Beginning XML - Part II (XML Style Language)

Written by Amrit Hallan


Continued from page 1

One area where XML is anticipated to be particularly important is inrepparttar area of electronic commerce.

Traditional mechanisms for electronic data interchange (EDI) are based onrepparttar 118048 interchange of messages betweenrepparttar 118049 computer systems of two or more businesses. Each message has to be decoded before its contents can be processed or presented to users. Web-based commerce has, by contrast, been based onrepparttar 118050 concept of completing an HTML form and then postingrepparttar 118051 results back torepparttar 118052 server for processing, without any details ofrepparttar 118053 transaction being retained byrepparttar 118054 party completingrepparttar 118055 form.

XML-coded files are, by their nature, ideal for storing in databases. Because XML files are both object-orientated and hierarchical in nature they can be adapted to virtually any type of database, though care sometimes needs to be taken to ensure that enough structural data is retained inrepparttar 118056 database to reconstructrepparttar 118057 original file.

Data stored using non-XML notations will need appropriate application software to process it, butrepparttar 118058 XML-coded file will correctly identify where each piece of such data belongs inrepparttar 118059 completed document and where it has been stored prior to use.

By storing data inrepparttar 118060 clearly defined format provided by XML you can ensure that your data will be transferable to a wide range of hardware and software environments. New techniques in programming and processing data will not affectrepparttar 118061 logical structure of your document's message. If more detail needs to be added torepparttar 118062 file all you need to do is to updaterepparttar 118063 model and then add new markup tags where required inrepparttar 118064 document instance. If a completely new style is required thenrepparttar 118065 existing document model can be linked torepparttar 118066 new one to provide automatic updating of document structures.

Amrit Hallan is a freelance web designer. For all web site development and web promotion needs, you can get in touch with him at http://www.bytesworth.com. For more such articles, visit http://www.bytesworth.com/articles and http://www.bytesworth.com/learn You can subscribe to his newsletter [BYTESWORTH REACHOUT] on Web Designing Tips & Tricks by sending a blank email at bytesworth-subscribe@topica.com


Beginning XML - Part III (Building Blocks)

Written by Amrit Hallan


Continued from page 1

The following entities are predefined in XML:

Entity References Character

< means "less than - < " > means "greater then - > " & means "ampersand - & " " means "quotes - " " &apos means "apostrophe - ' "

Since, right now we do not plan to go very deep into XML coding, we'll leaverepparttar data definition here, and moverepparttar 118047 future implication of XML.

Extensible Markup Language (XML), which complements HTML, promises to increaserepparttar 118048 benefits that can be derived fromrepparttar 118049 wealth of information found today on IP networks aroundrepparttar 118050 world. This is because XML provides a uniform method for describing and exchanging structured data. The ability to describe structured data in an open text-based format and deliver this data using standard HTTP protocol is significant for two reasons. XML will facilitate more precise declarations of content and more meaningful search results across multiple platforms. And oncerepparttar 118051 data is located it will enable a new generation of viewing and manipulatingrepparttar 118052 data.

Consider an industry where interchange of data is vital, such as banking. Banks use proprietary systems to track transactions internally, but if they use a common XML format overrepparttar 118053 Web, then they'd be able to describe transaction information to another institution or an application (like Quicken or MS Money). Of course, they'd also be able to presentrepparttar 118054 data in a pretty Web page. FYI: This markup does exist. It's called OFEX,repparttar 118055 Open Financial Exchange format.

Under certain circumstances, if IE 4 onrepparttar 118056 PC comes across a tag withrepparttar 118057 proper contents, a function is started that gives a userrepparttar 118058 opportunity to update installed software. If you're using Windows 98, it's possible that you've seen this process in action without knowing it was an XML application.



Amrit Hallan is a freelance web designer. For all web site development and web promotion needs, you can get in touch with him at http://www.bytesworth.com. For more such articles, visit http://www.bytesworth.com/articles and http://www.bytesworth.com/learn You can subscribe to his newsletter [BYTESWORTH REACHOUT] on Web Designing Tips & Tricks by sending a blank email at bytesworth-subscribe@topica.com


    <Back to Page 1
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use