University of Tissemsilt

Faculty of Science & Technology

Departement of Math and Computer Science

Application Web Development

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

10 avril 2024

Lecturer

Dr. HAMDANI M

Speciality : Computer Science (ISIL)

Semester : S4
 Plan

1 About XML

2 XML Tree Structure

3 XML Syntax

4 DTD

5 XML Schema

6 Displaying XML with XSLT

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1 About XML

2 XML Tree Structure

3 XML Syntax

4 DTD

5 XML Schema

6 Displaying XML with XSLT

 What is XML

XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language.

XML was designed to store and transport data
It’s a text-based markup language that defines a set of rules for
encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and
machine-readable.
Designed to be self-descriptive and easy to understand

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 Why XML ?

Human-readable : XML documents readability makes it simpler

for programmers to comprehend the data structure and content
Platform-Independent : XML documents can be processed and
interpreted by different platforms, operating systems, and pro-
gramming languages.
Extensible & Flexible : creation of custom tags and structures
tailored to specific data needs
Well-Established Standard : XML is a widely established stan-
dard for encoding data.
Structured Data Representation :Data is represented in a hie-
rarchical tree-like model, making it easy to navigate, search, and
manipulate

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 Applications of XML

Web Development and Web Services : XML is extensively

used in web services for exchanging data across different systems
and platforms via the internet
Configuration Files and Settings : XML is commonly used for
storing configuration settings and preferences in applications and
systems
Data Exchange and Integration : XML serves as a common
medium for exchanging data between different information sys-
tems
Other Applications : Scientific Data, E-Books, Document Ma-
nagement (CMS, ..)

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 XML vs HTML
XML is not a replacement for HTML but is one level up
Feature XML HTML
Purpose Data exchange and repre- Displaying content and
sentation structure of web pages
Structure Hierarchical tree-like (nes- Flexible, some self-closing
ted elements) elements
Data De- Extensible - define new ele- Predefined set of elements
finition ments/attributes and attributes
Tags Opening and closing tags Some elements self-closing
required for each element (e.g., ‘<br>‘)
(except some empty ele-
ments)
Validation Often uses DTDs or XSDs Limited validation, relies on
for validation browsers
Focus Structured data representa- Visual presentation and
tion user interaction

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 The Difference Between XML and HTML

XML and HTML were designed with different goals :

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

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1 About XML

2 XML Tree Structure

3 XML Syntax

4 DTD

5 XML Schema

6 Displaying XML with XSLT

 XML Tree Structure (1)

The terms parent, child, and sibling are used to describe the relation-
ships between elements.
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 XML Tree Structure (2)
XML documents are formed as element trees.
An XML tree starts at a root element and branches from the root
to child elements.
All elements can have sub elements (child elements)

<root>

<child>

<subchild>.....</subchild>

</child>

</root>

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1 About XML

2 XML Tree Structure

3 XML Syntax

4 DTD

5 XML Schema

6 Displaying XML with XSLT

 Components of an XML File

Declaration : it is an optional component at the start of an XML

file. It contains information about the current XML specification
version
Elements : it is the fundamental units of an XML document. They
are contained in tags. Tags can comprise a start tag, an end tag,
and the text inside
Attributes : the term attributes refers to characteristics that an
element can have. They are composed of a name and a value.
These are contained within the start tag of a component

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

<library> <!-- Root element -->

<!-- Book entry with attributes -->

<book id="101" genre="fiction">

<title>Lost in Time</title> <!-- Title element -->

<author>Emily Carter</author> <!-- Author element -->

<price currency="USD">15.99</price> <!-- Price element

with attribute -->

</book>

</library>

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 XML Syntax Rules

The XML Prolog (optional) : if it exists, it must come first in the

document

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

XML documents must have a root element

All XML Elements Must Have a Closing Tag
XML Tags are Case Sensitive
XML Elements Must be Properly Nested
XML Attribute Values Must Always be Quoted
XML Entity References : (< ; &lt ; less than, ...)
Comments in XML : < !- - This is a comment - ->

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 Well Formed XML Documents

An XML document with correct syntax is called "Well Formed" :

XML documents must have a root element

XML elements must have a closing tag

XML tags are case sensitive

XML elements must be properly nested

XML attribute values must be quoted

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1 About XML

2 XML Tree Structure

3 XML Syntax

4 DTD

5 XML Schema

6 Displaying XML with XSLT

 DTD

DTD stands for Document Type Definition

A DTD defines the structure and the legal elements and attributes
of an XML document
DTD is a formal definition of the structure and elements in an
XML document.
DTDs are declared inside the XML document or in an external
file.
They provide a way to validate the correctness of an XML docu-
ment.

