eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
Outline of Presentation
• Introduction
• Comparison between XML and HTML
• XML Syntax
• XML Queries and Mediators
• Challenges
• Summary
What is XML?
• eXtensible Markup Language
• Markup language for documents containing
structured information
• Defined by four specifications:
• XML, the Extensible Markup Language
• XLL, the Extensible Linking Language
• XSL, the Extensible Style Language
• XUA, the XML User Agent
XML….
• Based on Standard Generalized Markup Language
(SGML)
• Version 1.0 introduced by World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) in 1998
• Bridge for data exchange on
the Web
Comparisons
Feature HTML XML
Full Form HyperText Markup Language eXtensible Markup Language
Purpose To display data and format web pages To store and transport data
Tag Type Uses predefined tags Uses custom/user-defined tags
Structure Focuses on appearance and layout Focuses on data structure and meaning
Error Handling Lenient – browsers can fix small errors Strict – errors must be fixed to work
Mandatory – all tags must be properly
Closing Tags Optional in some cases
closed
Data Handling Not suitable for data exchange Ideal for data exchange between systems
Used By Web browsers APIs, databases, configuration files, etc.
Easily readable and processable by
Readability for Machines Less structured for machine processing
machines
Customization Limited; only predefined elements Fully customizable to suit data needs
Authoring XML Elements
• An XML element is made up of a start tag, an end tag, and
data in between.
• Example:
<director> Matthew Dunn </director>
• Example of another element with the same value:
<actor> Matthew Dunn </actor>
• XML tags are case-sensitive:
<CITY> <City> <city>
• XML can abbreviate empty elements, for example:
<married> </married> can be abbreviated to
<married/>
Authoring XML Elements (cont’d)
• An attribute is a name-value pair separated by an
equal sign (=).
• Example:
<City ZIP=“94608”> Emeryville </City>
• Attributes are used to attach additional, secondary
information to an element.
Authoring XML Documents
• A basic XML document is an XML element that can,
but might not, include nested XML elements.
• Example:
<books>
<book isbn=“123”>
<title> Second Chance </title>
<author> Matthew Dunn </author>
</book>
</books>
XML Data Model: Example
<BOOKS>
<book id=“123”
loc=“library”> BOOKS
<author>Hull</author> book
loc=“library” article
<title>California</title>
<year> 1995 </year> ref
123 555
</book>
<article id=“555” ref=“123”>
author year author title
<author>Su</author>
<title> Purdue</title> title
</article>
</BOOKS> Hull 1995 Su Purdue
California
Authoring XML Documents
(cont’d)
• Authoring guidelines:
• All elements must have an end tag.
• All elements must be cleanly nested (overlapping elements are not allowed).
• All attribute values must be enclosed in quotation marks.
• Each document must have a unique first element, the root node.
Authoring XML Data Islands
• A data island is an XML document that exists within
an HTML page.
• The <XML> element marks the beginning of the
data island, and its ID attribute provides a name
that you can use to reference the data island.
Authoring XML Data Islands (cont’d)
• Example:
<XML ID=“XMLID”>
<customer>
<name> Mark Hanson </name>
<custID> 29085 </custID>
</customer>
</XML>
Document Type Definitions (DTD)
• An XML document may have an optional DTD.
• DTD serves as grammar for the underlying XML
document, and it is part of XML language.
• DTDs are somewhat unsatisfactory, but no
consensus exists so far beyond the basic DTDs.
• DTD has the form:
<!DOCTYPE name [markupdeclaration]>
DTD (cont’d)
• Consider an XML document:
<db><person><name>Alan</name>
<age>42</age>
<email>
[email protected] </email>
</person>
<person>………</person>
……….
</db>
DTD (cont’d)
• DTD for it might be:
<!DOCTYPE db [
<!ELEMENT db (person*)>
<!ELEMENT person (name, age, email)>
<!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT age (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT email (#PCDATA)>
]>
DTD (cont’d)
Occurrence Indicator:
Indicator Occurrence
(no indicator) Required One and only
one
? Optional None or one
* Optional, None, one, or
repeatable more
+ Required, One or more
repeatable
XML Query Languages
• The first XML query languages
• LOREL (Stanford)
• XQL
• Several other query languages have been developed
(e.g. UNQL, XPath)
• XML-QL considered by W3C for standardization
• Currently W3C is considering and working on a new
query language: XQuery
Semistructured Data and Mediators
• Semistructured data is often encountered in data exchange
and integration
• At the sources the data may be structured (e.g. from
relational databases)
• We model the data as semistructured to facilitate exchange
and integration
• Users see an integrated semistructured view that they can
query
• Queries are eventually reformulated into queries over the
structured resources (e.g. SQL)
• Only results need to be materialized
What is a mediator ?
• A complex software component that integrates and
transforms data from one or several sources using
a declarative specification
• Two main contexts:
• Data conversion: converts data between two different models
• e.g. by translating data from a relational
database into XML
• Data integration: integrates data from different sources into a common view
Converting Relational Database to XML
Example: Export the following data into XML and group books
by store
• Relational Database:
Store (sid, name, phone)
Book (bid, title, authors)
StoreBook (sid , bid, price, stock)
price stock
name Store StoreBook Book authors
phone sid title bid
Converting Relational Database to XML
(Cont’d)
• XML:
<store> <name> … </name>
<phone> … </phone>
<book> <title>… </title>
<authors> … </authors>
<price> … </price>
</book>
<book>…</book>
…
</store>
Challenges facing XML
• Integration of data sharing
• Security
