What We'll Be Doing With XML
April 12, 1999
Okay, so you've read WDVL's
XML introduction, you've devoured
Selena's
XML tutorial, part 1 and
part 2,
and you're eager to start doing something with XML.
Well, you've come to the right place.
[That is, unless you're looking for our
XML home page,
a regular XML-link-o-rama.]
Here's the game plan -- we're going to:
- see what this XML parsing is all about
- concoct a small XML document using our own markup language
(our own elements)
- consider the age-old question of elements vs. attributes
- take a look at our XML example using Internet Explorer 5
- use something called DTDGenerator to generate a no-fuss DTD for
our markup language
- associate the DTD with our XML instance
- take another look at our XML in IE5, investigating IE's error
diagnostics
- run our XML through an online validator and interpret the
results
Then next month, we'll experiment with a few inexpensive XML
editors and dabble in style sheets. In summer 1999, we'll
feature a several part XSL tutorial that picks up where
"Doing It with XML, Part 2" leaves off. Sounds like a
good plan, right? We're going to have fun for a change with this
XML stuff!
There's just one catch. Much as I hate to say it, being a former
Unix head and Mac-o-phile, many of the tools we'll be using are
only available for Windows at this time. More specifically, you
will need to use
Internet Explorer 5.0 (released March 18, 1999)
or later to view some of the examples.
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We'll be sure sure to point out what platform and browser is
required in each section of this article.
The other catch (especially for next month's article) is that a
few of the tools used will require Java external to your browser,
either as the JDK (Java Development Kit) or the JRE (Java Runtime
Environment), both of which are available from
this JavaSoft Products page.
We'll point out where JDK or JRE are required as well.
Keep in mind that the name of this article is
"Doing it With XML". It is designed to
be interactive. So please don't simply read or skim the article.
You'll learn a great deal more by trying out each of the things
that are suggested, even if it means downloading and installing
IE5. (Plan to spend about 2 hours more than your
normal reading time for these extra-curricular activities.)
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Before you conclude that WDVL has gone MSIE-happy,
you might want to read the viewpoint of the
Web Standards Project (WaSP) which
accompanied the March 18, 1999 release of IE5, saying that the
browser falls short on standards support.
There's also an
article on CNET
that covers a similar viewpoint. IE users are sure to be
interested in
XML Support in IE 5,
the first part of a multi-part article written by XML spec
co-editor Tim Bray. And we're not Microsoft Bashers either, so
we'll point out that there are
numerous positive reviews of IE5 collected on the Microsoft site.
Doing It With XML, Part 1
What's It All About, Ælfred?
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