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 Benefits of DTD

Ensures the consistency and integrity of XML documents.

Facilitates interoperability between different systems by enforcing
a common structure.
Helps in validating XML documents against predefined rules.
Allows for automatic generation of parsers and validators.
Provides documentation for understanding the structure of XML
documents.

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 DTD Components

Elements : the main building blocks

<!ELEMENT book (title, author+, chapter+)>
Attributes : provide extra information about elements
<!ATTLIST book id CDATA #REQUIRED>
Entities : Some characters have a special meaning in XML, like
the less than sign (<)–> &lt
<!ENTITY copy "©">
PCDATA (Parsed Character DATA) : text found between the
start tag and the end tag of an XML element
<!ELEMENT title (#PCDATA)>
CDATA (Character DATA) : can contain any text data
<!ATTLIST book id CDATA #REQUIRED>

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 DTD Syntax Example

<!ELEMENT book (title, author+, (summary?, chapter*))>

<!ELEMENT title (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT author (name)>
<!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT summary (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT chapter (title, content)>
<!ELEMENT content (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT #PCDATA ANY>
<!ATTLIST book ISBN CDATA #REQUIRED>

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 XML DTD Declarations (1)

<!ELEMENT book (title, author+, (summary?, chapter*))> :

This line specifies that the "book" element must contain child elements
for "title", one or more "author" elements, and optionally a "summary"
element followed by zero or more "chapter" elements.

<!ELEMENT title (#PCDATA)> : This line defines the structure of

the "title" element. It specifies that the content of the "title" element
is parsed character data (#PCDATA), meaning it can contain text.

<!ELEMENT author (name)> : This line specifies that the "author"

element must contain a single "name" element.

<!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA)> : This line defines the structure of the

"name" element, similar to the "title" element.

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 XML DTD Declarations (2)

<!ELEMENT summary (#PCDATA)> : This line defines the struc-

ture of the "summary" element, specifying it can contain parsed
character data.
<!ELEMENT chapter (title, content)> : This line specifies
that each "chapter" element must contain child elements for "title"
and "content".
<!ELEMENT content (#PCDATA)> : This line defines the struc-
ture of the "content" element, specifying it can contain parsed
character data.

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 XML DTD Declarations (3)

<!ELEMENT #PCDATA ANY> : This line defines that parsed cha-

racter data (#PCDATA) can appear in any context, allowing text
content in various places within the XML document.
<!ATTLIST book ISBN CDATA #REQUIRED> : This line specifies
an attribute named "ISBN" for the "book" element. The attribute
type is CDATA, meaning it can contain any text data. The attri-
bute is declared as #REQUIRED, meaning it must be present in
each "book" element.

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1 About XML

2 XML Tree Structure

3 XML Syntax

4 DTD

5 XML Schema

6 Displaying XML with XSLT

 XML Schema

XML Schema is a way to define the structure, content, and data

types of XML documents.
It provides a means to specify rules and constraints for elements
and attributes.
XML Schema is written in XML format and is used for validation
and documentation purposes.
It offers more features and flexibility compared to Document Type
Definition (DTD).

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 Advantages of XML Schema over DTD

XML Schemas are written in XML

XML Schemas are extensible to additions
XML Schemas support data types
XML Schemas support namespaces

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 Benefits of XML Schema

Validation : Ensures XML documents conform to defined rules

and constraints.
Interoperability : Facilitates data exchange between different
systems.
Documentation : Provides a clear and structured way to docu-
ment XML structures.
Extensibility : Supports the definition of complex data structures
and types.
Namespace Support : Allows for the definition of XML names-
paces, avoiding naming conflicts.

