Introduction To XML

Introduction to XML
XML was designed to describe data and to focus on what data is.
HTML was designed to display data and to focus on how data looks.
What You Should Already Know
Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:
• HTML / XHTML
• JavaScript or VBScript
What is XML?
• XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language
• XML is a markup language much like HTML
• XML was designed to describe data
• XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags
• XML uses a Document Type Definition (DTD) or an XML Schema to describe the data
• XML with a DTD or XML Schema is designed to be selfdescriptive
• XML is a W3C Recommendation
XML is a W3C Recommendation
The Extensible Markup Language (XML) became a W3C Recommendation 10. February 1998.
The Main Difference between XML and HTML
XML was designed to carry data.
XML is not a replacement for HTML.
XML and HTML were designed with different goals:
XML was designed to describe data and to focus on what data is.
HTML was designed to display data and to focus on how data looks.
HTML is about displaying information, while XML is about describing information.
XML Does not DO Anything
XML was not designed to DO anything.
Maybe it is a little hard to understand, but XML does not DO anything. XML was created to structure, store and to send
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 has a header and a message body. It also has sender and receiver information. But still, this XML document
does not DO anything. It is just pure information wrapped in XML tags. Someone must write a piece of software to send,
receive or display it.
XML is Free and Extensible
XML tags are not predefined. You must "invent" your own tags.
The tags used to mark up HTML documents and the structure of HTML documents are predefined. The author of HTML
documents can only use tags that are defined in the HTML standard (like <p>, <h1>, etc.).
XML allows the author to define his own tags and his own document structure.
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.
XML is a Complement to HTML
XML is not a replacement for HTML.
It is important to understand that XML is not a replacement for HTML. In future Web development it is most likely that
XML will be used to describe the data, while HTML will be used to format and display the same data.
My best description of XML is this: XML is a crossplatform, software and hardware independent tool for
transmitting information.
XML in Future Web Development
XML is going to be everywhere.
We have been participating in XML development since its creation. It has been amazing to see how quickly the XML
standard has been developed and how quickly a large number of software vendors have adopted the standard.
We strongly believe that XML will be as important to the future of the Web as HTML has been to the foundation of the
Web and that XML will be the most common tool for all data manipulation and data transmission.
How can XML be Used?
It is important to understand that XML was designed to store, carry, and exchange data. XML was not designed to
display data.
XML can Separate Data from HTML
With XML, your data is stored outside your HTML.
When HTML is used to display data, the data is stored inside your HTML. With XML, data can be stored in separate XML
files. This way you can concentrate on using HTML for data layout and display, and be sure that changes in the
underlying data will not require any changes to your HTML.
XML data can also be stored inside HTML pages as "Data Islands". You can still concentrate on using HTML only for
formatting and displaying the data.
XML is Used to Exchange Data
With XML, data can be exchanged between incompatible systems.
In the real world, computer systems and databases contain data in incompatible formats. One of the most time
consuming challenges for developers has been to exchange data between such systems over the Internet.
Converting the data to XML can greatly reduce this complexity and create data that can be read by many different types
of applications.
XML and B2B
With XML, financial information can be exchanged over the Internet.
Expect to see a lot about XML and B2B (Business To Business) in the near future.
XML is going to be the main language for exchanging financial information between businesses over the Internet. A lot of
interesting B2B applications are under development.
XML Can be Used to Share Data
With XML, plain text files can be used to share data.
Since XML data is stored in plain text format, XML provides a software and hardwareindependent way of sharing data.
This makes it much easier to create data that different applications can work with. It also makes it easier to expand or
upgrade a system to new operating systems, servers, applications, and new browsers.
XML Can be Used to Store Data
With XML, plain text files can be used to store data.
XML can also be used to store data in files or in databases. Applications can be written to store and retrieve information
from the store, and generic applications can be used to display the data.
XML Can Make your Data More Useful
With XML, your data is available to more users.
Since XML is independent of hardware, software and application, you can make your data available to other than only
standard HTML browsers.
Other clients and applications can access your XML files as data sources, like they are accessing databases. Your data
can be made available to all kinds of "reading machines" (agents), and it is easier to make your data available for blind
people, or people with other disabilities.
XML Can be Used to Create New Languages
XML is the mother of WAP and WML.
If Developers Have Sense
If they DO have sense, all 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 Microsoft and all the other software vendors will agree.
XML Syntax Rules
The syntax rules of XML are very simple and very strict. The rules are very easy to learn, and very easy to use.
Because of this, creating software that can read and manipulate XML is very easy.
An Example XML Document
XML documents use a selfdescribing and simple syntax.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO88591"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
<note>
The next 4 lines describe 4 child elements of the root (to, from, heading, and body):
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
And finally the last line defines the end of the root element:
</note>
Can you detect from this example that the XML document contains a Note to Tove from Jani? Don't you agree that XML
is pretty selfdescriptive?
All XML Elements Must Have a Closing Tag
With XML, it is illegal to omit the closing tag.
In HTML some elements do not have to have a closing tag. The following code is legal in HTML:
<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is another paragraph
In XML all elements must have a closing tag, like this:
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<p>This is another paragraph</p>
Note: You might have noticed from the previous example that the XML declaration did not have a closing tag. This is not
an error. The declaration is not a part of the XML document itself. It is not an XML element, and it should not have a
closing tag.
XML Tags are Case Sensitive
Unlike HTML, XML tags are case sensitive.
