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INTRODUCTION

 What is XML?
  • XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language
  • XML is a markup language much like HTML
  • XML was designed to store and transport data
  • XML was designed to be self-descriptive
  • XML is a W3C Recommendation
The Difference Between   XML and HTML
XML and HTML were designed with different goals:
  • XML was designed to carry data - with focus on what data is
  • HTML was designed to display data - with focus on how data looks
  • XML tags are not predefined like HTML tags are.
For   example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<contact-info>
<name>Tanmay Patil</name>
<company>TutorialsPoint</company>
<phone>(011) 123-4567</phone>
</contact-info>

 XML Documents Must Have a Root Element
XML documents must contain one root element that is the parent of all other elements:
<root>
  <child>
    <subchild>.....</subchild>
  </child>
</root>
In this example <note> is the root element:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<note>
  <to>Tove</to>
  <from>Jani</from>
  <heading>Reminder</heading>
  <body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
The XML Prolog
This line is called the XML prolog:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
The XML prolog is optional. If it exists, it must come first in the document.
XML documents can contain international characters, like Norwegian øæå or French êèé.
To avoid errors, you should specify the encoding used, or save your XML files as UTF-8.
UTF-8 is the default character encoding for XML documents.

XML Tags are Case Sensitive:
XML tags are case sensitive. The tag <Letter> is different from the tag <letter>.
Opening and closing tags must be written with the same case:
<Message>This is incorrect</message>
<message>This is correct</message>
"Opening and closing tags" are often referred to as "Start and end tags". Use whatever you prefer. It is exactly the same thing.

XML Attribute Values Must be Quoted
XML elements can have attributes in name/value pairs just like in HTML.
In XML, the attribute values must always be quoted.
INCORRECT:
<note date=12/11/2007>
  <to>Tove</to>
  <from>Jani</from>
</note>
CORRECT:
<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>salary < 1000</message>
To avoid this error, replace the "<" character with an entity reference:
<message>salary &lt; 1000</message>
There are 5 pre-defined entity references in XML:
&lt;
< 
less than
&gt;
> 
greater than
&amp;
&
ampersand 
&apos;
'
apostrophe
&quot;
"
quotation mark





Comments in XML:
The syntax for writing comments in XML is similar to that of HTML.
<!-- This is a comment -->
Two dashes in the middle of a comment are not allowed.
Not allowed:
<!-- This is a -- comment -->
Strange, but allowed:
<!-- This is a - - comment -->

What is an XML Element?
An XML element is everything from (including) the element's start tag to (including) the element's end tag.
<price>29.99</price>
An element can contain:
  • text
  • attributes
  • other elements
  • or a mix of the above
<bookstore>
  <book category="children">
    <title>Harry Potter</title>
    <author>J K. Rowling</author>
    <year>2005</year>
    <price>29.99</price>
  </book>
  <book category="web">
    <title>Learning XML</title>
    <author>Erik T. Ray</author>
    <year>2003</year>
    <price>39.95</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>

In the example above:
<title>, <author>, <year>, and <price> have text content because they contain text (like 29.99).
<bookstore> and <book> have element contents, because they contain elements.
<book> has an attribute (category="children").
XML elements can have attributes, just like HTML.
Attributes are designed to contain data related to a specific element.
XML Attributes Must be Quoted
Attribute values must always be quoted. Either single or double quotes can be used.
For a person's gender, the <person> element can be written like this:
<person gender="female">
or like this:
<person gender='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 gender="female">
  <firstname>Anna</firstname>
  <lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>

<person>
  <gender>female</gender>
  <firstname>Anna</firstname>
  <lastname>Smith</lastname>
</person>
In the first example gender is an attribute. In the last, gender is an element. Both examples provide the same information.
There are no rules about when to use attributes or when to use elements in XML.
My Favorite Way
The following three XML documents contain exactly the same information:
A date attribute is used in the first example:
<note date="2008-01-10">
  <to>Tove</to>
  <from>Jani</from>
</note>
A <date> element is used in the second example:
<note>
  <date>2008-01-10</date>
  <to>Tove</to>
  <from>Jani</from>
</note>
An expanded <date> element is used in the third example: (THIS IS MY FAVORITE):
<note>
  <date>
    <year>2008</year>
    <month>01</month>
    <day>10</day>
  </date>
  <to>Tove</to>
  <from>Jani</from>
</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>
    <heading>Re: Reminder</heading>
    <body>I will not</body>
  </note>
</messages>


An Example XML Document
The image above represents books in this XML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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>
XML Tree Structure
XML documents are formed as element trees.
An XML tree starts at a root element and branches from the root to child elements.
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 have children. Children have parents. Siblings are children on the same level (brothers and sisters).
All elements can have text content (Harry Potter) and attributes (category="cooking").
Self-Describing Syntax
XML uses a much self-describing syntax.
A prolog defines the XML version and the character encoding:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
The next line is the root element of the document:
<bookstore>
The next line starts a <book> element:
<book category="cooking">
The <book> elements have 4 child elements: <title>,< author>, <year>, <price>.
<title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
<author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
The next line ends the book element:
</book>
You can assume, from this example, that the XML document contains information about books in a bookstore.

 

 

 

 



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