Extensible Markup Language

XML

MSI 602 – Spring 2003

 Databases
Types

• Data is facts and figures

• Database is a related set of data
Kinds of databases
• Unstructured
– Meaning of data interpreted by user
• Semi-Structured
– Structure of data wrapped around data
• Structured
– Fixed structure of data
– Data added to the fixed structure
 XML
Definition and Example
• XML is a text based markup language that is fast becoming a
standard of data interchange
– An open standard from W3C
– A direct descendant from SGML

Example: Product Inventory Data

<Product>
<Name>Refrigerator</Name>
<Model Number>R3456d2h</Model Number>
<Manufacturer>General Electric</Manufacturer>
<Price>1290.00</Price>
<Quantity>1200</Quantity>
</Product>
 XML
Data Interchange
• XMLs key role is data interchange
• Two business partners want to exchange customer data
– Agree on a set of tags
– Exchange data without having to change internal databases
• Other business partners can participate by using the same
tagset
– New tags can be added to extend the functionality

Key to successful data interchange is building

consensus and standardizing of tag sets
 XML
Universal Data
• TCP/IP  Universal Networking
• HTML  Universal Rendering
• Java  Universal Code
• XML  Universal Data

• Numerous standard bodies are set up for standardization of

tags in different domains
– ebXML
– XBRL
– MML
– CML
 HTML vs. XML
Comparison
• Both are markup languages
– HTML has fixed set of tags
– XML allows user to specify the tags based on requirements
• Usage
– HTML tags specify how to display data
– XML tags specify semantics of the data
• Tag Interpretation
– HTML specifies what each tag and attribute means
– XML tags delimit data & leave interpretation to the parsing application
• Well formedness
– HTML very tolerant of rule violations (nesting, matching tags)
– XML very strictly follows rules of well formedness
 XML
Structure
• Prolog
– Instructs the parser as to what it it parsing
– Contains processing instructions for processor
• Body
– Tags - Entities
– Attributes - Properties of Entities
– Comments - Statements for clarification in the document
Example
<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8” standalone=“yes” ?>  Prolog
<contact>
<name>
<first name>Sanjay</first name>
<last name>Goel</last name>
</name>
<address>  Body
<street>56 Della Street</street>
<city>Phoenix</city>
<state>AZ</state>
<zip>15784</zip>
</address>
</contact>
 XML
Prolog
• Syntax: <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”
standalone=“yes” ?>
• Contains eclaration that identifies a document as xml
• Version
– Version of XML markup language used in the data
– Not optional
• Encoding
– Identifies the character set used to encode the data
– Default compressed Unicode: UTF-8
• Standalone
– Tells whether or not this document references external entity
• May contain entity definitions and tag specifications
 XML Syntax
Elements & Attributes
• Uses less-than and greater-than characters (<…>) as
delimiters
• Every opening tag must having an accompanying closing tag
– <First Name>Sanjay</First Name>
– Empty tags do not require an accompanying closing tag.
– Empty tags have a forward slash before the greater-than sign e.g.
<Name/>
• Tags can have attributes which must be enclosed in double
quotes
– <name first=“Sanjay” last=“Goel”)
• Elements should be properly nested
– The nesting can not be interleaved
– Each document must have one single root element
• Elements and attribute names are case sensitive
 Tree Structure
Elements
• XML documents have a tree structure containing multiple levels of
nested tags.
– Root element is a single XML element which encloses all of the other XML
elements and data in the document
– All other elements are children of the root element

<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8” standalone=“yes” ?>

<contact>  Root Element
<name>
<first name>Sanjay</first name>
<last name>Goel</last name>
</name>
<address>
<street>56 Della Street</street>  Child Elements
<city>Phoenix</city>
<state>AZ</state>
<zip>15784</zip>
</address>
</contact>
 Attributes
Definition and Example

