Beginning XML

When the first edition of this book was written, XML was a relatively new language but already gaining ground fast and becoming more and more widely used in a vast range of applications. By the time of the second edition, XML had already proven itself to be more than a passing fad, and was in fact being used throughout the industry for an incredibly wide range of uses. With the third edition, it was clear that XML was a mature technology, but more important, it became evident that the XML landscape was dividing into several areas of expertise. Now in this edition, we needed to categorize the increasing number of specifications surrounding XML, which either use XML or provide functionality in addition to the XML core specification. So what is XML? It's a markup language, used to describe the structure of data in meaningful ways. Anywhere that data is input/output, stored, or transmitted from one place to another, is a potential fit for XML's capabilities. Perhaps the most well-known applications are web-related (especially with the latest developments in handheld web access—for which some of the technology is XML-based). However, there are many other non-web-based applications for which XML is useful—for example, as a replacement for (or to complement) traditional databases, or for the transfer of financial information between businesses. News organizations, along with individuals, have also been using XML to distribute syndicated news stories and blog entries. This book aims to teach you all you need to know about XML—what it is, how it works, what technologies surround it, and how it can best be used in a variety of situations, from simple data transfer to using XML in your web pages. It answers the fundamental questions: • What is XML? • How do you use XML? • How does it work? • What can you use it for, anyway? Acknowledgments. Introduction. Part I: Introduction. Chapter 1: What Is XML? Chapter 2: Well-Formed XML. Chapter 3: XML Namespaces. Part II: Validation. Chapter 4: Document Type Definitions. Chapter 5: XML Schemas. Chapter 6: RELAX NG. Part III: Processing. Chapter 7: XPath. Chapter 8: XSLT. Part IV: Databases. Chapter 9: XQuery, the XML Query Language. Chapter 10: XML and Databases. Part V: Programming. Chapter 11: The XML Document Object Model (DOM). Chapter 12: Simple API for XML (SAX). Part VI: Communication. Chapter 13: RSS, Atom, and Content Syndication. Chapter 14: Web Services. Chapter 15: SOAP and WSDL. Chapter 16: Ajax. Part VII: Display. Chapter 17: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Chapter 18: XHTML. Chapter 19: Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Chapter 20: XForms. Part VIII: Case Study. Chapter 21: Case Study: Payment Calculator. Chapter 22: Case Study: Payment Calculator-Ruby on Rails. Appendix A: Exercise Solutions. Appendix B: XPath Reference. Appendix C: XSLT Reference. Appendix D: The XML Document Object Model. Appendix E: XML Schema Element and Attribute Reference. Appendix F: XML Schema Datatypes Reference. Appendix G: SAX 2.0.2 Reference. Index.