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003 XMLHandout

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is designed to transport and store data, allowing users to define their own tags and document structures. Unlike HTML, which focuses on displaying data, XML is about carrying information and is widely used for data transmission between applications. XML is a W3C Recommendation and has become essential in web development for simplifying data storage and sharing.

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fikiremariammamo12
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© © All Rights Reserved
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28 views34 pages

003 XMLHandout

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is designed to transport and store data, allowing users to define their own tags and document structures. Unlike HTML, which focuses on displaying data, XML is about carrying information and is widely used for data transmission between applications. XML is a W3C Recommendation and has become essential in web development for simplifying data storage and sharing.

Uploaded by

fikiremariammamo12
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 34

XML Tutorial

XML Basic
XML HOME
XML Tutorial
XML Introduction
XML How to use « W3Schools Home Next Chapter »
XML Tree
XML Syntax XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language.
XML Elements
XML Attributes
XML Validation
XML is designed to transport and store data.
XML Validator
XML Viewing XML is important to know, and very easy to learn.
XML CSS
XML XSLT _
XML JavaScript
XML HTTP Request XML Document Example
XML Parser
XML DOM
XML to HTML
<?xml version="1.0"?>
XML Application <note>
<to>Tove</to>
XML Advanced <from>Jani</from>
XML Namespaces <heading>Reminder</heading>
XML CDATA <body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
XML Encoding
XML Server
</note>
XML DOM Advanced
XML Don't
XML Technologies
XML in Real Life
XML Editors
XML Summary

XML Examples
XML Examples
XML Quiz
XML Exam

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XML Introduction - What is XML?

BEST WEB HOSTING

XML Basic
XML HOME
Introduction to XML
XML Introduction
XML How to use « Previous Next Chapter »
XML Tree
XML Syntax
XML was designed to transport and store data.
XML Elements
XML Attributes
XML Validation HTML was designed to display data.
XML Validator
XML Viewing
XML CSS What You Should Already Know
XML XSLT
Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:
XML JavaScript
• HTML
XML HTTP Request • JavaScript
XML Parser
XML DOM If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on our Home page.
XML to HTML
XML Application
What is XML?
XML Advanced
XML Namespaces • XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language
XML CDATA • XML is a markup language much like HTML
XML Encoding • XML was designed to carry data, not to display data
XML Server • XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags
XML DOM Advanced • XML is designed to be self-descriptive
XML Don't • XML is a W3C Recommendation
XML Technologies
XML in Real Life
XML Editors The Difference Between XML and HTML
XML Summary
XML is not a replacement for HTML.
XML Examples
XML and HTML were designed with different goals:
XML Examples
XML Quiz • XML was designed to transport and store data, with focus on what data is.
XML Exam • HTML was designed to display data, with focus on how data looks.

HTML is about displaying information, while XML is about carrying information.

XML Does not DO Anything


Maybe it is a little hard to understand, but XML does not DO anything. XML was created to
structure, store, and transport information.

The following example is a note to Tove from Jani, stored as XML:

<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

The note above is quite self descriptive. It has sender and receiver information, it also has a
heading and a message body.

But still, this XML document does not DO anything. It is just pure information wrapped in tags.
Someone must write a piece of software to send, receive or display it.

XML is Just Plain Text


XML is nothing special. It is just plain text. Software that can handle plain text can also handle XML.

However, XML-aware applications can handle the XML tags specially. The functional meaning of the
tags depends on the nature of the application.

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XML Introduction - What is XML?

With XML You Invent Your Own Tags


The tags in the example above (like <to> and <from>) are not defined in any XML standard. These
tags are "invented" by the author of the XML document.

That is because the XML language has no predefined tags.

The tags used in HTML (and the structure of HTML) are predefined. HTML documents can only use
tags defined in the HTML standard (like <p>, <h1>, etc.).

XML allows the author to define his own tags and his own document structure.

XML is Not a Replacement for HTML


XML is a complement to HTML.

It is important to understand that XML is not a replacement for HTML. In most web applications,
XML is used to transport data, while HTML is used to format and display the data.

My best description of XML is this:

XML is a software- and hardware-independent tool for carrying information.

XML is a W3C Recommendation


XML became a W3C Recommendation 10. February 1998.

To read more about the XML activities at W3C, please read our W3C Tutorial.

XML is Everywhere
We have been participating in XML development since its creation. It has been amazing to see how
quickly the XML standard has developed, and how quickly a large number of software vendors has
adopted the standard.

XML is now as important for the Web as HTML was to the foundation of the Web.

XML is everywhere. It is the most common tool for data transmissions between all sorts of
applications, and is becoming more and more popular in the area of storing and describing
information.