• Attributes are properties associated with an element

• Each attribute is a name value pair
– No element may contain two attributes with same name
– Name and value are strings
Example
<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8” standalone=“yes” ?>
<contact>
<name first=“Sanjay” last=“Goel”></name>  Attributes
<address>
<street>56 Della Street</street>  Nested Elements
<city>Phoenix</city>
<state>AZ</state>
<zip>15784</zip>
</address>
</contact>
 Elements vs. Attributes
Comparison
• Data should be stored in Elements
• Information about data (meta-data) should be stored in
attributes
– When in doubt use elements
• Rules of thumb
– Elements should have information which some one may want to read.
– Attributes are appropriate for information about document that has
nothing to do with content of document
e.g. URLs, units, references, ids belong to attributes
– What is your meta-data may be some ones data
 Comments
Basics
• XML comments begin with “<!--”and end with “-->”
– All data between these delimiters is discarded
– <!-- This is a list of names of people -->
• Comments should not come before XML declaration
• Comments can not be placed inside a tag
• Comments may be used to hide and surround tags
<Name>
<first>Sanjay</first>
<!-- <last>Goel</last> -->  Last tag is ignored
</Name>
• “--” string may not occur inside a comment except as part of
its opening and closing tag
– <!-- the Red door -- that is the second -->  Illegal
 Namespaces
Basics
• XML documents come from different sources
– Combining elements from different sources can result in
name conflict
– Namespaces allow the interpreter to resolve the elements
• Namespaces
– Declared within element start-tag using attribute xmlns
– Represented as an actual URI (since namespaces are
globally unique)
– e.g. <Collection xmlns:book="http://www.mjyOnline.com/books"
xmlns:cd=http://www.mjyOnline.com/
books>
– Here book and cd are short hands for the full namespace name
• Default namespace is used if no other namespace is defined
– It does not have any prefix associated with it
 Namespaces
Example
<?xml version="1.0"?> <?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- File Name: Collection.xml --> <!-- File Name: Collection.xml -->
<COLLECTION <COLLECTION
xmlns:book="http://www.mjyOnline.com/books" <ITEM>
xmlns:cd="http://www.mjyOnline.com/cds"> <TITLE>Violin Concertos Numbers 1, 2, and 3</TITLE>
<ITEM Status="in"> <COMPOSER>Mozart</COMPOSER>
<TITLE>The Adventures of Huckleberry <PRICE>$16.49</PRICE>
Finn</book:TITLE>
</ITEM>
<AUTHOR>Mark Twain</book:AUTHOR>
<TITLE>Violin Concerto in D</TITLE>
<PRICE>$5.49</book:PRICE>
<COMPOSER>Beethoven</COMPOSER>
</ITEM>
<PRICE>$14.95</PRICE>
<ITEM Status="in">
</ITEM>
<TITLE>The Marble Faun</TITLE>
</COLLECTION>
<AUTHOR>Nathaniel Hawthorne</AUTHOR>
<PRICE>$10.95</PRICE>
</ITEM>
<ITEM>
<ITEM Status="out">
<TITLE>Leaves of Grass</TITLE>
<AUTHOR>Walt Whitman</AUTHOR>
<PRICE>$7.75</PRICE>
</ITEM>
<ITEM Status="out">
<TITLE>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow</TITLE>
<AUTHOR>Washington Irving</AUTHOR>
<PRICE>$2.95</PRICE>
</ITEM>
Books and CDs are tracked in different files if combined will lead to conflicts
 Namespaces
Example
<?xml version="1.0"?> <cd:ITEM>
<!-- File Name: Collection.xml --> <cd:TITLE>Violin Concertos Numbers 1, 2, and
<COLLECTION 3</cd:TITLE>
<cd:COMPOSER>Mozart</cd:COMPOSER>
xmlns:book="http://www.mjyOnline.com/books"
<cd:PRICE>$16.49</cd:PRICE>
xmlns:cd="http://www.mjyOnline.com/cds">
</cd:ITEM>
<book:ITEM Status="in">
<book:ITEM Status="out">
<book:TITLE>The Adventures of Huckleberry <book:TITLE>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow</book:TITLE>
Finn</book:TITLE>
<book:AUTHOR>Washington Irving</book:AUTHOR>
<book:AUTHOR>Mark Twain</book:AUTHOR> <book:PRICE>$2.95</book:PRICE>
<book:PRICE>$5.49</book:PRICE> </book:ITEM>
</book:ITEM> <book:ITEM Status="in">
<cd:ITEM> <book:TITLE>The Marble Faun</book:TITLE>
<cd:TITLE>Violin Concerto in D</cd:TITLE> <book:AUTHOR>Nathaniel Hawthorne</book:AUTHOR>
<cd:COMPOSER>Beethoven</cd:COMPOSER> <book:PRICE>$10.95</book:PRICE>
<cd:PRICE>$14.95</cd:PRICE> </book:ITEM>
</cd:ITEM> </COLLECTION>
<book:ITEM Status="out">
<book:TITLE>Leaves of Grass</book:TITLE>
<book:AUTHOR>Walt Whitman</book:AUTHOR>
<book:PRICE>$7.75</book:PRICE>
</book:ITEM>
 Display XML
Style Sheets

