XML and XSL Institutional Web Management 2001 Organising
XML and XSL Institutional Web Management 2001: Organising Chaos
Running order " Background " All about XML " All about XSL " Hands-on XML and XSL " Publishing engines " Example applications " Crystal balls
Background " Mark Ray and Andrew Savory " Using XML since 1996 " Used a variety of tools and methods
XML and XSL " W 3 C specifications " Separation of Concerns � Reuse of data � Multiple � Styles output formats tailored to reader / Standardised styles
Applications of XML and XSL " Static information � Institutional web sites � Prospectuses � Course " catalogues Dynamic information � News or event information services � Course � Staff catalogues directories
Benefits of XML and XSL " Standards-based, format-independent " Serve sites and formats based on user need � Text-based � Netscape � TV, / Internet Explorer specifc Phone, PDA � PDF, " (text readers, slow links, low-tech) SVG, VRML, . . . Simplification of web site management. . .
The management bit " Management � Decide what the site should contain, how it should behave and how it should appear " Content � Responsible for writing, owning, managing the site content
The management bit " Logic � Responsible for integration with dynamic content generation " Style � Responsible for information presentation, look & feel, site graphics and maintenance
What is XML? " e. Xtensible Markup Language � Not a fixed format � 'Metalanguage' � For describing information
XML Design Goals 1 XML shall be straightforwardly usable over the Internet. 2 XML shall support a wide variety of applications. 3 XML shall be compatible with SGML. 4 It shall be easy to write programs which process XML documents. 5 The number of optional features in XML is to be kept to the absolute minimum, ideally zero.
XML Design Goals 6 XML documents should be human-legible and reasonably clear. 7 The XML design should be prepared quickly. 8 The design of XML shall be formal and concise. 9 XML documents shall be easy to create. 10 Terseness is of minimal importance.
Structure of an XML document <? xml version="1. 0"? > <PARENT> <CHILD> This is content. </CHILD> <EMPTY/> </PARENT>
A first XML document Construct a well-formed XML document using the following tags: � xml opening tag � page � title � content � para Don't forget to add the closing tags!
Differences to HTML " Order: <tag 1><tag 2></tag 1></tag 2> WRONG <tag 1><tag 2></tag 1> RIGHT " Balance <tag 1><tag 2></tag 2> WRONG <tag 1><tag 2></tag 1> RIGHT " Case <tag 1><tag 2></TAG 1> WRONG <tag 1><tag 2></tag 1> RIGHT
Differences to HTML " Attributes <tag 1 class=wrong> WRONG <tag 1 class="right"> RIGHT " Empty Tags <tag 1 class="wrong"> WRONG <tag 1 class="wrong" /> RIGHT " XML is stricter. . . and therefore better!
Well-formed vs. Valid " Exactly what they say: � Well-formed � Valid means it's written correctly means we can validate it
A well-formed example <? xml version="1. 0"? > <PARENT> <CHILD> <MARK NUMBER="1" LISTED="yes" TYPE="natural"/> <NAME> <LASTNAME>child</LASTNAME> <FIRSTNAME>second</FIRSTNAME> </CHILD> </PARENT>
A valid example <? xml version="1. 0"? > <!DOCTYPE PARENT [ <!ELEMENT PARENT (CHILD*)> <!ELEMENT CHILD (MARK? , NAME+)> <!ELEMENT MARK EMPTY> <!ELEMENT NAME (LASTNAME+, FIRSTNAME+)*> <!ELEMENT LASTNAME (#PCDATA)> <!ELEMENT FIRSTNAME (#PCDATA)> <!ATTLIST MARK NUMBER ID #REQUIRED LISTED CDATA #FIXED "yes" TYPE (natural|adopted) "natural"> <!ENTITY STATEMENT "This is well-formed XML"> ]> <PARENT> &STATEMENT; <CHILD> <MARK NUMBER="1" LISTED="yes" TYPE="natural"/> <NAME> <LASTNAME>child</LASTNAME> <FIRSTNAME>second</FIRSTNAME> </CHILD> </PARENT>
Document Type Definitions " " First standard mechanism for XML validation Define the role and structure of XML elements " Sufficient for simple XML schemas " Don't support namespaces " Use non-XML syntax
XSchema " XML structural definition language of choice " Defines a class of XML document " Supports name spaces " More powerful