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<?xmlversion="1.0"?>
<?xml version "1 0"?>
<diningͲroom>
<manufacturer>TheWoodShop</manufacturer>
<tabletype="round"wood="maple">
<price>$199 99</price>
<price>$199.99</price>
</table>
<chairwood="maple">
<quantity>6</quantity>
<price>$39 99</price>
<price>$39.99</price>
</chair>
</diningͲroom>

<?xmlversion="1.0"?>
<SONG>
<TITLE>Mambo</TITLE>
<COMPOSER>EnriqueGarcia</COMPOSER>
<PRODUCER>EnriqueGarcia</PRODUCER>
<PUBLISHER>Sony Music Entertainment</PUBLISHER>
<PUBLISHER>SonyMusicEntertainment</PUBLISHER>
<LENGTH>3:46</LENGTH>
<YEAR>1991</YEAR>
<ARTIST>Azucar Moreno</ARTIST>
</SONG>

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<?xmlversion="1.0"encoding="UTFͲ8"?>
<DOCUMENT>
<GREETING>HellofromXML</GREETING>
<MESSAGE>WelcometoPrograming XMLinJava</MESSAGE>
</DOCUMENT>
</DOCUMENT>

<?xmlversion="1.0"?>
<SCHOOL>
<CLASStype="seminar">
<CLASS_TITLE>XMLInTheRealWorld</CLASS_TITLE>
h l ld /
<CLASS_NUMBER>6.031</CLASS_NUMBER>
<SUBJECT>XML</SUBJECT>
<START_DATE>6/1/2002</START_DATE>
STUDENTS 
<STUDENTS>
<STUDENTstatus="attending">
<FIRST_NAME>Edward</FIRST_NAME>
<LAST_NAME>Samson</LAST_NAME>
</STUDENT>
<STUDENTstatus="withdrawn">
STUDENT " i hd "
<FIRST_NAME>Ernestine</FIRST_NAME>
<LAST_NAME>Johnson</LAST_NAME>
</STUDENT>
</STUDENTS>
/S U S
</CLASS>
</SCHOOL>

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<InitialOrder>
<From>SalwaCoop</From><To>FadelKhudadeh</To>
<Items>
<Item><name>Pepsi</name><Qty>10</Qty><UnitPrice>??</UnitPrice></Item>
<Item><name>Choco.</name><Qty>8</Qty><UnitPrice>??</UnitPrice></Item>
</Items>
</InitialOrder>

1
2

4
SalwaCoop’s
Computer
FFadel
d l
Khudadeh’s
Computer

<InitialOrder> 3
<From>FadelKhudadeh</From><To>SalwaCoop</To>
<Items>
<Item><name>Pepsi</name><Qty>10</Qty><UnitPrice>.095</UnitPrice></Item>
<Item><name>Choco.</name><Qty>8</Qty><UnitPrice>.660</UnitPrice></Item>
</Items>
</InitialOrder>

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XML Usage

XML Basic
XML HOME
How Can XML be Used?
XML Introduction
XML How to use « Previous Next Chapter »
XML Tree
XML Syntax
XML is used in many aspects of web development, often to simplify data storage
XML Elements
XML Attributes and sharing.
XML Validation
XML Validator
XML Viewing XML Separates Data from HTML
XML CSS
XML XSLT If you need to display dynamic data in your HTML document, it will take a lot of work to edit the
HTML each time the data changes.
XML JavaScript
With XML, data can be stored in separate XML files. This way you can concentrate on using HTML for
XML HTTP Request layout and display, and be sure that changes in the underlying data will not require any changes to
XML Parser the HTML.
XML DOM
XML to HTML With a few lines of JavaScript, you can read an external XML file and update the data content of
XML Application your HTML.

XML Advanced You will learn more about this in a later chapter of this tutorial.
XML Namespaces
XML CDATA
XML Encoding XML Simplifies Data Sharing
XML Server
XML DOM Advanced In the real world, computer systems and databases contain data in incompatible formats.
XML Don't
XML data is stored in plain text format. This provides a software- and hardware-independent way of
XML Technologies
storing data.
XML in Real Life
XML Editors This makes it much easier to create data that different applications can share.
XML Summary

XML Examples XML Simplifies Data Transport


XML Examples
XML Quiz With XML, data can easily be exchanged between incompatible systems.
XML Exam
One of the most time-consuming challenges for developers is to exchange data between
incompatible systems over the Internet.

Exchanging data as XML greatly reduces this complexity, since the data can be read by different
incompatible applications.

XML Simplifies Platform Changes


Upgrading to new systems (hardware or software platforms), is always very time consuming. Large
amounts of data must be converted and incompatible data is often lost.

XML data is stored in text format. This makes it easier to expand or upgrade to new operating
systems, new applications, or new browsers, without losing data.

XML Makes Your Data More Available


Since XML is independent of hardware, software and application, XML can make your data more
available and useful.

Different applications can access your data, not only in HTML pages, but also from XML data
sources.

With XML, your data can be available to all kinds of "reading machines" (Handheld computers, voice
machines, news feeds, etc), and make it more available for blind people, or people with other
disabilities.

XML is Used to Create New Internet Languages


A lot of new Internet languages are created with XML.

Here are some examples:

• XHTML the latest version of HTML


• WSDL for describing available web services

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XML Usage

• WAP and WML as markup languages for handheld devices


• RSS languages for news feeds
• RDF and OWL for describing resources and ontology
• SMIL for describing multimedia for the web

If Developers Have Sense


If they DO have sense, future applications will exchange their data in XML.

The future might give us word processors, spreadsheet applications and databases that can read
each other's data in a pure text format, without any conversion utilities in between.

We can only pray that all the software vendors will agree.

