XML For Developers

Abstract

XML, the eXtensible Markup Language, is rapidly being adopted as the global standard format for representing and exchanging information. Around the world many industries, such as electronic publishing, portals, electronic marketplaces and supply chains, are adopting XML as a cross-platform, vendor-neutral solution for integration.

Apart from the XML standard itself, there are a number of additional standards relating to XML which are useful in accessing the data contained within a document. These include the Simple API for XML (SAX) interface for parsing XML, the Document Object Model (DOM) for manipulating and creating XML documents and the eXtensible Style Language (XSL) for converting between formats.

Most programming languages now have sophisticated tools for managing XML formatted information, as well as providing extra functionality. In addition, many products and applications supply functions for dealing with XML messages.

In this tutorial you will learn about the standard programming interfaces for XML documents - SAX and DOM. These standards are independant of any particular programming language, and examples will be shown using a variety of languages, such as Java, C, Tcl, Perl and Visual Basic (C++ is available upon request). SAX and DOM may be used for extracting data from XML messages for use in an application, or insertion into a database. DOM may be used for formatting XML documents programmatically and to manipulate XML documents, whether on the server or in a client browser.

You will then be introduced to XSL Transformations (XSLT), which is becoming a widely used language for translating XML documents into other formats, such as HTML. Complex, sophisticated websites can be created using XSLT. XSLT is also useful in implementing data interchange applications quickly and easily.

Participants will gain hands-on experience in developing applications to process XML documents, construct XML documents and transform data into alternative vocabularies.