• A style sheet is a file that contains instructions for

rendering individual elements in an XML document
• Two kinds of style sheets exist
– Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
– Extensible Stylesheet language (XSLT)
• Please refer to the following web site for
comprehensive information on style sheets
– http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp
 Cascading Style Sheets
Example
<?xml version="1.0"?> <BOOK>
<!-- File Name: Inventory01.xml --> <TITLE>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow</TITLE>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" <AUTHOR>Washington Irving</AUTHOR>
href="Inventory01.css"?> <BINDING>mass market paperback</BINDING>
<PAGES>98</PAGES>
<INVENTORY> <PRICE>$2.95</PRICE>
<BOOK> </BOOK>
<TITLE>The Adventures of Huckleberry <BOOK>
Finn</TITLE> <TITLE>The Marble Faun</TITLE>
<AUTHOR>Mark Twain</AUTHOR> <AUTHOR>Nathaniel Hawthorne</AUTHOR>
<BINDING>mass market paperback</BINDING> <BINDING>trade paperback</BINDING>
<PAGES>298</PAGES> <PAGES>473</PAGES>
<PRICE>$5.49</PRICE> <PRICE>$10.95</PRICE>
</BOOK> </BOOK>
<BOOK> <BOOK>
<TITLE>Leaves of Grass</TITLE> <TITLE>Moby-Dick</TITLE>
<AUTHOR>Walt Whitman</AUTHOR> <AUTHOR>Herman Melville</AUTHOR>
<BINDING>hardcover</BINDING> <BINDING>hardcover</BINDING>
<PAGES>462</PAGES> <PAGES>724</PAGES>
<PRICE>$7.75</PRICE> <PRICE>$9.95</PRICE>
</BOOK> </BOOK>
</INVENTORY>
 Cascading Style Sheets
Example
/* File Name: Inventory02.css */ BINDING
BOOK {display:block;
{display:block; margin-left:15pt}
margin-top:12pt;
PAGES
font-size:10pt}
{display:none}
TITLE
{display:block; PRICE
font-size:12pt; {display:block;
font-weight:bold; margin-left:15pt}
font-style:italic}
AUTHOR
{display:block;
margin-left:15pt;
font-weight:bold}
Cascading Style Sheets
Display
 Formal Languages/Grammars
Basics
• A formal language is a set of strings
– It is characterized by a set of rules which determine which strings are
a part of the language and which are not
– In case of programming languages, programs which compile are
grammatical corret (others are not)
– In a natural language, like English, correct sentences follows rules of
the English language grammar
• More precisely grammar a defines four things
– A vocabulary out of which the strings are constructed (terminal
symbols)
– Vocabulary that is used to formulate grammar rules (non terminal
symbols)
– Grammar rules (productions), each of which has a lhs and a rhs
– A designated start symbol
 Validated XML Document
Basics
• An XML document is valid if it conforms to the grammar of
the language
– Validity is different from well-formedness
• Two ways to specify the grammar of the language
– Document Type Definition (DTD)
– XML Schema
• Why bother with the language grammar
– It provides the blueprint of the language
– Ensures that the data is interchangable
– Eliminates processing errors in custom software which expects a
particular document content and structure
• Validity of the document is checked by using a validator
 Document Type Declaration
Basics
• Document type declaration is a block of XML markup added to
the prolog of the document
– It has to follow the XML declaration
– It has to be outside of other markup language
• It defines the content and structure of the language
– Without a document type declaration or schema a document is merely
checked for well-formedness and not validity
• Why bother with the language grammar
– It provides the blueprint of the language
– Ensures that the data is interchangable
– Eliminates processing errors in custom software which expects a
particular document content and structure
• The form of a document type declaration is:
– <!DOCTYPE Name DTD>
– DTD is document type definition
– Name specifies the name of the document element
 Document Type Definitions
Basics
• Document type definition (DTD) consists of a series of
markup declarations enclosed in square brackets
<?xml version=“1.0” standalone=“yes”?>
<!DOCTYPE GREETING [
<!ELEMENT GREETING (#PCDATA)>
]>
<GREETING>
Hello XML!
</GREETING>
• A DTD can also be stored separately from the XML document
and referenced in it.
 Document Type Definitions
Syntax
• Element Type Declaration
– Syntax: <!Element Name contentspec>
– Name is the name of the element
– contentspec is the content specification
• Example:
– <!Element Title (#PCDATA)>
• Content specification can have four types of values
– EMPTY content – Element must not have content
<!Element Image EMPTY>
– ANY Content – Can contain any thing
<!Element misc ANY>
– Element Content – Child elements but no character data
<!DOCTYPE BOOK [
<!ELEMENT BOOK (TITLE, AUTHOR)>
<!ELEMENT TITLE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT AUTHOR (#PCDATA)>
– Mixed Content – character data and child elements interspersed
 Element Content Specification
Types
• Content Specification indicates allowed child elements and their
order
– If element has element content it can not contain any character data
• Types of content specifications
– Sequence: Indicates that each element must have a specific sequence of
child elements
– Example
<!Doctype Mountain [
<!ELEMENT MOUNTAIN (NAME, HEIGHT, STATE)>
<!ELEMENT NAME (#PCDATA)
<!ELEMENT HEIGHT (#PCDATA)
<!ELEMENT STATE (#PCDATA)
]>
– Valid XML
<MOUNTAIN>
<NAME>Wheeler</NAME>
<HEIGHT>13161</HEIGHT>
<STATE>New Mexico</STATE>
</MOUNTAIN>
 Element Content Specification
Types
• Types of content specifications
– Choice: Indicates that element can have one of a series of child elements
– Each element is separated by a | sign
– Example
<!Doctype FILM [
<!ELEMENT FILM (STAR | NARRATOR | INSTRUCTOR)>
<!ELEMENT STAR (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT NARRATOR (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT INSTRUCTOR (#PCDATA)>
]>
– Valid XML
<FILM>
<STAR>ROBERT REDFORD</STAR>
</FILM>
– Invalid XML
<FILM>
<NARRATOR>Sir Gregory Parsloe</NARRATOR>
<INSTRUCTOR>Galahad Threepwood</INSTRUCTOR>
</FILM>
 Element Content Specification
Number of Elements
• Specifying the number of elements allowed
– ? zero or one
– + one or more
– * zero or more
– Example
<!Doctype Mountain [
<!ELEMENT MOUNTAIN (NAME+, HEIGHT?, STATE)>
<!ELEMENT NAME (#PCDATA)
<!ELEMENT HEIGHT (#PCDATA)
<!ELEMENT STATE (#PCDATA)
]>
– Valid XML
<MOUNTAIN>
<NAME>Peublo Peak</NAME>
<NAME>Taos Mountain</NAME>
<STATE>New Mexico</STATE>
</MOUNTAIN>
 Element Content Specification
Modification