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XML Tree

XML Basic
XML HOME
XML Tree
XML Introduction
XML How to use « Previous Next Chapter »
XML Tree
XML Syntax
XML documents form a tree structure that starts at "the root" and branches to "the
XML Elements
XML Attributes leaves".
XML Validation
XML Validator
XML Viewing An Example XML Document
XML CSS
XML XSLT XML documents use a self-describing and simple syntax:

XML JavaScript <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>


XML HTTP Request <note>
XML Parser <to>Tove</to>
XML DOM <from>Jani</from>
XML to HTML <heading>Reminder</heading>
XML Application <body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
XML Advanced
XML Namespaces The first line is the XML declaration. It defines the XML version (1.0) and the encoding used (ISO-
XML CDATA 8859-1 = Latin-1/West European character set).
XML Encoding
XML Server The next line describes the root element of the document (like saying: "this document is a note"):
XML DOM Advanced
XML Don't
XML Technologies <note>
XML in Real Life
XML Editors The next 4 lines describe 4 child elements of the root (to, from, heading, and body):
XML Summary

XML Examples <to>Tove</to>


<from>Jani</from>
XML Examples
<heading>Reminder</heading>
XML Quiz
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
XML Exam

And finally the last line defines the end of the root element:

</note>

You can assume, from this example, that the XML document contains a note to Tove from Jani.

Don't you agree that XML is pretty self-descriptive?

XML Documents Form a Tree Structure


XML documents must contain a root element. This element is "the parent" of all other elements.

The elements in an XML document form a document tree. The tree starts at the root and branches
to the lowest level of the tree.

All elements can have sub elements (child elements):

<root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
</root>

The terms parent, child, and sibling are used to describe the relationships between elements. Parent
elements have children. Children on the same level are called siblings (brothers or sisters).

All elements can have text content and attributes (just like in HTML).

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XML Tree

Example:

The image above represents one book in the XML below:

<bookstore>
<book category="COOKING">
<title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
<author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="CHILDREN">
<title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
</book>
<book category="WEB">
<title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
<author>Erik T. Ray</author>
<year>2003</year>
<price>39.95</price>
</book>
</bookstore>

The root element in the example is <bookstore>. All <book> elements in the document are
contained within <bookstore>.

The <book> element has 4 children: <title>,< author>, <year>, <price>.

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XML Syntax

XML Basic
XML HOME
XML Syntax Rules
XML Introduction
XML How to use « Previous Next Chapter »
XML Tree
XML Syntax
The syntax rules of XML are very simple and logical. The rules are easy to learn,
XML Elements
XML Attributes and easy to use.
XML Validation
XML Validator
XML Viewing All XML Elements Must Have a Closing Tag
XML CSS
XML XSLT In HTML, you will often see elements that don't have a closing tag:

XML JavaScript <p>This is a paragraph


XML HTTP Request <p>This is another paragraph
XML Parser
XML DOM
XML to HTML In XML, it is illegal to omit the closing tag. All elements must have a closing tag:
XML Application
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
XML Advanced <p>This is another paragraph</p>
XML Namespaces
XML CDATA
Note: You might have noticed from the previous example that the XML declaration did not have a
XML Encoding
closing tag. This is not an error. The declaration is not a part of the XML document itself, and it has
XML Server
no closing tag.
XML DOM Advanced
XML Don't
XML Technologies
XML in Real Life
XML Tags are Case Sensitive
XML Editors
XML elements are defined using XML tags.
XML Summary
XML tags are case sensitive. With XML, the tag <Letter> is different from the tag <letter>.
XML Examples
XML Examples Opening and closing tags must be written with the same case:
XML Quiz
XML Exam <Message>This is incorrect</message>
<message>This is correct</message>

Note: "Opening and closing tags" are often referred to as "Start and end tags". Use whatever you
prefer. It is exactly the same thing.

XML Elements Must be Properly Nested


In HTML, you might see improperly nested elements:

<b><i>This text is bold and italic</b></i>

In XML, all elements must be properly nested within each other:

<b><i>This text is bold and italic</i></b>

In the example above, "Properly nested" simply means that since the <i> element is opened inside
the <b> element, it must be closed inside the <b> element.

XML Documents Must Have a Root Element


XML documents must contain one element that is the parent of all other elements. This element is
called the root element.

<root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
</root>

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XML Syntax

XML Attribute Values Must be Quoted


XML elements can have attributes in name/value pairs just like in HTML.

In XML the attribute value must always be quoted. Study the two XML documents below. The first
one is incorrect, the second is correct:

<note date=12/11/2007>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>

<note date="12/11/2007">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>

The error in the first document is that the date attribute in the note element is not quoted.

Entity References
Some characters have a special meaning in XML.

If you place a character like "<" inside an XML element, it will generate an error because the parser
interprets it as the start of a new element.

This will generate an XML error:

<message>if salary < 1000 then</message>

To avoid this error, replace the "<" character with an entity reference:

<message>if salary &lt; 1000 then</message>

There are 5 predefined entity references in XML:

&lt; < less than


&gt; > greater than
&amp; & ampersand
&apos; ' apostrophe
&quot; " quotation mark

Note: Only the characters "<" and "&" are strictly illegal in XML. The greater than character is legal,
but it is a good habit to replace it.

