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learnxml.xml

XML is a markup language designed to store and transport data.

Unlike HTML, XML does not specifies how to display or to format data, just carry it.

  • XML Syntax
<!-- Comments in XML are like this -->

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<bookstore>
  <book category="COOKING">
    <title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
    <author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
    <year>2005</year>
    <price>30.00</price>
  </book>
  <book category="CHILDREN">
    <title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
    <author>J K. Rowling</author>
    <year>2005</year>
    <price>29.99</price>
  </book>
  <book category="WEB">
    <title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
    <author>Erik T. Ray</author>
    <year>2003</year>
    <price>39.95</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>

<!-- Above is a typical XML file.
  It starts with a declaration, informing some metadata (optional).
  
  XML uses a tree structure. Above, the root node is 'bookstore', which has
  three child nodes, all 'books'. Those nodes has more child nodes, and so on... 
  
  Nodes are created using open/close tags, and childs are just nodes between
  the open and close tags.-->


<!-- XML carries two kind of data:
  1 - Attributes -> That's metadata about a node.
      Usually, the XML parser uses this information to store the data properly.
      It is characterized by appearing in parenthesis within the opening tag
  2 - Elements -> That's pure data.
      That's what the parser will retrieve from the XML file.
      Elements appear between the open and close tags, without parenthesis. -->
      
  
<!-- Below, an element with two attributes -->
<file type="gif" id="4293">computer.gif</file>
  • Well-Formated Document x Validation

A XML document is well-formated if it is syntactically correct. However, it is possible to inject more constraints in the document, using document definitions, such as DTD and XML Schema.

A XML document which follows a document definition is called valid, regarding that document.

With this tool, you can check the XML data outside the application logic.

<!-- Below, you can see an simplified version of bookstore document, 
  with the addition of DTD definition.-->

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE note SYSTEM "Bookstore.dtd">
<bookstore>
  <book category="COOKING">
    <title >Everyday Italian</title>
    <price>30.00</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>

<!-- This DTD could be something like:-->

<!DOCTYPE note
[
<!ELEMENT bookstore (book+)>
<!ELEMENT book (title,price)>
<!ATTLIST book category CDATA "Literature">
<!ELEMENT title (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT price (#PCDATA)>
]>


<!-- The DTD starts with a declaration.
  Following, the root node is declared, requiring 1 or more child nodes 'book'.
  Each 'book' should contain exactly one 'title' and 'price' and an attribute
  called 'category', with "Literature" as its default value.
  The 'title' and 'price' nodes contain a parsed character data.-->

<!-- The DTD could be declared inside the XML file itself.-->

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

<!DOCTYPE note
[
<!ELEMENT bookstore (book+)>
<!ELEMENT book (title,price)>
<!ATTLIST book category CDATA "Literature">
<!ELEMENT title (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT price (#PCDATA)>
]>

<bookstore>
  <book category="COOKING">
    <title >Everyday Italian</title>
    <price>30.00</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>