With XML, the tag <Letter> is different from the tag <letter>.
Opening and closing tags must therefore be written with the same case:
<Message>This is incorrect</message>
<message>This is correct</message>
XML Elements Must be Properly Nested
Improper nesting of tags makes no sense to XML.
In HTML some elements can be improperly nested within each other like this:
<b><i>This text is bold and italic</b></i>
In XML all elements must be properly nested within each other like this:
<b><i>This text is bold and italic</i></b>
XML Documents Must Have a Root Element
All XML documents must contain a single tag pair to define a root element.
All other elements must be within this root element.
All elements can have sub elements (child elements). Sub elements must be correctly nested within their parent element:
<root>
<child>
<subchild>.....</subchild>
</child>
XML Attribute Values Must be Quoted
With XML, it is illegal to omit quotation marks around attribute values.
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=12/11/2002>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
<note date="12/11/2002">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
This is correct: date="12/11/2002". This is incorrect: date=12/11/2002.
With XML, White Space is Preserved
With XML, the white space in your document is not truncated.
This is unlike HTML. With HTML, a sentence like this:
Hello my name is Tove,
will be displayed like this:
Hello my name is Tove,
because HTML reduces multiple, consecutive white space characters to a single white space.
With XML, CR / LF is Converted to LF
With XML, a new line is always stored as LF.
Do you know what a typewriter is? Well, a typewriter is a mechanical device which was used last century to produce
printed documents. :)
After you have typed one line of text on a typewriter, you have to manually return the printing carriage to the left margin
position and manually feed the paper up one line.
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 use only a CR character to store a new line.
Comments in XML
The syntax for writing comments in XML is similar to that of HTML.
XML Elements
XML Elements are extensible and they have relationships.
XML Elements have simple naming rules.
XML Elements are Extensible
XML documents can be extended to carry more information.
Look at the following XML NOTE example:
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</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:
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>20020801</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</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.
XML documents are Extensible.
XML Elements have Relationships
Elements are related as parents and children.
To understand XML terminology, you have to know how relationships between XML elements are named, and how
element content is described.
Imagine that this is a description of a book:
My First XML
Introduction to XML
• What is HTML
• What is XML
XML Syntax
• Elements must have a closing tag
• Elements must be properly nested
Imagine that this XML document describes the book:
<book>
<title>My First XML</title>
<prod id="33657" media="paper"></prod>
<chapter>Introduction to XML
<para>What is HTML</para>
<para>What is XML</para>
</chapter>
<chapter>XML Syntax
<para>Elements must have a closing tag</para>
<para>Elements must be properly nested</para>
</chapter>
</book>
Book is the root element. Title, prod, and chapter are child elements of book. Book is the parent element of title, prod,
and chapter. Title, prod, and chapter are siblings (or sister elements) because they have the same parent.
Elements have Content
Elements can have different content types.
An XML element is everything from (including) the element's start tag to (including) the element's end tag.
An element can have element content, mixed content, simple content, or empty content. An element can also have
attributes.
In the example above, book has element content, because it contains other elements. Chapter has mixed content
because it contains both text and other elements. Para has simple content (or text content) because it contains only
text. Prod has empty content, because it carries no information.
In the example above only the prod element has attributes. The attribute named id has the value "33657". The
attribute named media has the value "paper".
Element Naming
XML elements must follow these naming rules:
• Names can contain letters, numbers, and other characters
• Names must not start with a number or punctuation character
• Names must not start with the letters xml (or XML, or Xml, etc)
• Names cannot contain spaces
Take care when you "invent" element names and follow these simple rules:
separator are nice.
Examples: <first_name>, <last_name>.
Avoid "" and "." in names. For example, if you name something "firstname," it could be a mess if your software tries to
subtract name from first. Or if you name something "first.name," your software may think that "name" is a property of the
object "first."
Element names can be as long as you like, but don't exaggerate. Names should be short and simple, like this:
<book_title> not like this: <the_title_of_the_book>.
XML documents often have a corresponding database, in which fields exist corresponding to elements in the XML
document. A good practice is to use the naming rules of your database for the elements in the XML documents.
NonEnglish letters like éòá are perfectly legal in XML element names, but watch out for problems if your software
vendor doesn't support them.
The ":" should not be used in element names because it is reserved to be used for something called namespaces (more
later).
XML Attributes
XML elements can have attributes in the start tag, just like HTML.
Attributes are used to provide additional information about elements.
XML Attributes
XML elements can have attributes.
From HTML you will remember this: <IMG SRC="computer.gif">. The SRC attribute provides additional information about
the IMG element.
In HTML (and in XML) attributes provide additional information about elements:
<img src="computer.gif">
<a href="demo.asp">
Attributes often provide information that is not a part of the data. In the example below, the file type is irrelevant to the
data, but important to the software that wants to manipulate the element:
<file type="gif">computer.gif</file>
Quote Styles, "female" or 'female'?
<person sex="female">
<person sex='female'>
Note: If the attribute value itself contains double quotes it is necessary to use single quotes, like in this example:
<gangster name='George "Shotgun" Ziegler'>
Note: If the attribute value itself contains single quotes it is necessary to use double quotes, like in this example:
<gangster name="George 'Shotgun' Ziegler">
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.