Comments in XML
The syntax for writing comments in XML is similar to that of HTML.

<!-- This is a comment -->

White-space is Preserved in XML


HTML truncates multiple white-space characters to one single white-space:

HTML: Hello my name is Tove


Output: Hello my name is Tove.

With XML, the white-space in a document is not truncated.

XML Stores New Line as LF


In Windows applications, a new line is normally stored as a pair of characters: carriage return (CR)
and line feed (LF). The character pair bears some resemblance to the typewriter actions of setting a
new line. In Unix applications, a new line is normally stored as a LF character. Macintosh
applications also use an LF to store a new line.

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XML Elements

XML Basic
XML HOME
XML Elements
XML Introduction
XML How to use « Previous Next Chapter »
XML Tree
XML Syntax
An XML document contains XML Elements.
XML Elements
XML Attributes
XML Validation
XML Validator What is an XML Element?
XML Viewing
XML CSS An XML element is everything from (including) the element's start tag to (including) the element's
XML XSLT end tag.

An element can contain other elements, simple text or a mixture of both. Elements can also have
XML JavaScript attributes.
XML HTTP Request
XML Parser
XML DOM
<bookstore>
XML to HTML <book category="CHILDREN">
XML Application <title>Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
XML Advanced <year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
XML Namespaces </book>
XML CDATA <book category="WEB">
XML Encoding <title>Learning XML</title>
XML Server
<author>Erik T. Ray</author>
XML DOM Advanced
<year>2003</year>
XML Don't
<price>39.95</price>
XML Technologies
</book>
XML in Real Life
</bookstore>
XML Editors
XML Summary
In the example above, <bookstore> and <book> have element contents, because they contain
XML Examples other elements. <author> has text content because it contains text.
XML Examples
XML Quiz In the example above only <book> has an attribute (category="CHILDREN").
XML Exam

XML Naming Rules


XML elements must follow these naming rules:

• Names can contain letters, numbers, and other characters


• Names cannot start with a number or punctuation character
• Names cannot start with the letters xml (or XML, or Xml, etc)
• Names cannot contain spaces

Any name can be used, no words are reserved.

Best Naming Practices


Make names descriptive. Names with an underscore separator are nice: <first_name>,
<last_name>.

Names should be short and simple, like this: <book_title> not like this: <the_title_of_the_book>.

Avoid "-" characters. If you name something "first-name," some software may think you want to
subtract name from first.

Avoid "." characters. If you name something "first.name," some software may think that "name" is
a property of the object "first."

Avoid ":" characters. Colons are reserved to be used for something called namespaces (more later).

XML documents often have a corresponding database. A good practice is to use the naming rules of
your database for the elements in the XML documents.

Non-English letters like éòá are perfectly legal in XML, but watch out for problems if your software
vendor doesn't support them.

XML Elements are Extensible


XML elements can be extended to carry more information.

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XML Elements

Look at the following XML example:

<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

Let's imagine that we created an application that extracted the <to>, <from>, and <body>
elements from the XML document to produce this output:

MESSAGE

To: Tove
From: Jani

Don't forget me this weekend!

Imagine that the author of the XML document added some extra information to it:

<note>
<date>2008-01-10</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

Should the application break or crash?

No. The application should still be able to find the <to>, <from>, and <body> elements in the XML
document and produce the same output.

One of the beauties of XML, is that it can often be extended without breaking applications.

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XML Attributes

XML Basic
XML HOME
XML Attributes
XML Introduction
XML How to use « Previous Next Chapter »
XML Tree
XML Syntax
XML elements can have attributes in the start tag, just like HTML.
XML Elements
XML Attributes
XML Validation Attributes provide additional information about elements.
XML Validator
XML Viewing
XML CSS XML Attributes
XML XSLT
From HTML you will remember this: <img src="computer.gif">. The "src" attribute provides
XML JavaScript additional information about the <img> element.
XML HTTP Request In HTML (and in XML) attributes provide additional information about elements:
XML Parser
XML DOM
XML to HTML <img src="computer.gif">
XML Application <a href="demo.asp">

XML Advanced Attributes often provide information that is not a part of the data. In the example below, the file
XML Namespaces type is irrelevant to the data, but important to the software that wants to manipulate the element:
XML CDATA
XML Encoding
XML Server
<file type="gif">computer.gif</file>
XML DOM Advanced
XML Don't
XML Technologies
XML in Real Life XML Attributes Must be Quoted
XML Editors
XML Summary Attribute values must always be enclosed in quotes, but either single or double quotes can be used.
For a person's sex, the person tag can be written like this:
XML Examples
XML Examples <person sex="female">
XML Quiz
XML Exam
or like this:

<person sex='female'>

If the attribute value itself contains double quotes you can use single quotes, like in this example:

<gangster name='George "Shotgun" Ziegler'>

or you can use character entities:

<gangster name="George &quot;Shotgun&quot; Ziegler">

XML Elements vs. Attributes


Take a look at these examples:

<person sex="female">
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>

<person>
<sex>female</sex>
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>

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XML Attributes

In the first example sex is an attribute. In the last, sex is an element. Both examples provide the
same information.