• Modifying a group of elements

– Example
<!Doctype FILM [
<!ELEMENT FILM (STAR | NARRATOR | INSTRUCTOR)+>
<!ELEMENT STAR (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT NARRATOR (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT INSTRUCTOR (#PCDATA)>
]>
– Valid XML
<FILM>
<NARRATOR>Sir Gregory Parsloe</NARRATOR>
<STAR>ROBERT REDFORD</STAR>
<NARRATOR>PLUG BASHMAN</NARRATOR>
</FILM>
 Element Content Specification
Nesting
• Nesting in specification
– Example
<!Doctype FILM [
<!ELEMENT FILM TITLE, CLASS,(STAR | NARRATOR | INSTRUCTOR)+>
<!ELEMENT TITLE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT CLASS (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT STAR (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT NARRATOR (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT INSTRUCTOR (#PCDATA)>
]>
– Valid XML
<FILM>
<TITLE>The Net</TITLE>
<CLASS>Action</CLASS>
<STAR>Sandra Bullock</STAR>
</FILM>
 Element Content Specification
Mixed Content Model
• Mixed Content Model: Allows element to contain
– Character Data
– Child elements in any position and any frequency (zero or more
repetitions)
– Child elements can be interspersed with data
• Character data only
– Example
<!ELEMENT TITLE (#PCDATA)>
• Character data and elements
– Example:
<!ELEMENT TITLE (#PCDATA | SUBTITLE)+>
<!ELEMENT SUBTITLE (#PCDATA)>
– Valid XML
<TITLE>Moby Dick <SUBTITLE>Or, The Whale</SUBTITLE></TITLE>
<TITLE><SUBTITLE>Or, The Whale</SUBTITLE>Moby Dick</TITLE>
 Attribute Specification
Basics
• All attributes in the document need to be specified using an
attribute declaration list. It defines
– Defines the name of the attribute
– Defines the data type of each attribute
– Specifies whether an attribute is required or noe
• Syntax: <!ATTLIST Name Attdefs>
– Name is the name of the element
– Attdefs is a series of one or more attribute definitions
• Attribute definition Syntax: Name AttType DefaultDecl
– Name is the attribute name
– AttType is the type of the attribute (CDATA, Token Type,
Enumerated)
– DefaultDecl specifies if attribute is required & default values
– Example:
<!ELEMENT FILM (TITLE, (STAR | NARRATOR | INSTRUCTOR))>
<!ATTLIST FILM Class CDATA “fictional” Year CDATA #REQUIRED>
 Entity Specification
Types