<note date="12/11/2002">
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
A date element is used in the second example:
<note>
<date>12/11/2002</date>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</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>
<from>Jani</from>
• 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 Document Type Definition (DTD) which is used to define the legal
elements of an XML document
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"
body="Don't forget me this weekend!">
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>
</note>
<note id="p502">
<to>Jani</to>
<from>Tove</from>
<heading>Re: Reminder</heading>
<body>I will not!</body>
</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.
XML Validation
XML with correct syntax is Well Formed XML.
XML validated against a DTD is Valid XML.
Well Formed XML Documents
A "Well Formed" XML document has correct XML syntax.
A "Well Formed" XML document is a document that conforms to the XML syntax rules that were described in the
previous chapters:
• XML documents must have a root element
• XML elements must have a closing tag
• XML tags are case sensitive
• XML elements must be properly nested
• XML attribute values must always be quoted
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
Valid XML Documents
A "Valid" XML document also conforms to a DTD.
A "Valid" XML document is a "Well Formed" XML document, which also conforms to the rules of a Document Type
Definition (DTD):
<!DOCTYPE note SYSTEM "InternalNote.dtd">
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
The purpose of a DTD is to define the legal building blocks of an XML document. It defines the document structure with a
list of legal elements.
XML Validator
XML Browser Support
Nearly all major browsers have support for XML and XSLT.
Mozilla Firefox
As of version 1.0.2, Firefox has support for XML and XSLT (and CSS).
Mozilla
Mozilla includes Expat for XML parsing and has support to display XML + CSS. Mozilla also has some support for
Namespaces.
Mozilla is available with an XSLT implementation.
Netscape
As of version 8, Netscape uses the Mozilla engine, and therefore it has the same XML / XSLT support as Mozilla.
Opera
As of version 9, Opera has support for XML and XSLT (and CSS). Version 8 supports only XML + CSS.
Internet Explorer
As of version 6, Internet Explorer supports XML, Namespaces, CSS, XSLT, and XPath.
Note: Internet Explorer 5 also has XML support, but the XSL part is NOT compatible with the official W3C XSL
Recommendation!
Viewing XML Files
Raw XML files can be viewed in Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Netscape 6+.
However, to make XML documents display as nice web pages, you will have to add some display information.
Viewing XML Files
In Firefox and Internet Explorer:
Open the XML file (typically by clicking on a link) The XML document will be displayed with colorcoded root and child
structure. To view the raw XML source (without the + and signs), select "View Page Source" or "View Source" from the
elements. A plus (+) or minus sign () to the left of the elements can be clicked to expand or collapse the element
browser menu.
In Netscape 6:
Open the XML file, then rightclick in XML file and select "View Page Source". The XML document will then be displayed
with colorcoded root and child elements.
In Opera 7 and 8:
document will be displayed as plain text.
Note: Do not expect XML files to be formatted like HTML documents!
Viewing an Invalid XML File
If an erroneous XML file is opened, the browser will report the error.
Why Does XML Display Like This?
XML documents do not carry information about how to display the data.
Since XML tags are "invented" by the author of the XML document, browsers do not know if a tag like <table> describes
an HTML table or a dining table.
Without any information about how to display the data, most browsers will just display the XML document as it is.
In the next chapters, we will take a look at different solutions to the display problem, using CSS, XSL, JavaScript, and
XML Data Islands.
Displaying XML with CSS
With CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) you can add display information to an XML document.
Displaying your XML Files with CSS?
It is possible to use CSS to format an XML document.
Below is a fraction of the XML file. The second line, <?xmlstylesheet type="text/css" href="cd_catalog.css"?>, links
the XML file to the CSS file:
<?xmlstylesheet type="text/css" href="cd_catalog.css"?>
<CATALOG>
<CD>
<TITLE>Empire Burlesque</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bob Dylan</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>USA</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>Columbia</COMPANY>
<PRICE>10.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1985</YEAR>
</CD>
<CD>
<TITLE>Hide your heart</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bonnie Tyler</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>UK</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>CBS Records</COMPANY>
<PRICE>9.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1988</YEAR>
</CD>
.
.
.
.
Note: Formatting XML with CSS is NOT the future of how to style XML documents. XML document should be styled by
using the W3C's XSL standard!
The CSS file is shown below
CATALOG
{
backgroundcolor: #ffffff;
width: 100%;
}
CD
{
display: block;
marginbottom: 30pt;
marginleft: 0;
}
TITLE
{
color: #FF0000;
fontsize: 20pt;
}
ARTIST
{
color: #0000FF;
fontsize: 20pt;
}
COUNTRY,PRICE,YEAR,COMPANY
{
display: block;
color: #000000;
marginleft: 20pt;
}
Displaying XML with XSL
With XSL you can add display information to your XML document.
Displaying XML with XSL
XSL is the preferred style sheet language of XML.
XSL (the eXtensible Stylesheet Language) is far more sophisticated than CSS. One way to use XSL is to transform XML
into HTML before it is displayed by the browser as demonstrated in these examples:
Below is a fraction of the XML file. The second line, <?xmlstylesheet type="text/xsl" href="simple.xsl"?>, links the
XML file to the XSL file:
<?xmlstylesheet type="text/xsl" href="simple.xsl"?>
<breakfast_menu>
<food>
<name>Belgian Waffles</name>
<price>$5.95</price>
<description>
two of our famous Belgian Waffles
</description>
<calories>650</calories>
</food>
</breakfast_menu>
XML Data Island
With Internet Explorer, the unofficial <xml> tag can be used to create an XML data island.
XML Data Embedded in HTML
An XML data island is XML data embedded into an HTML page.