There are no rules about when to use attributes and when to use elements. Attributes are handy in
HTML. In XML my advice is to avoid them. Use elements instead.

My Favorite Way
The following three XML documents contain exactly the same information:

A date attribute is used in the first example:

<note date="10/01/2008">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

A date element is used in the second example:

<note>
<date>10/01/2008</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

An expanded date element is used in the third: (THIS IS MY FAVORITE):

<note>
<date>
<day>10</day>
<month>01</month>
<year>2008</year>
</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

Avoid XML Attributes?


Some of the problems with using attributes are:

• attributes cannot contain multiple values (elements can)


• attributes cannot contain tree structures (elements can)
• attributes are not easily expandable (for future changes)

Attributes are difficult to read and maintain. Use elements for data. Use attributes for information
that is not relevant to the data.

Don't end up like this:

<note day="10" month="01" year="2008"


to="Tove" from="Jani" heading="Reminder"
body="Don't forget me this weekend!">
</note>

XML Attributes for Metadata


Sometimes ID references are assigned to elements. These IDs can be used to identify XML elements
in much the same way as the ID attribute in HTML. This example demonstrates this:

<messages>
<note id="501">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
<note id="502">
<to>Jani</to>
<from>Tove</from>

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XML Attributes

<heading>Re: Reminder</heading>
<body>I will not</body>
</note>
</messages>

The ID above is just an identifier, to identify the different notes. It is not a part of the note itself.

What I'm trying to say here is that metadata (data about data) should be stored as attributes, and
that data itself should be stored as elements.

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DTD Tutorial

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
DTD Tutorial
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes The purpose of a DTD (Document Type Definition) is to define
DTD Elements vs Attr
DTD Entities
the legal building blocks of an XML document.
DTD Validation
DTD Examples A DTD defines the document structure with a list of legal
DTD Summary elements and attributes.

DTD Newspaper Example


<!DOCTYPE NEWSPAPER [

<!ELEMENT NEWSPAPER (ARTICLE+)>


<!ELEMENT ARTICLE (HEADLINE,BYLINE,LEAD,BODY,NOTES)>
<!ELEMENT HEADLINE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT BYLINE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT LEAD (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT BODY (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT NOTES (#PCDATA)>

<!ATTLIST ARTICLE AUTHOR CDATA #REQUIRED>


<!ATTLIST ARTICLE EDITOR CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST ARTICLE DATE CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST ARTICLE EDITION CDATA #IMPLIED>

]>

« W3Schools Home Next Chapter »

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Introduction to DTD

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
Introduction to DTD
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks « Previous Next Chapter »
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes
A Document Type Definition (DTD) defines the legal building blocks of an XML
DTD Elements vs Attr
DTD Entities document. It defines the document structure with a list of legal elements and
DTD Validation attributes.
DTD Examples
DTD Summary A DTD can be declared inline inside an XML document, or as an external reference.

Internal DTD Declaration


If the DTD is declared inside the XML file, it should be wrapped in a DOCTYPE definition with the
following syntax:

<!DOCTYPE root-element [element-declarations]>

Example XML document with an internal DTD:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE note [
<!ELEMENT note (to,from,heading,body)>
<!ELEMENT to (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT heading (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT body (#PCDATA)>
]>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend</body>
</note>

Open the XML file above in your browser (select "view source" or "view page source" to view the
DTD)

The DTD above is interpreted like this:

• !DOCTYPE note defines that the root element of this document is note
• !ELEMENT note defines that the note element contains four elements:
"to,from,heading,body"
• !ELEMENT to defines the to element to be of type "#PCDATA"
• !ELEMENT from defines the from element to be of type "#PCDATA"
• !ELEMENT heading defines the heading element to be of type "#PCDATA"
• !ELEMENT body defines the body element to be of type "#PCDATA"

External DTD Declaration


If the DTD is declared in an external file, it should be wrapped in a DOCTYPE definition with the
following syntax:

<!DOCTYPE root-element SYSTEM "filename">

This is the same XML document as above, but with an external DTD (Open it, and select view
source):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE note SYSTEM "note.dtd">
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

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Introduction to DTD

And this is the file "note.dtd" which contains the DTD:

<!ELEMENT note (to,from,heading,body)>


<!ELEMENT to (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT heading (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT body (#PCDATA)>

Why Use a DTD?


With a DTD, each of your XML files can carry a description of its own format.

With a DTD, independent groups of people can agree to use a standard DTD for interchanging data.

Your application can use a standard DTD to verify that the data you receive from the outside world
is valid.

You can also use a DTD to verify your own data.

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DTD Building Blocks

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
DTD - XML Building Blocks
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes
The main building blocks of both XML and HTML documents are elements.
DTD Elements vs Attr
DTD Entities
DTD Validation
DTD Examples The Building Blocks of XML Documents
DTD Summary
Seen from a DTD point of view, all XML documents (and HTML documents) are made up by the
following building blocks:

• Elements
• Attributes
• Entities
• PCDATA
• CDATA

Elements
Elements are the main building blocks of both XML and HTML documents.