Xschema example <? xml version="1. 0"? > <xsd: schema xmlns: xsd="http: //www. w 3. org/2001/XMLSchema"> <xsd: annotation> <xsd: documentation xml: lang="en"> Example Schema for IWM workshop </xsd: documentation> </xsd: annotation> <xsd: element name="page" type="page"/> <xsd: complex. Type name="page"> <xsd: sequence> <xsd: element name="title" type="xsd: string"/> <xsd: element name="content" type="page. Content"/> </xsd: sequence> </xsd: complex. Type> <xsd: complex. Type name="page. Content"> <xsd: sequence> <xsd: element name="para" type="xsd: string" min. Occurs="0"/> </xsd: sequence> </xsd: complex. Type> </xsd: schema>
What is XSL? " " Preferred style sheet language of XML �a method for transforming XML documents �a method for defining XML parts and patterns �a method formatting XML documents An application of XML (same formatting rules)
Hands-on XML " Create the following XML document: <? xml version="1. 0"? > <page> <title>Hello</title> <content> <para>This is my first XML page!</para> </content> </page> " Save it as hello_world. xml
Uploading the file " Navigate to the site provided " Click on "upload. html" " Beside the "file to upload" box, click on "choose" " Select the file you want to upload " Click on "upload"
Viewing the file If you see the file you wanted to upload and receive a "File written successfully" message. . . " Click on "Content", then the name of the file
Structure of an XSL stylesheet " Most templates have the following form: <xsl: template match="emphasis"> <i><xsl: apply-templates/></i> </xsl: template> " " The whole <xsl: template> element is a template The match pattern determines where this template applies
Structure of an XSL stylesheet " " Literal result element(s) come from non-XSL namespace(s) XSLT elements come from the XSL namespace
Hands-on XSL " Create the following XSL stylesheet: <? xml version="1. 0"? > <xsl: stylesheet version="1. 0" xmlns: xsl="http: //www. w 3. org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl: template match="page"> <html> <head> <title><xsl: value-of select="title"/></title> </head> <body bgcolor="white" alink="red" link="blue" vlink="blue"> <xsl: apply-templates/> </body> </html> </xsl: template> </xsl: stylesheet>
Uploading the file " Navigate to the site provided " Click on "upload. html" " Beside the "file to upload" box, click on "choose" " Select the file you want to upload " Click on "upload"
Publishing engines " Cocoon � Java-based " Ax. Kit � Perl-based " 4 Suite � Python " Others or roll your own
Viewing the file If you see the file you wanted to upload and receive a "File written successfully" message. . . " " Click on "View site in cocoon" Select the file you uploaded and the stylesheet you want to view it in
Hands-on XSL " Add the following to the XSL stylesheet: <xsl: template match="title"> <h 2 style="color: navy; text-align: center"> <xsl: apply-templates/> </h 2> </xsl: template> <xsl: template match="para"> <p align="left"> <i><xsl: apply-templates/></i> </p> </xsl: template>
New platforms, new beginnings? " The old way of publishing � Repurposing " The new way of publishing � Target multiple platforms � Multiple stylesheets � Multiple formats
Browser-specific content <map: select> <map: when test="lynx"> <map: transform src="stylesheets/simple-page 2 html-lynx. xsl"/> </map: when> <map: otherwise> <map: transform src="stylesheets/simple-page 2 html. xsl"/> </map: otherwise> </map: select>
Lynx-friendly XSL stylesheet " Add the following to your XSL stylesheet: <h 2>This site is lynx-friendly</h 2> " Save the stylesheet as simple-page 2 html-lynx. xsl
Uploading the file " Navigate to the site provided " Click on "upload. html" " Beside the "file to upload" box, click on "choose" " Select the file you want to upload " Click on "upload"
Viewing the file If you see the file you wanted to upload and receive a "File written successfully" message. . . " " Click on "View site in cocoon" Select the file you uploaded and the stylesheet you want to view it in
Where next? " The semantic web
References " http: //www. ibm. com/developerworks/papers. nsf/dw/xml-papersbytopic? Open. Document&Count=500 " http: //www. xml 101. com/ " http: //nwalsh. com/docs/tutorials/xsl/
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