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 Example of XML Schema - file : student.xsd
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<xs:element name="student">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="firstName" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="birthDate" type="xs:date"/>
<xs:element name="speciality" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="email" type="xs:string"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

</xs:schema>

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 File : students.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<students>
<student>
<firstName>Amine</firstName>
<birthDate>1990-01-01</birthDate>
<speciality>Computer Science</speciality>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</student>
<student>
<firstName>Ahmed</firstName>
<birthDate>1995-07-15</birthDate>
<speciality>Mathematics</speciality>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</student>
</students>

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 Validation : the process of checking an XML document against a set
of rules to ensure it’s well-formed and adheres to a specific structure

Validation (Python Example)

from xmlschema import validate

schema_file = "student.xsd"
xml_file = "students.xml"
try:
validate(schema_file) # Validate the schema
print("XML document is valid!")

except Exception as e:
print("Validation Error:", e)

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1 About XML

2 XML Tree Structure

3 XML Syntax

4 DTD

5 XML Schema

6 Displaying XML with XSLT

 Introduction

XSLT is a language for transforming XML documents.

XPath is a language for navigating in XML documents.
XQuery is a language for querying XML documents

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 XSL Components

XSLT - a language for transforming XML documents

XPath - a language for navigating in XML documents
XSL-FO - a language for formatting XML documents (disconti-
nued in 2013)
XQuery - a language for querying XML documents

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 What is XSLT ?

XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) is a styling language for

XML.
XSLT stands for XSL Transformations
XSLT is the most important part of XSL
With XSLT you can transform an XML document into various
formats including HTML, PDF, ..etc
XSLT transforms an XML document into another XML document
XSLT uses XPath to navigate in XML documents
XSLT is a W3C Recommendation

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 Displaying XML with XSLT

XSLT is far more sophisticated than CSS

With XSLT we can add/remove elements and attributes to or
from the output file
It allows for the rearrangement and sorting of elements
It allows to perform tests and make decisions about which ele-
ments to hide and display
Provides extensive capabilities for dynamic and conditional content
manipulation

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 XSLT Transformation Process

1 Loading the Input XML Document and XSLT Stylesheet

2 Matching Templates
3 Applying Transformation Rules
4 Generating the Output

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 Matching Templates

The XSLT processor navigates through the source tree starting

from the root, and for each node, it finds a matching template in
the XSLT stylesheet.
If a match is found, the template is applied and part of the output
tree (result tree) is generated.
If no match is found, default template rules are applied. These
default rules generally copy elements from the source document
to the result document or recursively process child nodes

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 1. XML Input
<books>
<book>
<title>The Lord of the Rings</title>
<author>J.R.R. Tolkien</author>
</book>
<book>
<title>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</title>
<author>Douglas Adams</author>
</book>
</books>

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 This XSLT stylesheet will transform the book data into a simple HTML list

2. XSLT Stylesheet
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h1>My Book List</h1>
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="books/book" />
</ul>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="book">
<li>
<b><xsl:value-of select="title" /></b> by
<i><xsl:value-of select="author" /></i>
</li>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

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 3. Processing
The XSLT processor starts by reading both the XML and XSLT files

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 4. Transformation
It uses the first template (<xsl :template match="/">) which matches
the root element of the XML (books).

Inside this template, it creates the basic HTML structure for the output
document (including an <h1> and a <ul> for the list).

It then uses xsl :apply-templates to process each child element of books

(which are the book elements) using a separate template.

The second template (<xsl :template match="book">) matches each

individual book element.

Inside this template, it creates an li element for each book in the list.

It uses xsl :value-of to extract the values of the title and author ele-
ments and inserts them into the HTML output with formatting (bold
for title, italic for author).

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 The final result will be an HTML document like this :
5. Output
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>My Book List</h1>
<ul>
<li>
<b>The Lord of the Rings</b> by <i>J.R.R. Tolkien</i>
</li>
<li>
<b>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</b> by
<i>Douglas Adams</i>
</li>
</ul>
</body>
</html>

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 XSLT : Commun Elements and Purposes
XSLT Element Purpose
<xsl:value-of> Extracts and outputs the value of a selected node
or an XPath expression.
<xsl:for-each> Iterates over a selected node-set and performs
actions for each node in the set.
<xsl:sort> Sorts the nodes selected by a <xsl:for-each>
or <xsl:apply-templates> instruction based
on specified criteria.
<xsl:if> Conditionally applies a template or performs ac-
tions based on a specified condition.
<xsl:choose> Provides multiple conditional branches to specify
alternative actions based on different conditions.
Contains <xsl:when> and <xsl:otherwise>
elements.
<xsl:apply-templates> Applies templates to nodes selected by an XPath
expression, triggering template matching and
processing.

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 Questions ?

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