Here is how it works; assume we have the following XML document ("note.xml"):
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
Then, in an HTML document, you can embed the XML file above with the <xml> tag. The id attribute of the <xml> tag
defines an ID for the data island, and the src attribute points to the XML file to embed:
<html>
<body>
<xml id="note" src="note.xml"></xml>
</body>
</html>
However, the embedded XML data is, up to this point, not visible for the user.
The next step is to format and display the data in the data island by binding it to HTML elements.
Bind Data Island to HTML Elements
The HTML file looks like this:
<html>
<body>
<xml id="cdcat" src="cd_catalog.xml"></xml>
<table border="1" datasrc="#cdcat">
<tr>
<td><span datafld="ARTIST"></span></td>
<td><span datafld="TITLE"></span></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Example explained:
The datasrc attribute of the <table> tag binds the HTML table element to the XML data island. The datasrc attribute
refers to the id attribute of the data island.
the <TITLE> element in the XML file. As the XML is read, additional rows are created for each <CD> element.
XML in Real Life
A reallife example of how XML can be used to carry information.
Example: XML News
XMLNews is a specification for exchanging news and other information.
Using such a standard makes it easier for both news producers and news consumers to produce, receive, and archive
any kind of news information across different hardware, software, and programming languages.
An example XMLNews document:
<nitf>
<head>
<title>Colombia Earthquake</title>
</head>
<body>
<headline>
<hl1>143 Dead in Colombia Earthquake</hl1>
</headline>
<byline>
<bytag>By Jared Kotler, Associated Press Writer</bytag>
</byline>
<dateline>
<location>Bogota, Colombia</location>
<date>Monday January 25 1999 7:28 ET</date>
</dateline>
</body>
</nitf>
XML Parser
To read and update, create and manipulate an XML document, you will need an XML parser.
Parsing XML Documents
To manipulate an XML document, you need an XML parser. The parser loads the document into your computer's
memory. Once the document is loaded, its data can be manipulated using the DOM. The DOM treats the XML document
as a tree.
There are some differences between Microsoft's XML parser and the XML parser used in Mozilla browsers. In this tutorial
we will show you how to create cross browser scripts that will work in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla browsers.
Microsoft's XML Parser
Microsoft's XML parser is a COM component that comes with Internet Explorer 5 and higher. Once you have installed
Internet Explorer, the parser is available to scripts.
To create an instance of Microsoft's XML parser, use the following code:
JavaScript:
var xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
VBScript:
set xmlDoc=CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
ASP:
set xmlDoc=Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
The following code fragment loads an existing XML document ("note.xml") into Microsoft's XML parser:
var xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
xmlDoc.async="false";
xmlDoc.load("note.xml");
The first line of the script above creates an instance of the XML parser. The second line turns off asynchronized loading,
to make sure that the parser will not continue execution of the script before the document is fully loaded. The third line
tells the parser to load an XML document called "note.xml".
XML Parser in Mozilla, Firefox, and Opera
To create an instance of the XML parser in Mozilla browsers, use the following code:
JavaScript:
var xmlDoc=document.implementation.createDocument("ns","root",null);
The first parameter, ns, defines the namespace used for the XML document. The second parameter, root, is the XML
root element in the XML file. The third parameter, null, is always null because it is not implemented yet.
The following code fragment loads an existing XML document ("note.xml") into Mozillas' XML parser:
var xmlDoc=document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
The first line of the script above creates an instance of the XML parser. The second line tells the parser to load an XML
document called "note.xml".
Parsing an XML File A Cross browser Example
The following example is a cross browser example that loads an existing XML document ("note.xml") into the XML
parser:
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
var xmlDoc;
function loadXML()
{
// code for IE
if (window.ActiveXObject)
{
xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
xmlDoc.async=false;
getmessage();
}
// code for Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc.
else if (document.implementation &&
document.implementation.createDocument)
{
xmlDoc=document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
xmlDoc.onload=getmessage;
}
else
{
alert('Your browser cannot handle this script');
}
}
function getmessage()
{
document.getElementById("to").innerHTML=
xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("to")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue;
document.getElementById("from").innerHTML=
xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("from")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue;
document.getElementById("message").innerHTML=
xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue;
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="loadXML()">
<h1>W3Schools Internal Note</h1>
<p><b>To:</b> <span id="to"></span><br />
<b>From:</b> <span id="from"></span><br />
<b>Message:</b> <span id="message"></span>
</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
W3Schools Internal Note
To: Tove
From: Jani
Message: Don't forget me this weekend!
Important Note
To extract the text (Jani) from an XML element like: <from>Jani</from>, the correct syntax is:
getElementsByTagName("from")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue
Parsing an XML String A Cross browser Example
The following code is a crossbrowser example on how to load and parse an XML string:
<html>
<body>
var text="<note>";
text=text+"<to>Tove</to>";
text=text+"<from>Jani</from>";
text=text+"<heading>Reminder</heading>";
text=text+"<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>";
text=text+"</note>";
// code for IE
if (window.ActiveXObject)
{
var doc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
doc.async="false";
doc.loadXML(text);
}
// code for Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc.
else
{
var parser=new DOMParser();
var doc=parser.parseFromString(text,"text/xml");
}
// documentElement always represents the root node
var x=doc.documentElement;
document.write("Text of first child element: ");
document.write(x.childNodes[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
document.write("<br />");
document.write("Text of second child element: ");
document.write(x.childNodes[1].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
</script>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Text of second child element: Jani
Note: Internet Explorer uses the loadXML() method to parse an XML string, while Mozilla browsers uses the DOMParser
object.