Examples of HTML elements are "body" and "table". Examples of XML elements could be "note" and
"message". Elements can contain text, other elements, or be empty. Examples of empty HTML
elements are "hr", "br" and "img".

Examples:

<body>some text</body>

<message>some text</message>

Attributes
Attributes provide extra information about elements.

Attributes are always placed inside the opening tag of an element. Attributes always come in
name/value pairs. The following "img" element has additional information about a source file:

<img src="computer.gif" />

The name of the element is "img". The name of the attribute is "src". The value of the attribute is
"computer.gif". Since the element itself is empty it is closed by a " /".

Entities
Some characters have a special meaning in XML, like the less than sign (<) that defines the start of
an XML tag.

Most of you know the HTML entity: "&nbsp;". This "no-breaking-space" entity is used in HTML to
insert an extra space in a document. Entities are expanded when a document is parsed by an XML
parser.

The following entities are predefined in XML:

Entity References Character


&lt; <
&gt; >
&amp; &
&quot; "
&apos; '

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DTD Building Blocks

PCDATA
PCDATA means parsed character data.

Think of character data as the text found between the start tag and the end tag of an XML element.

PCDATA is text that WILL be parsed by a parser. The text will be examined by the parser
for entities and markup.

Tags inside the text will be treated as markup and entities will be expanded.

However, parsed character data should not contain any &, <, or > characters; these need to be
represented by the &amp; &lt; and &gt; entities, respectively.

CDATA
CDATA means character data.

CDATA is text that will NOT be parsed by a parser. Tags inside the text will NOT be treated as
markup and entities will not be expanded.

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DTD Elements

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
DTD - Elements
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks « Previous Next Chapter »
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes
In a DTD, elements are declared with an ELEMENT declaration.
DTD Elements vs Attr
DTD Entities
DTD Validation
DTD Examples Declaring Elements
DTD Summary
In a DTD, XML elements are declared with an element declaration with the following syntax:

<!ELEMENT element-name category>


or
<!ELEMENT element-name (element-content)>

Empty Elements
Empty elements are declared with the category keyword EMPTY:

<!ELEMENT element-name EMPTY>

Example:

<!ELEMENT br EMPTY>

XML example:

<br />

Elements with Parsed Character Data


Elements with only parsed character data are declared with #PCDATA inside parentheses:

<!ELEMENT element-name (#PCDATA)>

Example:

<!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)>

Elements with any Contents


Elements declared with the category keyword ANY, can contain any combination of parsable data:

<!ELEMENT element-name ANY>

Example:

<!ELEMENT note ANY>

Elements with Children (sequences)


Elements with one or more children are declared with the name of the children elements inside
parentheses:

<!ELEMENT element-name (child1)>


or
<!ELEMENT element-name (child1,child2,...)>

Example:

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DTD Elements

<!ELEMENT note (to,from,heading,body)>

When children are declared in a sequence separated by commas, the children must appear in the
same sequence in the document. In a full declaration, the children must also be declared, and the
children can also have children. The full declaration of the "note" element is:

<!ELEMENT note (to,from,heading,body)>


<!ELEMENT to (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT heading (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT body (#PCDATA)>

Declaring Only One Occurrence of an Element


<!ELEMENT element-name (child-name)>

Example:

<!ELEMENT note (message)>

The example above declares that the child element "message" must occur once, and only once
inside the "note" element.

Declaring Minimum One Occurrence of an Element


<!ELEMENT element-name (child-name+)>

Example:

<!ELEMENT note (message+)>

The + sign in the example above declares that the child element "message" must occur one or more
times inside the "note" element.

Declaring Zero or More Occurrences of an Element


<!ELEMENT element-name (child-name*)>

Example:

<!ELEMENT note (message*)>

The * sign in the example above declares that the child element "message" can occur zero or more
times inside the "note" element.

Declaring Zero or One Occurrences of an Element


<!ELEMENT element-name (child-name?)>

Example:

<!ELEMENT note (message?)>

The ? sign in the example above declares that the child element "message" can occur zero or one
time inside the "note" element.

Declaring either/or Content


Example:

<!ELEMENT note (to,from,header,(message|body))>

The example above declares that the "note" element must contain a "to" element, a "from"
element, a "header" element, and either a "message" or a "body" element.

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DTD Elements

Declaring Mixed Content


Example:

<!ELEMENT note (#PCDATA|to|from|header|message)*>

The example above declares that the "note" element can contain zero or more occurrences of
parsed character data, "to", "from", "header", or "message" elements.

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DTD Attributes

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
DTD - Attributes
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes
In a DTD, attributes are declared with an ATTLIST declaration.
DTD Elements vs Attr
DTD Entities
DTD Validation
DTD Examples Declaring Attributes
DTD Summary
An attribute declaration has the following syntax:

<!ATTLIST element-name attribute-name attribute-type default-value>

DTD example:

<!ATTLIST payment type CDATA "check">

XML example:

<payment type="check" />

The attribute-type can be one of the following:

Type Description
CDATA The value is character data
(en1|en2|..) The value must be one from an enumerated list
ID The value is a unique id
IDREF The value is the id of another element
IDREFS The value is a list of other ids
NMTOKEN The value is a valid XML name
NMTOKENS The value is a list of valid XML names
ENTITY The value is an entity
ENTITIES The value is a list of entities
NOTATION The value is a name of a notation
xml: The value is a predefined xml value

The default-value can be one of the following:

Value Explanation
value The default value of the attribute
#REQUIRED The attribute is required
#IMPLIED The attribute is not required
#FIXED value The attribute value is fixed

A Default Attribute Value


DTD:
<!ELEMENT square EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST square width CDATA "0">

Valid XML:
<square width="100" />

In the example above, the "square" element is defined to be an empty element with a "width"
attribute of type CDATA. If no width is specified, it has a default value of 0.

