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Beginning XML, 4th Edition /byDavid Hunter (Author), Jeff Rafter (Author), Joe Fawcett (Author), Eric van der Vlist (Author), Danny Ayers (Author), Jon Duckett (Author), Andrew Watt (Author), Linda McKinnon (Author).Beginning XML provides a complete course in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) with an unusually gradual learning curve. In fact, the introduction states that the book is "for people who know that it would be a pretty good idea to learn the language, but aren't 100 percent sure why." Despite its recognition of the fuzziness of readers' understanding of the technology, the book delivers a rather comprehensive study of XML.
Very little space is wasted detailing the history of XML and its relation to SGML, as is the case in many other titles. The argument for the importance of XML is made quickly, and the basics of well-formed syntax are tackled right off. One notable distinction of this book is its excellent coverage of related technologies, such as cascading style sheets (CSS) and relational databases.
In addition to discussing the crucial companion standards to the core XML language (DTDs, XSL, and XSLT), the book adds a nice perspective to the broad range of applications in which XML can play a role. One section, "Other Uses for XML," illustrates how XML can be used to serialize object models, creating stateless objects and utilizing the Resource Description Framework (RDF). Case studies on--among other things--how XML can be used to build discussion groups, and provide B2B data transfer, round out the text. This book is perfect for Web programmers who are turning their attention to XML for the first time. It imparts a solid understanding of the XML forest and XML trees. --Stephen W. Plain
Part I: Introduction: The introduction is where most readers should begin. The first three chapters introduce some of the goals of XML as well as the specific rules for constructing XML. Once you have read this part you should be able to read and create your own XML documents.
Chapter 1: What Is XML?: This chapter cover some basic concepts, introducing the fact that XML is a markup language (a bit like HTML) whereby you can define your own elements, tags, and attributes (known as a vocabulary). You’ll see that tags have no presentation meaning—they’re just a way to describe the structure of the data.
Chapter 2: Well-Formed XML: In addition to explaining what well-formed XML is, we offer a look at the rules that exist (the XML 1.0 and 1.1 Recommendations) for naming and structuring elements—you need to comply with these rules in order to produce well-formed XML.
Chapter 3: XML Namespaces: Because tags can be made up, you need to avoid name conflicts when sharing documents. Namespaces provide a way to uniquely identify a group of tags, using a URI. This chapter explains how to use namespaces.
Part II: Validation: In addition to the well-formedness rules you learn in Part I, you will most likely want to learn how to create and use different XML vocabularies. This Part introduces you to DTDs, XML Schemas, and RELAX NG: three languages that define custom XML vocabularies. It also shows you how to utilize these definitions to validate your XML documents.
Chapter 4: Document Type Definitions: You can specify how an XML document should be structured, and even provide default values, using Document Type Definitions (DTDs). If XML conforms to the associated DTD, it is known as valid XML. This chapter covers the basics of using DTDs.
Chapter 5: XML Schemas: XML Schemas, like DTDs, enable you to define how a document should be structured. In addition to defining document structure, they enable you to specify the individual datatypes of attribute values and element content. They are a more powerful alternative to DTDs.
Chapter 6: RELAX NG: RELAX NG is a third technology used to define the structure of documents. In addition to a new syntax and new features, it takes the best from XML Schemas and DTDs, and is therefore very simple and very powerful. RELAX NG has two syntaxes; both the full syntax and compact syntax are discussed.
Part III: Processing: In addition to defining and creating XML documents, you need to know how to work with documents to extract information and convert it to other formats. In fact, easily extracting information and converting it to other formats is what makes XML so powerful.
Chapter 7: XPath: The XPath language is used to locate sections and data in the XML document, and it’s important in many other XML technologies.
Chapter 8: XSLT: XML can be transformed into other XML documents, HTML, and other formats using XSLT stylesheets, which are introduced in this chapter.
Part IV: Databases: Creating and processing XML documents is good, but eventually you will want to store those documents. This section describes strategies for storing and retrieving XML documents and document fragments from different databases.
Chapter 9: XQuery, the XML Query Language: Very often, you will need to retrieve information from within a database. XQuery, which is built on XPath and XPath2, enables you to do this in an elegant way.