XML Namespaces
XML Namespaces provide a method to avoid element name conflicts.
Name Conflicts
Since element names in XML are not predefined, a name conflict will occur when two different documents use the same
element names.
This XML document carries information in a table:
<table>
<tr>
<td>Apples</td>
<td>Bananas</td>
</tr>
</table>
This XML document carries information about a table (a piece of furniture):
<table>
<name>African Coffee Table</name>
<width>80</width>
<length>120</length>
</table>
If these two XML documents were added together, there would be an element name conflict because both documents
contain a <table> element with different content and definition.
Solving Name Conflicts Using a Prefix
<h:table>
<h:tr>
<h:td>Apples</h:td>
<h:td>Bananas</h:td>
</h:tr>
</h:table>
This XML document carries information about a piece of furniture:
<f:table>
<f:name>African Coffee Table</f:name>
<f:width>80</f:width>
<f:length>120</f:length>
</f:table>
Now there will be no name conflict because the two documents use a different name for their <table> element (<h:table>
and <f:table>).
By using a prefix, we have created two different types of <table> elements.
Using Namespaces
<h:table xmlns:h="http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/">
<h:tr>
<h:td>Apples</h:td>
<h:td>Bananas</h:td>
</h:tr>
</h:table>
<f:table xmlns:f="http://www.w3schools.com/furniture">
<f:name>African Coffee Table</f:name>
<f:width>80</f:width>
<f:length>120</f:length>
</f:table>
Instead of using only prefixes, we have added an xmlns attribute to the <table> tag to give the prefix a qualified name
associated with a namespace.
The XML Namespace (xmlns) Attribute
The XML namespace attribute is placed in the start tag of an element and has the following syntax:
xmlns:namespaceprefix="namespaceURI"
When a namespace is defined in the start tag of an element, all child elements with the same prefix are associated with
the same namespace.
Note that the address used to identify the namespace is not used by the parser to look up information. The only purpose
page containing information about the namespace.
is to give the namespace a unique name. However, very often companies use the namespace as a pointer to a real Web
Try to go to http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/.
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string of characters which identifies an Internet Resource. The most common
URI is the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which identifies an Internet domain address. Another, not so common type
of URI is the Universal Resource Name (URN). In our examples we will only use URLs.
Default Namespaces
Defining a default namespace for an element saves us from using prefixes in all the child elements. It has the following
syntax:
xmlns="namespaceURI"
<table xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/">
<tr>
<td>Apples</td>
<td>Bananas</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table xmlns="http://www.w3schools.com/furniture">
<name>African Coffee Table</name>
<width>80</width>
<length>120</length>
</table>
Namespaces in Real Use
When you start using XSL, you will soon see namespaces in real use. XSL style sheets are used to transform XML
documents into other formats, like HTML.
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">
<html>
<body>
<h2>My CD Collection</h2>
<table border="1">
<tr>
<th align="left">Title</th>
<th align="left">Artist</th>
</tr>
<xsl:foreach select="catalog/cd">
<tr>
<td><xsl:valueof select="title"/></td>
<td><xsl:valueof select="artist"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:foreach>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
XML CDATA
All text in an XML document will be parsed by the parser.
Only text inside a CDATA section will be ignored by the parser.
Parsed Data
XML parsers normally parse all the text in an XML document.
When an XML element is parsed, the text between the XML tags is also parsed:
<message>This text is also parsed</message>
The parser does this because XML elements can contain other elements, as in this example, where the <name> element
contains two other elements (first and last):
<name><first>Bill</first><last>Gates</last></name>
and the parser will break it up into subelements like this:
<name>
<first>Bill</first>
<last>Gates</last>
</name>
Escape Characters
Illegal XML characters have to be replaced by entity references.
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. You cannot write something like this:
<message>if salary < 1000 then</message>
To avoid this, you have to replace the "<" character with an entity reference, like this:
<message>if salary < 1000 then</message>
There are 5 predefined entity references in XML:
< < less than
> > greater than
& & ampersand
' ' apostrophe
" " quotation mark
CDATA
Everything inside a CDATA section is ignored by the parser.
If your text contains a lot of "<" or "&" characters as program code often does the XML element can be defined as a
CDATA section.
A CDATA section starts with "<![CDATA[" and ends with "]]>":
<script>
<![CDATA[
function matchwo(a,b)
{
if (a < b && a < 0) then
{
return 1
}
else
{
return 0
}
}
]]>
</script>
In the example above, everything inside the CDATA section is ignored by the parser.
Notes on CDATA sections:
A CDATA section cannot contain the string "]]>", therefore, nested CDATA sections are not allowed.
XML Encoding
XML documents may contain foreign characters, like Norwegian æ ø å , or French ê è é.
To let your XML parser understand these characters, you should save your XML documents as Unicode.
Windows 2000 Notepad
Windows 2000 Notepad can save files as Unicode.
Save the XML file below as Unicode (note that the document does not contain any encoding attribute):
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<note>
<from>Jani</from>
<to>Tove</to>
<message>Norwegian: æøå. French: êèé</message>
</note>
The file above, will NOT generate an error in IE 5+, Firefox, or Opera, but it WILL generate an error in Netscape 6.2.
