTML pages.
Viewing XML Files
- <note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
Look at this XML file: note.xml
Note: In Safari, only the element text will be displayed. To view the raw XML, you must
right click the page and select "View Source"
Viewing an Invalid XML File

If an erroneous XML file is opened, some browsers might report the error, some may display
it incorrectly.
Try to open this XML file in Chrome, IE, Firefox, Opera, and Safari : note_error.xml
Displaying XML with CSS
With CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) you can add display information to an XML
document.
Displaying your XML Files with CSS?
It is possible to use CSS to format an XML document.
Below is an example of how to use a CSS style sheet to format an XML document:
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="cd_catalog.css"?>
<CATALOG>
<CD>
<TITLE>Empire Burlesque</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bob Dylan</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>USA</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>Columbia</COMPANY>
<PRICE>10.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1985</YEAR>
</CD>
<CD>
<TITLE>Hide your heart</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bonnie Tyler</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>UK</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>CBS Records</COMPANY>
<PRICE>9.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1988</YEAR>
</CD>
.
.
.
</CATALOG>
Formatting XML with CSS is not the most common method.
W3C recommends using XSLT instead.
CATALOG
{
background-color: #ffffff;
width: 100%;
}

CD
{
display: block;
margin-bottom: 30pt;
margin-left: 0;
}
TITLE
{
color: #FF0000;
font-size: 20pt;
}
ARTIST
{
color: #0000FF;
font-size: 20pt;
}
COUNTRY,PRICE,YEAR,COMPANY
{
display: block;
color: #000000;
margin-left: 20pt;
}

Unit 2.2

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Unit 2.2