• There are two kinds of entities in XML documents1

– Character entities (referred by character unicode number)
– Named entities, referred to by name
 XML Parsing
Definition and Types
• An XML parser is a program that reads an XML document
and makes its contents available for processing
• There are two standard types of parsers for XML
– Document Object Model (DOM) which makes the document
available as a tree
– Simple XML Parser (SAX) which associates an event with each tag
and each block of text
• XML parsers are available from many vendors
– Each vendor conforms to the standardized XML interfaces
– One of the best parsers is the xerces parser
– Suns API for XML parsing is JAXP (supports basic classes and
interfaces that a Java XML parser should support)
– Often SAX parsers are used for writing DOM parsers
 SAX Parser
Basics
• As the parser scans the document it sends notifications of
events, for instance
– Element start
– Element end
– Character sequence between two elements is found
• SAX provides standard names for these callback functions
that are triggerd by these events
void characters (char[] ch, int start, int length): notification of character data
void startDocument(): notification of start of document
void endDocument(): notification of end of document
void startElement(String name, AttributeList atts): notification of start of element
void endElement(String name): notification of end of element
void processingInstruction(String target, String data): notification of processing
instruction
 SAX Parser
Example

From professional JSP page 658

 XSLT Parser
Definition and Uses
• XSLT is an XML structure transforming language
– Any treee transforming language needs an ability to refer
to tree paths
– Xpath is the sub-language underneath XSLT for tree path
description
• There are two scenarios for use of XSLT
– Browser contains an XSLT and uses it to render XML
documents
– XSLT is used for changing the structure of an existing
XML document
• To run XSLT the following components are required
– Java 1.4 standard development kit
– James Clark’s xt (xt.jar)
 XSLT Parser
Basics
• XSLT style sheet is an XML document
• Consists of two parts
– Standard XML declaration including namespace declaractions
– Top level elements that set up the general framework for the output,
e.g., variables or import parameters from the command line
• Processing involves the following
– A current list of nodes from the source document is created by
matching a pattern
– Output to the current node is generated by instantiating a template
corresponding the current pattern
– In process of transformation new nodes can be added to the list
– The processing begins by processing a list containing the entire
document
– Transformation ends when the node list is empty
 XSLT Parser
Example
• XSLT
Web Services
 Web Services
Definition
• Web Services are software programs that use XML
to exchange information with other software
programs via common Internet protocols.
– Web services communicate over the network to provide
specific methods that other applications can invoke.
– Thus applications residing on different computer can
work synergistically by invoking methods on each other
– Http is the key protocol used for Web Services.
• Characteristics
– Programmable
– Encapsulate a task
– XML based data exchange allows programs on
heterogenous platforms to communicate (SOAP)
– Self-describing (WSDL)
– Discoverable (UDDI)
 Web Services
SOAP
• SOAP – Simple Object Access Protocol
– Enables data transfer between systems distributed over a
network
– A SOAP method send to the a Web Service invokes a method
provided by the service
– Web Service may return the result via another SOAP
message
• SOAP consists of standardized XML schemas
• Defines a format for transmitting XML messages over
network
– Includes data types and message structure
• Layered over an Internet protocol, such as HTTP and
can be used to transfer data across the Web and
other networks
– Http allows message transfer across firewall since Http
messages are usually accepted by firewalls
 Web Services
SOAP
• SOAP message consists of three parts
– Envelope
– Header
– Body
• Envelope wraps the entire message and contains
header and body
• Header (optional) provides information on
security and routing
• Body contains application specific data that is
being transferred
• Other alternative to SOAP are XML-RPC
– SOAP de facto standard due to simplicity, extensibility
and interoperability
 Web Services
WSDL
• WSDL – Web Services Description Language
• Provides means to provide information about a
web service
– Instructions of its use
– Capability of the service
• Provides information on connection to the service
and communicate
• Syntax is fairly complex
– Normally created using automated tools
– Not important to understand the precise syntax of
WSDL while developing web services
 Web Services
UDDI
• UDDI – Universal Description, Discovery and
Integration
– Allows developers and businesses to publish and locate
web services on a network via use of registries
– The registries can be made private or public
• Structure similar to a phone book
– White pages contain contact information and textual
description
– Yellow pages provides classification information about
companies and details of company’s electronic capability
– Green pages list technical data relating to services and
business processes