Windows 2000 Notepad with Encoding
Windows 2000 Notepad files saved as Unicode use "UTF16" encoding.
If you add an encoding attribute to XML files saved as Unicode, windows encoding values will generate an error.
The following encoding will NOT give an error message:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows1252"?>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF8"?>
The following encoding will NOT generate an error in IE 5+, Firefox, or Opera, but it WILL generate an error in Netscape
6.2.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF16"?>
Error Messages
If you try to load an XML document into Internet Explorer, you can get two different errors indicating encoding problems:
An invalid character was found in text content.
You will get this error message if a character in the XML document does not match the encoding attribute. Normally you
will get this error message if your XML document contains "foreign" characters, and the file was saved with a singlebyte
encoding editor like Notepad, and no encoding attribute was specified.
Switch from current encoding to specified encoding not supported.
You will get this error message if your file was saved as Unicode/UTF16 but the encoding attribute specified a single
byte encoding like Windows1252, ISO88591 or UTF8. You can also get this error message if your document was
saved with singlebyte encoding, but the encoding attribute specified a doublebyte encoding like UTF16.
Conclusion
The conclusion is that the encoding attribute has to specify the encoding used when the document was saved. My best
advice to avoid errors is:
• Use an editor that supports encoding
• Make sure you know what encoding it uses
• Use the same encoding attribute in your XML documents
XML on the Server
XML can be generated on a server without installing any XML controls.
Storing XML on the Server
XML files can be stored on an Internet server exactly the same way as HTML files.
Start Windows Notepad and write the following lines:
<note>
<from>Jani</from>
<to>Tove</to>
<message>Remember me this weekend</message>
</note>
Save the file on your web server with a proper name like "note.xml".
Generating XML with ASP
XML can be generated on a server without any installed XML software.
To generate an XML response from the server simply write the following code and save it as an ASP file on the web
server:
<%
response.ContentType="text/xml"
response.Write("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO88591'?>")
response.Write("<note>")
response.Write("<from>Jani</from>")
response.Write("<to>Tove</to>")
response.Write("<message>Remember me this weekend</message>")
response.Write("</note>")
%>
Note that the content type of the response must be set to "text/xml".
Getting XML From a Database
XML can be generated from a database without any installed XML software.
To generate an XML database response from the server, simply write the following code and save it as an ASP file on
the web server:
<%
response.ContentType = "text/xml"
conn.provider="Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;"
conn.open server.mappath("/db/database.mdb")
sql="select fname,lname from tblGuestBook"
set rs=Conn.Execute(sql)
rs.MoveFirst()
response.write("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO88591'?>")
response.write("<guestbook>")
while (not rs.EOF)
response.write("<guest>")
response.write("<fname>" & rs("fname") & "</fname>")
response.write("<lname>" & rs("lname") & "</lname>")
response.write("</guest>")
rs.MoveNext()
wend
rs.close()
conn.close()
response.write("</guestbook>")
%>
The example above uses
XML Application
This chapter demonstrates a small framework for an XML application.
Note: This example uses a Data Island, which only works in Internet Explorer.
The XML Example Document
Look at the following XML document ("cd_catalog.xml"), that represents a CD catalog:
<CATALOG>
<CD>
<TITLE>Empire Burlesque</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bob Dylan</ARTIST>
<COUNTRY>USA</COUNTRY>
<COMPANY>Columbia</COMPANY>
<PRICE>10.90</PRICE>
<YEAR>1985</YEAR>
</CD>
.
.
... more ...
.
Load the XML Document into a Data Island
A Data Island can be used to access the XML file.
To get your XML document "inside" an HTML page, add an XML Data Island to the HTML page:
<xml src="cd_catalog.xml" id="xmldso" async="false">
</xml>
With the example code above, the XML file "cd_catalog.xml" will be loaded into an "invisible" Data Island called "xmldso".
The async="false" attribute is added to make sure that all the XML data is loaded before any other HTML processing
takes place.
Bind the Data Island to an HTML Table
To make the XML data visible on the HTML page, you must "bind" the Data Island to an HTML element.
To bind the XML data to an HTML table, add a datasrc attribute to the table element, and add datafld attributes to the
span elements inside the table data:
<table datasrc="#xmldso" width="100%" border="1">
<thead>
<th>Title</th>
<th>Artist</th>
<th>Year</th>
</thead>
<tr align="left">
<td><span datafld="TITLE"></span></td>
<td><span datafld="ARTIST"></span></td>
<td><span datafld="YEAR"></span></td>
</tr>
</table>
If you have IE 5.0 or higher
Bind the Data Island to <span> or <div> Elements
<span> or <div> elements can be used to display XML data.
You don't have to use the HTML table element to display XML data. Data from a Data Island can be displayed anywhere
on an HTML page.
All you have to do is to add some <span> or <div> elements to your page. Use the datasrc attribute to bind the elements
to the Data Island, and the datafld attribute to bind each element to an XML element, like this:
<br />Title:
<span datasrc="#xmldso" datafld="TITLE"></span>
<br />Artist:
<span datasrc="#xmldso" datafld="ARTIST"></span>
<br />Year:
<span datasrc="#xmldso" datafld="YEAR"></span>
or like this:
<br />Title:
<div datasrc="#xmldso" datafld="TITLE"></div>
<br />Artist:
<div datasrc="#xmldso" datafld="ARTIST"></div>
<br />Year:
<div datasrc="#xmldso" datafld="YEAR"></div>
Note that if you use an HTML <div> element, the data will be displayed on a new line.
