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XML

XML. Steve Fisher/RAL. XML, SGML and HTML. XML is a mark-up language i.e. you mark-up up your document to indicate where headings, paragraphs etc. start and stop You say nothing about the appearance of document Like SGML it is extensible You define your own tags

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XML

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  1. XML Steve Fisher/RAL

  2. XML, SGML and HTML • XML is a mark-up language • i.e. you mark-up up your document to indicate where headings, paragraphs etc. start and stop • You say nothing about the appearance of document • Like SGML it is extensible • You define your own tags • c.f. HTML which has fixed tags e.g. <p> • SGML is complex • most fancy features are not used • it was designed when storage was expensive • it was designed to be written by hand XML - Steve Fisher/RAL

  3. The XML standard • XML was defined to be almost a subset of SGML • conversion of an SGML source to equivalent XML can be almost automatic • The XML "standard" is defined by the W3C who don't actually produce standard but recommendations. XML - Steve Fisher/RAL

  4. XML for data interchange • XML has since then become prominent as a general purpose data exchange format. • Can (optionally) define a DTD (as in SGML) description of the structure of a valid document. • Parsing is easy and the parsers are freely available • Some uses are unrelated to what we would normally think of as documents e.g. detector description • DTD (not XML format) is being superseded by XML Schema which also includes support for data types. XML - Steve Fisher/RAL

  5. DocBook • DTD was originally written for SGML but there is an almost equivalent version available for XML. • The DTD is quite big • It is well documented • Being steadily enhanced • Has features to support complex manuals. XML - Steve Fisher/RAL

  6. Editing XML • For editing XML I use emacs. • with psgml from Lennart Staflin. This will read the DTD and help you to write valid XML as it knows, from the DTD which constructs are valid anywhere in the file. • There are also Java editors which allow you to see the tree structure and edit it. • A WYSIWYG editor needs some .css type of mechanism to produce some kind of layout quickly. • XML by its very nature is not WYSIWYG. • Standard Framemaker: will generate “XML” but not read it. • Framemaker SGML • heavy to use but if an XML version comes out, could be OK XML - Steve Fisher/RAL

  7. Summary • XML has become very popular • It is being used for a wide range of “documents” • Not so good for high quality printed document preparation • Have not identified a set of tools I am happy with. XML - Steve Fisher/RAL

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