Chapter 10: XML and Databases: XML is perfect for structuring data, and some traditional databases are beginning to offer support for XML. This chapter discusses these, and provides a general overview of how XML can be used in an n-tier architecture. In addition, new databases based on XML are introduced.
Part V: Programming: At some point in your XML career, you will need to work with an XML document from within a custom application. The two most popular methodologies, the Document Object Model (DOM) and the Simple API for XML (SAX), are explained in this part.
Chapter 11: The Document Object Model (DOM): Programmers can use a variety of programming languages to manipulate XML using the Document Object Model’s objects, interfaces, methods, and properties, which are described in this chapter.
Chapter 12: Simple API for XML (SAX): An alternative to the DOM for programmatically manipulating XML data is to use the Simple API for XML (SAX) as an interface. This chapter shows how to use SAX and utilizes examples from the Java SAX API.
Part VI: Communication: Sending and receiving data from one computer to another is often difficult, but several technologies have been created to make communication with XML much easier. This part discusses RSS and content syndication, as well as web services and SOAP. This edition includes a new chapter on Ajax techniques.
Chapter 13: RSS, Atom, and Content Syndication: RSS is an actively evolving technology that is used to publish syndicated news stories and website summaries on the Internet. This chapter not only discusses how to use the different versions of RSS and Atom, it also covers the future direction of the technology. In addition, it demonstrates how to create a simple newsreader application that works with any of the currently published versions.
Chapter 14: Web Services: Web services enable you to perform cross-computer communications. This chapter describes web services and introduces you to using remote procedure calls in XML (using XML-RPC and REST), as well as giving you a brief look at major topics such as SOAP. Finally, it breaks down the assortment of specifications designed to work in conjunction with web services.
Chapter 15: SOAP and WSDL: Fundamental to XML web services, the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is one of the most popular specifications for allowing cross-computer communications. Using SOAP, you can package up XML documents and send them across the Internet to be processed. This chapter explains SOAP and the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) that is used to publish your service.
Chapter 16: Ajax: Ajax enables you to utilize JavaScript with web services and SOAP, or REST communications. Additionally, Ajax patterns can be used within web pages to communicate with the web server without refreshing. This chapter is new to the Fourth Edition.
Part VII: Display: Several XML technologies are devoted to displaying the data stored inside of an XML document. Some of these technologies are web-based, and some are designed for applications and mobile devices. This part discusses the primary display strategies and formats used today.
Chapter 17: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): Website designers have long been using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) with their HTML to easily make changes to a website’s presentation without having to touch the underlying HTML documents. This power is also available for XML, enabling you to display XML documents right in the browser. Or, if you need a bit more flexibility with your presentation, you can use XSLT to transform your XML to HTML or XHTML and then use CSS to style these documents.
Chapter 18: XHTML: XHTML is a new version of HTML that follows the rules of XML. This chapter discusses the differences between HTML and XHTML, and shows you how XHTML can help make your sites available to a wider variety of browsers, from legacy browsers to the latest browsers on mobile phones.
Chapter 19: Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG): Do you want to produce a custom graphic using XML? SVG enables you to describe a graphic using XML-based vector commands. This chapter teaches you the basics of SVG and then dives into a more complex SVG-based application that can be published to the Internet.
Chapter 20: XForms: XForms are XML-based forms that can be used to design desktop applications, paper-based forms, and of course XHTML-based forms. This chapter demonstrates both the basics and some of the more interesting uses of XForms.
Part VIII: Case Study: Throughout the book you’ll gain an understanding of how XML is used in web, business-to-business (B2B), data storage, and many other applications. The case study covers an example application and shows how the theory can be put into practice in real-life situations. The case study is new to this edition.
Chapter 21: Case Study: Payment Calculator: This case study explores some of the possibilities and strategies for using XML in your website. It includes an example that demonstrates a loan payment calculator by creating a web page using XHTML and CSS, communicating with a local web service using AJAX, utilizing an XML Schema to build data structures in .NET, and ultimately using the Document Object Model to display the results in SVG. An online version of this case study on the book’s website covers the same material using Ruby on Rails instead of .NET.
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