With the examples above, you will only see one line of your XML data. To navigate to the next line of data, you have to
add some scripting to your code.
Add a Navigation Script
Navigation has to be performed by a script.
To add navigation to the XML Data Island, create a script that calls the movenext() and moveprevious() methods of the
Data Island.
function movenext()
{
x=xmldso.recordset
if (x.absoluteposition < x.recordcount)
{
x.movenext()
}
}
function moveprevious()
{
x=xmldso.recordset
if (x.absoluteposition > 1)
{
x.moveprevious()
}
}
</script>
The XMLHttpRequest Object
The XMLHttpRequest object is supported in Internet Explorer 5.0+, Safari 1.2, Mozilla 1.0 / Firefox, Opera 9, and
Netscape 7.
What is an HTTP Request?
With an HTTP request, a web page can make a request to, and get a response from a web server without reloading the
page. The user will stay on the same page, and he or she will not notice that scripts might request pages, or send data to
a server in the background.
By using the XMLHttpRequest object, a web developer can change a page with data from the server after the
page has loaded.
Google Suggest is using the XMLHttpRequest object to create a very dynamic web interface: When you start typing in
Google's search box, a JavaScript sends the letters off to a server and the server returns a list of suggestions.
Is the XMLHttpRequest Object a W3C Standard?
The XMLHttpRequest object is a JavaScript object, and is not specified in any W3C recommendation.
However, the W3C DOM Level 3 "Load and Save" specification contains some similar functionality, but these are not
implemented in any browsers yet. So, at the moment, if you need to send an HTTP request from a browser, you will have
to use the XMLHttpRequest object.
Creating an XMLHttpRequest Object
For Mozilla, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Netscape:
var xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest()
For Internet Explorer:
var xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")
Example
var xmlhttp
function loadXMLDoc(url)
{
xmlhttp=null
// code for Mozilla, etc.
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
{
xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest()
}
// code for IE
else if (window.ActiveXObject)
{
xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")
}
if (xmlhttp!=null)
{
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=state_Change
xmlhttp.open("GET",url,true)
xmlhttp.send(null)
}
else
{
alert("Your browser does not support XMLHTTP.")
}
}
function state_Change()
{
// if xmlhttp shows "loaded"
if (xmlhttp.readyState==4)
{
// if "OK"
if (xmlhttp.status==200)
{
// ...some code here...
}
else
{
alert("Problem retrieving XML data")
}
}
}
</script>
Note: An important property in the example above is the onreadystatechange property. This property is an event handler
having the function xmlhttpChange() check for the state changing, we can tell when the process is complete and
which is triggered each time the state of the request changes. The states run from 0 (uninitialized) to 4 (complete). By
continue only if it has been successful.
Why are we Using Async in our Examples?
All the examples here use the async mode (the third parameter of open() set to true).
The async parameter specifies whether the request should be handled asynchronously or not. True means that script
a user may even see the "Not Responding" message. It is safer to send asynchronously and design your code around
script hang if there is a network or server problem, or if the request is long (the UI locks while the request is being made)
for a response before continuing script processing. By setting this parameter to false, you run the risk of having your
continues to run after the send() method, without waiting for a response from the server. false means that the script waits
the onreadystatechange event!
The XMLHttpRequest Object Reference
Methods
Method Description
abort() Cancels the current request
getAllResponseHeaders() Returns the complete set of http headers as a string
getResponseHeader("headername") Returns the value of the specified http header
open("method","URL",async,"uname","pswd") request
sending data (especially if the length of the data is greater than
"PUT" (use "GET" when requesting data and use "POST" when
The method parameter can have a value of "GET", "POST", or
512 bytes.
The URL parameter may be either a relative or complete URL.
The async parameter specifies whether the request should be
a response. false means that the script waits for a response
processing carries on after the send() method, without waiting for
handled asynchronously or not. true means that script
before continuing script processing
send(content) Sends the request
setRequestHeader("label","value") Adds a label/value pair to the http header to be sent
Properties
Property Description
onreadystatechange An event handler for an event that fires at every state change
readyState Returns the state of the object:
responseText Returns the response as a string
responseXML properties
status Returns the status as a number (e.g. 404 for "Not Found" or 200 for "OK")
statusText Returns the status as a string (e.g. "Not Found" or "OK")
Save Data to an XML File
Usually, we save data in databases. However, if we want to make the data more portable, we can store the data in an
XML file.
Create and Save an XML File
Storing data in XML files is useful if the data is to be sent to applications on nonWindows platforms. Remember that
XML is portable across all platforms and the data will not need to be converted!
First we will learn how to create and save an XML file. The XML file below will be named "test.xml" and will be stored in
the c directory on the server. We will use ASP and Microsoft's XMLDOM object to create and save the XML file:
<%
Dim xmlDoc, rootEl, child1, child2, p
'Create an XML document
Set xmlDoc = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
'Create a root element and append it to the document
Set rootEl = xmlDoc.createElement("root")
xmlDoc.appendChild rootEl
'Create and append child elements
Set child1 = xmlDoc.createElement("child1")
Set child2 = xmlDoc.createElement("child2")
rootEl.appendChild child1
rootEl.appendChild child2
'Add an XML processing instruction
'and insert it before the root element
Set p=xmlDoc.createProcessingInstruction("xml","version='1.0'")
xmlDoc.insertBefore p,xmlDoc.childNodes(0)
'Save the XML file to the c directory
xmlDoc.Save "c:\test.xml"
%>
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
<child1 />
<child2 />
</root>
Real Form Example
Now, we will look at a real HTML form example.