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DTD Attributes

#REQUIRED
Syntax

<!ATTLIST element-name attribute-name attribute-type #REQUIRED>

Example

DTD:
<!ATTLIST person number CDATA #REQUIRED>

Valid XML:
<person number="5677" />

Invalid XML:
<person />

Use the #REQUIRED keyword if you don't have an option for a default value, but still want to force
the attribute to be present.

#IMPLIED
Syntax

<!ATTLIST element-name attribute-name attribute-type #IMPLIED>

Example

DTD:
<!ATTLIST contact fax CDATA #IMPLIED>

Valid XML:
<contact fax="555-667788" />

Valid XML:
<contact />

Use the #IMPLIED keyword if you don't want to force the author to include an attribute, and you
don't have an option for a default value.

#FIXED
Syntax

<!ATTLIST element-name attribute-name attribute-type #FIXED "value">

Example

DTD:
<!ATTLIST sender company CDATA #FIXED "Microsoft">

Valid XML:
<sender company="Microsoft" />

Invalid XML:
<sender company="W3Schools" />

Use the #FIXED keyword when you want an attribute to have a fixed value without allowing the
author to change it. If an author includes another value, the XML parser will return an error.

Enumerated Attribute Values


Syntax

<!ATTLIST element-name attribute-name (en1|en2|..) default-value>

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DTD Attributes

Example

DTD:
<!ATTLIST payment type (check|cash) "cash">

XML example:
<payment type="check" />
or
<payment type="cash" />

Use enumerated attribute values when you want the attribute value to be one of a fixed set of legal
values.

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XML Elements vs. Attributes

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
XML Elements vs. Attributes
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks « Previous Next Chapter »
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes
In XML, there are no rules about when to use attributes, and when to use child
DTD Elements vs Attr
DTD Entities elements.
DTD Validation
DTD Examples
DTD Summary Use of Elements vs. Attributes
Data can be stored in child elements or in attributes.

Take a look at these examples:

<person sex="female">
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>

<person>
<sex>female</sex>
<firstname>Anna</firstname>
<lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>

In the first example sex is an attribute. In the last, sex is a child element. Both examples provide
the same information.

There are no rules about when to use attributes, and when to use child elements. My experience is
that attributes are handy in HTML, but in XML you should try to avoid them. Use child elements if
the information feels like data.

My Favorite Way
I like to store data in child elements.

The following three XML documents contain exactly the same information:

A date attribute is used in the first example:

<note date="12/11/2002">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

A date element is used in the second example:

<note>
<date>12/11/2002</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

An expanded date element is used in the third: (THIS IS MY FAVORITE):

<note>
<date>
<day>12</day>
<month>11</month>
<year>2002</year>
</date>
<to>Tove</to>

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XML Elements vs. Attributes

<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

Avoid using attributes?


Should you avoid using attributes?

Some of the problems with attributes are:

• attributes cannot contain multiple values (child elements can)


• attributes are not easily expandable (for future changes)
• attributes cannot describe structures (child elements can)
• attributes are more difficult to manipulate by program code
• attribute values are not easy to test against a DTD

If you use attributes as containers for data, you end up with documents that are difficult to read
and maintain. Try to use elements to describe data. Use attributes only to provide information that
is not relevant to the data.

Don't end up like this (this is not how XML should be used):

<note day="12" month="11" year="2002"


to="Tove" from="Jani" heading="Reminder"
body="Don't forget me this weekend!">
</note>

An Exception to my Attribute Rule


Rules always have exceptions.

My rule about attributes has one exception:

Sometimes I assign ID references to elements. These ID references can be used to access XML
elements in much the same way as the NAME or ID attributes in HTML. This example demonstrates
this:

<messages>
<note id="p501">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

<note id="p502">
<to>Jani</to>
<from>Tove</from>
<heading>Re: Reminder</heading>
<body>I will not!</body>
</note>
</messages>

The ID in these examples is just a counter, or a unique identifier, to identify the different notes in
the XML file, and not a part of the note data.

What I am trying to say here is that metadata (data about data) should be stored as attributes, and
that data itself should be stored as elements.

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DTD Entities

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
DTD - Entities
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks « Previous Next Chapter »
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes
Entities are variables used to define shortcuts to standard text or special
DTD Elements vs Attr
DTD Entities characters.
DTD Validation
DTD Examples • Entity references are references to entities
DTD Summary
• Entities can be declared internal or external

An Internal Entity Declaration


Syntax

<!ENTITY entity-name "entity-value">

Example

DTD Example:

<!ENTITY writer "Donald Duck.">


<!ENTITY copyright "Copyright W3Schools.">

XML example:

<author>&writer;&copyright;</author>

Note: An entity has three parts: an ampersand (&), an entity name, and a semicolon (;).

