XML: An Overview (2 day)

About this class

This course introduces XML concepts and how they can be applied in the context of general data processing, data integration and data exchange. A good foundation is provided for an understanding of how XML in its many forms has permeated the enterprise.

XML is examined as a format for data management and exchange, as well as investigating the methods available for storing and retrieving XML based data using Oracle 9i as an example database platform.

The course uses Microsoft Internet Explorer as a tool for validation and inspection of XML documents, with the manipulation of XML data examined through the use of the Java and JavaScript languages.

Several of the more popular open source tools are also reviewed, with an emphasis on the Apache XML Project.

Who will the lesson benefit?

• Developers
• Analyst/Programmers
• Designers

What prerequisites are required

None.

Contents of this class

• Introduction to XML
• History
• Overview of Concepts
• XML Concepts
• What is XML?
• XML Syntax and structure
• DTD
• XML parsers and APIs
• DOM and SAX
• XSL
• Namespaces
• XML Schemas
• What is an XML schema?
• Schemas and DTD
• XSD features
• Formatting and Presenting XML
• XSL Language
• XSL for transformation
• XPath
• CSS
• XSL
• (Formatting and Presenting XML and Data)
• XSL Language
• XSL for transformation
• XPath
• CSS
• Parsing & Validating XML
• Review of parsing
• XML parsers for programming languages
• The DOM parser
• Business logic and computation
• SAX: simple APIs for XML
• XML and Oracle 9i
• Overview of features
• Oracle XML DB
• Storing and manipulating XML XType
• The Apache XML Project
• Xerces - XML parser
• Xalan - XSLT and XPath
• FOP - Print formatting XSLFO