DevCon 2000 Adam Cogan eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

DevCon 2000DevCon 2000

Adam CoganAdam Cogan

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)


About AdamAbout Adam Developer - experience with:

internal corporate development and

generic off-the-shelf databases

Clients: Tennis Australia, Cabletron, Cisco….

President - Access/ASP/SQL Server User Group, Sydney

Speaker for Microsoft Roadshows

Email: [email protected]


… Agenda… Agenda

Why do we need XML? XML Overview XML Structure Validation Using XML

Data binding for the web XSL VBA Applications (Using Document

Object Model) XML for n-tier


… What is the Problem?… What is the Problem?

Applications cannot understand other applications data.

Laying out data on documents, web pages and forms has to be custom.

There is no universal standard for data structure.


What is an Example?…What is an Example?…

Let's say you receive an email and wish to save the contact information of the sender. Generally, you would copy the text about the sender and paste it in an application.

To use the contact information in Outlook, you would paste each part of the contact data into the appropriate field.

To use the contact in Word you would past the text in Word.

To do a bar graph showing what city your contacts reside in the data would be moved to Excel.


The Solution - XML …The Solution - XML …

With XML, all of these application could understand and use the data easily.

XML makes it easy for different people using different kind of software to understand and exchange information.


… Fundamentals… Fundamentals

XML is not an application. A browser simply reads a text stream and

displays it in the browser. HTML will format the text that is shown in the

document (e.g. make the text bold). <B> Adam </B>

XML describes the data in a document or web page.

<FirstName> Adam </FirstName>


… XML vs HTML

HTML is all about display! XML is all about data! HTML can contain XML - and vice versa


… XML – The Standard

XML is a W3C standards-based text format for interchange of data

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml

Why wasn’t ASCII and CSV good enough?


Simple Date Example …

XML defines data, not display. HTML defines the formatting of text.

HTML can make text appear bold: <B>May 10, 2000</B>

HTML defining some text - but giving no meaning to it

<OrderDate Format = “long”>May 10, 2000 </OrderDate>

XML defining a date, but not saying how it should be displayed

Elements – Attributes - DTD


Business Card Example …<BusinessCard>

<Name><FirstName>Adam</FirstName> <LastName>Cogan</LastName>

</Name><Address>

<Address>101 SW Fifth</Address> <City>Neutral Bay, NSW, 2087</City>

</Address><Phone>

<Home>9953 3000</Home> <Mobile>04 1985 1995</Mobile>

</Phone></BusinessCard>


… XML and Data

XML can represent regular, relational record-style data

It can also represent hierarchical data It can, of course, represent irregular data

too


… Invoice Example

<Invoice> <From>C. Brooks. </From><To>C. McCall </To><Date>2/1/99 </Date><Amount>$189.00 </Amount><Tax>10% </Tax><Total>$207.90</Total>

</Invoice>


… Making It Work

XML File – for the data XSL File – Style sheet for the XML Add the "Processing Instruction" at the top of

the XML file In-Line XML


… A Typical Document

What does every document consist of?

Data - the words or content of the document.

Presentation - the way information is presented to the user of the document. Fonts, style, color.

Structure - consists of type and elements. Type - Memo, Invoice, PO, License, etc. Elements - Name, Amount, License #


… XML Components

Content

Traditional WYSIWYG

Document

Presentation

No RealStructure

XML Document

ContentXML

PresentationXSL

StructureXML


XML - Six Things to Know …

Start and End Tags Entity References Attribute Assignments Comments Processing Instructions Document Type Declarations (Schema-

Future)


Start and End Tags …

Must be a matched set – Opening and closing tags required: <greeting></greeting>

No spaces allowed : <PC Brand> Can’t begin with a number: <3Topic> No spaces in end tag: </ greeting>


Entity References (Your Data!) …

An entity is a unit of text that can be inserted into the XML document.

XML entities can reference a single character or an entire novel of data.

There are two types of entities - default and defined.

<BirthDate> 20/2/1973 </BirthDate>

<BirthDate> 20/2/1973 </BirthDate>


Attribute Assignment …

Allows you to describe the type of data your are dealing with.

[name of attribute] “=“ [value] <greeting language=“French”>

Must be in quotes. Multiple attributes are supported. This works exactly the same as in HTML


… Comments

XML comments use the exact same form as HTML comments: <!– My Comment -->


… Processing Instructions

Allows XML to store application specific information.

