XML

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

XML in the real world

• The benefits of XML
• XML application deployment

XML compared to HTML

• Demystifying the myths
• Markup language vs. markup specification

WRITING XML DOCUMENTS

XML components

• Declaration
• Root
• Element
• Attribute
• Entity

The rules of well-formed documents

• Differentiating between well-formed and valid documents
• Using XML tools

The objectives of namespaces

• Benefits of namespaces
• Assigning Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) to namespaces

XML in the enterprise

• Relating XML and metadata
• Positioning XML in a 3-tier architecture

APPLYING STYLE WITH EXTENSIBLE STYLE LANGUAGE (XSL)

Applying style to data

• Design rules
• How Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) work
• Building CSS
• Linking CSS into XML documents

Exploiting the capabilities of XSL

• Comparing and contrasting CSS with XSL
• Processing documents with pattern matching and templates
• Programming with XSL functions
• Filtering and sorting data with XSL

Transforming XML

• Converting XML to HTML using XSL
• XML-to-XML transformation using XSL

VALIDATING XML

Validating documents with Document Type Definition (DTD)

• Validation requirements
• Defining your own markup language

Writing DTDs

• Embedding business rules into DTDs
• DTD syntax and components
• Validating elements and attributes

XML Schemas

• Limitations of DTDs
• Writing XML to validate XML

COMMUNICATING WITH DATABASES USING XML

Relational database technologies

• Processing data with SQL
• Accessing databases using middleware

XML as a data carrier

• Communicating with databases
• Generating XML using database tools
• Transforming data to XML using middleware

PROCESSING INFORMATION WITH THE DOCUMENT OBJECT MODEL (DOM)

DOM fundamentals

• The role of DOM
• DOM as an object hierarchical structure

Processing DOM

• Navigating XML documents
• Modifying XML with the DOM
• Creating new XML documents using the DOM

Manipulating XML with DOM

• Combining XML documents
• Converting XML to HTML using the DOM

DEVELOPING SERVER-SIDE APPLICATIONS WITH XML

• Options in transferring XML documents
• The role of Active Server Pages (ASP)
• XML processing with ASP
• Server-to-server communication