An External Entity Declaration


Syntax

<!ENTITY entity-name SYSTEM "URI/URL">

Example

DTD Example:

<!ENTITY writer SYSTEM "http://www.w3schools.com/entities.dtd">


<!ENTITY copyright SYSTEM "http://www.w3schools.com/entities.dtd">

XML example:

<author>&writer;&copyright;</author>

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DTD Examples

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
DTD - Examples from the internet
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks « Previous Next Chapter »
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes
DTD Elements vs Attr TV Schedule DTD
DTD Entities
DTD Validation By David Moisan. Copied from http://www.davidmoisan.org/
DTD Examples
DTD Summary <!DOCTYPE TVSCHEDULE [

<!ELEMENT TVSCHEDULE (CHANNEL+)>


<!ELEMENT CHANNEL (BANNER,DAY+)>
<!ELEMENT BANNER (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT DAY (DATE,(HOLIDAY|PROGRAMSLOT+)+)>
<!ELEMENT HOLIDAY (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT DATE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT PROGRAMSLOT (TIME,TITLE,DESCRIPTION?)>
<!ELEMENT TIME (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT TITLE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT DESCRIPTION (#PCDATA)>

<!ATTLIST TVSCHEDULE NAME CDATA #REQUIRED>


<!ATTLIST CHANNEL CHAN CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST PROGRAMSLOT VTR CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST TITLE RATING CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST TITLE LANGUAGE CDATA #IMPLIED>
]>

Newspaper Article DTD


Copied from http://www.vervet.com/

<!DOCTYPE NEWSPAPER [

<!ELEMENT NEWSPAPER (ARTICLE+)>


<!ELEMENT ARTICLE (HEADLINE,BYLINE,LEAD,BODY,NOTES)>
<!ELEMENT HEADLINE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT BYLINE (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT LEAD (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT BODY (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT NOTES (#PCDATA)>

<!ATTLIST ARTICLE AUTHOR CDATA #REQUIRED>


<!ATTLIST ARTICLE EDITOR CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST ARTICLE DATE CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST ARTICLE EDITION CDATA #IMPLIED>

<!ENTITY NEWSPAPER "Vervet Logic Times">


<!ENTITY PUBLISHER "Vervet Logic Press">
<!ENTITY COPYRIGHT "Copyright 1998 Vervet Logic Press">

]>

Product Catalog DTD


Copied from http://www.vervet.com/

<!DOCTYPE CATALOG [

<!ENTITY AUTHOR "John Doe">


<!ENTITY COMPANY "JD Power Tools, Inc.">
<!ENTITY EMAIL "[email protected]">

<!ELEMENT CATALOG (PRODUCT+)>

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DTD Examples

<!ELEMENT PRODUCT
(SPECIFICATIONS+,OPTIONS?,PRICE+,NOTES?)>
<!ATTLIST PRODUCT
NAME CDATA #IMPLIED
CATEGORY (HandTool|Table|Shop-Professional) "HandTool"
PARTNUM CDATA #IMPLIED
PLANT (Pittsburgh|Milwaukee|Chicago) "Chicago"
INVENTORY (InStock|Backordered|Discontinued) "InStock">

<!ELEMENT SPECIFICATIONS (#PCDATA)>


<!ATTLIST SPECIFICATIONS
WEIGHT CDATA #IMPLIED
POWER CDATA #IMPLIED>

<!ELEMENT OPTIONS (#PCDATA)>


<!ATTLIST OPTIONS
FINISH (Metal|Polished|Matte) "Matte"
ADAPTER (Included|Optional|NotApplicable) "Included"
CASE (HardShell|Soft|NotApplicable) "HardShell">

<!ELEMENT PRICE (#PCDATA)>


<!ATTLIST PRICE
MSRP CDATA #IMPLIED
WHOLESALE CDATA #IMPLIED
STREET CDATA #IMPLIED
SHIPPING CDATA #IMPLIED>

<!ELEMENT NOTES (#PCDATA)>

]>

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DTD Summary

DTD Tutorial
DTD HOME
You Have Learned DTD, Now What?
DTD Introduction
DTD Building Blocks « Previous Next Chapter »
DTD Elements
DTD Attributes
DTD Elements vs Attr DTD Summary
DTD Entities
DTD Validation This tutorial has taught you how to describe the structure of an XML document.
DTD Examples
You have learned how to use a DTD to define the legal elements of an XML document, and how a
DTD Summary
DTD can be declared inside your XML document, or as an external reference.

You have learned how to declare the legal elements, attributes, entities, and CDATA sections for
XML documents.

You have also seen how to validate an XML document against a DTD.

Now You Know DTD, What's Next?


The next step is to learn about XML Schema.

XML Schema is used to define the legal elements of an XML document, just like a DTD. We think
that very soon XML Schemas will be used in most Web applications as a replacement for DTDs.

XML Schema is an XML-based alternative to DTD.

Unlike DTD, XML Schemas has support for data types and namespaces.

If you want to learn more about XML Schema, please visit our XML Schema tutorial.

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