We will first look at the HTML form that will be used in this example: The HTML form below asks for the user's name,
country, and email address. This information will then be written to an XML file for storage.
"customers.htm":
<html>
<body>
<form action="saveForm.asp" method="post">
<p><b>Enter your contact information</b></p>
First Name: <input type="text" id="fname" name="fname"><br />
Last Name: <input type="text" id="lname" name="lname"><br />
Country: <input type="text" id="country" name="country"><br />
Email: <input type="text" id="email" name="email"><br />
<input type="submit" id="btn_sub" name="btn_sub" value="Submit">
<input type="reset" id="btn_res" name="btn_res" value="Reset">
</form>
</body>
</html>
The action for the HTML form above is set to "saveForm.asp". The "saveForm.asp" file is an ASP page that will loop
through the form fields and store their values in an XML file:
<%
dim xmlDoc
dim rootEl,fieldName,fieldValue,attID
dim p,i
'Do not stop if an error occurs
On Error Resume Next
Set xmlDoc = server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xmlDoc.preserveWhiteSpace=true
'Create a root element and append it to the document
Set rootEl = xmlDoc.createElement("customer")
xmlDoc.appendChild rootEl
'Loop through the form collection
for i = 1 To Request.Form.Count
'Eliminate button elements in the form
if instr(1,Request.Form.Key(i),"btn_")=0 then
'Create a field and a value element, and an id attribute
Set fieldName = xmlDoc.createElement("field")
Set fieldValue = xmlDoc.createElement("value")
Set attID = xmlDoc.createAttribute("id")
'Set the value of the id attribute equal to the name of
'the current form field
attID.Text = Request.Form.Key(i)
'Append the id attribute to the field element
fieldName.setAttributeNode attID
'Set the value of the value element equal to
'the value of the current form field
fieldValue.Text = Request.Form(i)
'Append the field element as a child of the root element
rootEl.appendChild fieldName
'Append the value element as a child of the field element
fieldName.appendChild fieldValue
end if
next
'Add an XML processing instruction
'and insert it before the root element
Set p = xmlDoc.createProcessingInstruction("xml","version='1.0'")
xmlDoc.insertBefore p,xmlDoc.childNodes(0)
'Save the XML file
xmlDoc.save "c:\Customer.xml"
'Release all object references
set xmlDoc=nothing
set rootEl=nothing
set fieldName=nothing
set fieldValue=nothing
set attID=nothing
set p=nothing
'Test to see if an error occurred
if err.number<>0 then
response.write("Error: No information saved.")
else
response.write("Your information has been saved.")
end if
%>
Note: If the XML file name specified already exists, it will be overwritten!
The XML file that will be produced by the code above will look something like this ("Customer.xml"):
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<customer>
<field id="firstName">
</field>
<field id="lastName">
</field>
<field id="country">
</field>
<field id="email">
</field>
</customer>
XML DHTML Behaviors
Internet Explorer 5 introduced DHTML behaviors. Behaviors are a way to add DHTML functionality to HTML elements
with the ease of CSS.
Behaviors What are They?
IE5 introduced DHTML behaviors. Behaviors are a way to add DHTML functionality to HTML elements with the ease of
CSS.
How do behaviors work? By using XML we can link behaviors to any element in a web page and manipulate that
element.
DHTML behaviors do not use a <script> tag. Instead, they are using a CSS attribute called "behavior". This "behavior"
specifies a URL to an HTC file which contains the actual behavior (The HTC file is written in XML).
Syntax
behavior: url(some_filename.htc)
Note: The behavior attribute is only supported by IE 5 and higher, all other browsers will ignore it. This means that
Mozilla, Firefox, Netscape and other browsers will only see the regular content and IE 5+ can see the DHTML behaviors.
Example
The following HTML file has a <style> element that defines a behavior for the <h1> element:
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
h1 { behavior: url(behave.htc) }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Mouse over me!!!</h1>
</body>
</html>
The XML document "behave.htc" is shown below:
<attach for="element" event="onmouseover" handler="hig_lite" />
<attach for="element" event="onmouseout" handler="low_lite" />
function hig_lite()
{
element.style.color='red'
}
function low_lite()
{
element.style.color='blue'
}
</script>
The behavior file contains a JavaScript and the event handlers for the script.
The following HTML file has a <style> element that defines a behavior for elements with an id of "typing":
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
#typing
{
behavior:url(typing.htc);
fontfamily:'courier new';
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<span id="typing" speed="100">IE5 introduced DHTML behaviors.
Behaviors are a way to add DHTML functionality to HTML elements
with the ease of CSS.<br /><br />How do behaviors work?<br />
By using XML we can link behaviors to any element in a web page
and manipulate that element.</p>
</span>
</body>
</html>
The XML document "typing.htc" is shown below:
<attach for="window" event="onload" handler="beginTyping" />
<method name="type" />
var i,text1,text2,textLength,t
function beginTyping()
{
i=0
text1=element.innerText
textLength=text1.length
element.innerText=""
text2=""
t=window.setInterval(element.id+".type()",speed)
}
function type()
{
text2=text2+text1.substring(i,i+1)
element.innerText=text2
i=i+1
if (i==textLength){clearInterval(t)}
}
</script>

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