Must be in the declaration section of the document.

Three main types: <?xml version = “1.0”?> DTD Style Sheet


… Document Type Declaration

Allows you to instruct the parser, where to find the DTD:

<!DOCTYPE type LOCATION “path”> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC

“//goose/example.dtd”>


… Create Your Own XML… Create Your Own XML

Creating XML file manually Create XML file with ADO 2.5


XML Data-Schemas

The Microsoft ADO implementation. A way to describe the structure, content

and data type of XML-data. Extends the functionality of DTD's. Uses an XML Grammer. Can be used to validate XML. Currently Microsoft only technology.


XML Validation-DTD …

XML - Works with DTD, “Document Type Definition”, and the data to provide and define “structure”.

XML ‘Applications’ Industry Standards have begun to develop.

Allows an industry to choose a standard format for data exchange


XML Validation-XML Applications …XML Validation-XML Applications …

Industry members agreeing on a set of tags for Validation

RealML (Real Estate) BizTalk OFX (Open Financial Exchange Format) Download Technology MathML ChemML CDF (Channel Definition Format)


… XML Validation

XML Doc.

XML DTD

XML Parser XML Client


name

lastfirst

Jane Doe

orders

order orderdate

1998-07-16

date

1998-07-23

Commentcustomer list

root

IDcustomer

345

IDcustomer

120

Document

… Parsing XML into Nodes… Parsing XML into Nodes


Document Object Model (DOM) …Document Object Model (DOM) …

ID

baz456

ID

bar123

mydocument

345

root

root = mydocument.documentElement;

root

Customer Customer

Document


345


ID

baz456

ID

bar123

nodemydocument

root = mydocument.documentElement; node = root.childNodes.item(1);

root root

Customer Customer

Document


8910


IDCustomer

baz456

IDCustomer

bar

root

123

node

update

mydocument

root = mydocument.documentElement; node = root.childNodes.item(1); node.childNodes.item(0).nodeValue =

“8910”;

root

Document


8910


IDCustomer

baz456

IDCustomer

bar

root

123

node

update

mydocument

attr

root = mydocument.documentElement; node = root.childNodes.item(1); node.childNodes.item(0).nodeValue =

“8910”; attr = node.attributes.getNamedItem(“ID”);

root

Document


newNode

8910

root = mydocument.documentElement; node = root.childNodes.item(1); node.childNodes.item(0).nodeValue = “8910”; attr = node.attributes.getNamedItem(“ID”); root.insertBefore(newNode,root.firstChild);


IDCustomer

baz456

IDCustomer

bar

root

123

node

update

mydocument

attrroot

Document


newNode


456

IDCustomer

bar

root

123

mydocument

root

root = mydocument.documentElement; node = root.childNodes.item(1); node.childNodes.item(0).nodeValue = “8910”; attr = node.attributes.getNamedItem(“ID”); root.insertBefore(newNode,root.firstChild); root.removeNode(root.lastChild);

Document


DOMDOM


… Working With XML Files and Recordsets

… Working With XML Files and Recordsets

Data from a database saved as XML Retrieve XML data and display in grid Retrieve XML data and save to a database


… XML Data Binding… XML Data Binding

Using Data Binding with IE 5.


… Using XML - XSL… Using XML - XSL

XSL – Extensible Style Language provides the formatting and presentation.

Can filter, sort and layout XML. Apply filters and sorts dynamically.


Demo-XML and ASP and ADODemo-XML and ASP and ADO

Build XML using vb script or Java script

Update data using XML DOM


Summary: XML why is it so cool?Summary: XML why is it so cool?

EASY and Powerful! Standard way to represent data

Abstraction and Ubiquity with Robustness End-to-end (standard) data protocol

Standard data protocol from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Standard data protocol from Tier 2 to Tier 1

Express data in format that only requires HTTP (See ‘XML for n-Tier’ session coming up)

Rich Object Model (DOM) in Windows, Java Cross Platform: Parsers for every OS around

Including Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac, CE, PalmOS


XML Suggested ReadingsXML Suggested Readings

Chapter 27 - Access 2000 Development Unleashed (SAMS Publishing)

MSDN XML Programming With VB and ASP

(Manning Publishing) XML IE5 Programmers Reference (WROX

Press) Examples at www.ssw.com.au


Questions and AnswersQuestions and Answers


THANK YOU!THANK YOU!

DevCon 2000 Adam Cogan eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

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