185 lines
12 KiB
HTML
185 lines
12 KiB
HTML
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE html
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PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
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<html lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
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<meta name="security" content="public" />
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<meta name="Robots" content="index,follow" />
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<meta http-equiv="PICS-Label" content='(PICS-1.1 "http://www.icra.org/ratingsv02.html" l gen true r (cz 1 lz 1 nz 1 oz 1 vz 1) "http://www.rsac.org/ratingsv01.html" l gen true r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l 0) "http://www.classify.org/safesurf/" l gen true r (SS~~000 1))' />
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<meta name="DC.Type" content="concept" />
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<meta name="DC.Title" content="XML standards and extensions" />
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<meta name="abstract" content="Other standards and extensions to XML work together to make your information more portable and useful." />
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<meta name="description" content="Other standards and extensions to XML work together to make your information more portable and useful." />
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<meta name="DC.Relation" scheme="URI" content="rzaklintro.htm" />
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<meta name="DC.Relation" scheme="URI" content="rzakltools.htm" />
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<meta name="DC.Relation" scheme="URI" content="rzaklreference.htm" />
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<meta name="DC.Relation" scheme="URI" content="rzakltools.htm" />
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<meta name="copyright" content="(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 2001, 2006" />
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<meta name="DC.Rights.Owner" content="(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 2001, 2006" />
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<meta name="DC.Format" content="XHTML" />
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<meta name="DC.Identifier" content="rzaklintrostandards" />
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<meta name="DC.Language" content="en-us" />
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<!-- All rights reserved. Licensed Materials Property of IBM -->
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<!-- US Government Users Restricted Rights -->
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<!-- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by -->
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<!-- GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. -->
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./ibmdita.css" />
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./ic.css" />
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<title>XML standards and extensions</title>
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</head>
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<body id="rzaklintrostandards"><a name="rzaklintrostandards"><!-- --></a>
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<!-- Java sync-link --><script language="Javascript" src="../rzahg/synch.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
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<h1 class="topictitle1">XML standards and extensions</h1>
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<div><p>Other standards and extensions to XML work together to make your
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information more portable and useful.</p>
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<div class="p">You need to know about these standards and extensions in order to do the
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following:<ul><li>Use XML with your Java™, C++, RPG, and COBOL programs</li>
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<li>Perform complex data searches in XML documents</li>
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<li>Display XML data on different types of devices</li>
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<li>Provide your XML documents with orderly linking capabilities</li>
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<li>Produce standard structures for related DTDs</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<p>XML is very good for describing information, but it cannot do everything.
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For example, XML documents do not contain the kind of information that current
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browsers and many other devices require to display it in a useful way. The
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same is true for linking to other information, transporting XML data so that
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it can be used in a meaningful way by the receiving application, and so on.</p>
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<p>The XML community has and continues to develop standards and extensions
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to expand the capabilities of XML:</p>
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<ul><li><a href="#rzaklintrostandards__APIs">APIs</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rzaklintrostandards__XSLandXSLT">XSL and XSLT</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rzaklintrostandards__XLink">XLink</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rzaklintrostandards__XPathandXPointer">XPath and XPointer</a></li>
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<li><a href="#rzaklintrostandards__NamespacesandXMLSchema">Namespaces and XML Schema</a></li>
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</ul>
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<div class="section" id="rzaklintrostandards__APIs"><a name="rzaklintrostandards__APIs"><!-- --></a><h4 class="sectiontitle">APIs</h4><p>Application programming interfaces
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(APIs) allow applications to work with XML information using a standard set
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of portable interfaces. For more information, see XML tools integrated in <span class="keyword">i5/OS™</span> for links to API documentation
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for a supported parser.</p>
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<p><strong>DOM and DOM Level 2</strong></p>
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<p>The Document
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Object Model (DOM) API enables you to build XML documents as well as parse
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them. With these interfaces you can access, manipulate, and create XML documents
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(and the data within) as programming objects that have methods and events.
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Your programs can construct or change a DOM tree in memory and then persist
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that DOM tree to a file or stream. DOM is best suited for instances where
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you will parse few XML documents but require extensive control over the contents.</p>
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<p><strong>SAX</strong></p>
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<p>The
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Simple API for XML (SAX) is a read-only, single-pass interface best suited
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for processing many documents or very large documents. You can use this API
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to extract information from the XML documents, but you cannot use it to add
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data to or change the content of the XML documents. The SAX API is event-driven,
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notifying your application when certain events happen as it parses your document.
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For example, your application might need to know when the parser encounters
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the start or end of an element node. Note that it is your application that
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must keep the necessary state information to determine the content and context
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of these XML events.</p>
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<p>For links to more information about the DOM and
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SAX APIs, see the XML related information.</p>
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<p>For the most current versions
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of these APIs, see the <a href="../rzamj/rzamjmain.htm">XML
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Toolkit for iSeries</a> (5733-XT1) product documentation.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="rzaklintrostandards__XSLandXSLT"><a name="rzaklintrostandards__XSLandXSLT"><!-- --></a><h4 class="sectiontitle">XSL and XSLT</h4><p>Extensible Stylesheet
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Language (XSL) and Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) work
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in combination for you to display XML data in a variety of ways, for example,
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in a browser or on a PDA, or printed in a brochure. With XSL and XSLT processing
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you can transform an XML message or document from one XML markup language
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to another, which has key applications in e-business.</p>
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<p>A detailed explanation
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of the mechanics of this process is beyond this article. Briefly, however,
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the process has two basic components:</p>
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<ul><li>Use XSL stylesheets to define a set of patterns and templates you want
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to use to replace XML elements. A pattern identifies the XML element, and
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the corresponding template is used by an XSL processor, like Xalan (which
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is included in <span class="keyword">i5/OS</span>),
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to actually replace the XML element. For example, you can transform data elements
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in an XML document to display appropriately, say, in a browser or mailing
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label.</li>
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<li>Use XSLT documents to transform the hierarchical tree of XML data into
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a different kind of tree, reordering elements as required. For example, you
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can add a table of contents or an index to a set of data that does not have
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one. You can also use XSLT to transform the grammar of XML documents. For
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example, you can transform the grammar for a set of incoming XML request documents
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to a different XML grammar required by the receiving application.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>These technologies do more than format the display of an XML document,
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they change it so that it becomes a different kind of document. In conjunction
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with other XML tools and extensions, such as parsers and XLink, you can produce
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documents formats such as specific word processing formats, PDF, HTML, and
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more.</p>
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<p>For links to more information about XSL and XSLT, see the XML
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related information.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="rzaklintrostandards__XLink"><a name="rzaklintrostandards__XLink"><!-- --></a><h4 class="sectiontitle">XLink</h4><p>XML Linking Language (XLink) enables
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you to link your XML document to other resources on the Web, including files
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of just about any format, database searches, and so on. Moreover, you can
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link to the structure of the resource, not a predetermined place holder, like
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an HTML <A NAME> anchor tag. Multiple links allow users to traverse
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the linked information in any order based on restrictions that you specify.</p>
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<p>For
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links to more information about XLink, see the XML related information.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="rzaklintrostandards__XPathandXPointer"><a name="rzaklintrostandards__XPathandXPointer"><!-- --></a><h4 class="sectiontitle">XPath and XPointer</h4><p>XML Path
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Language (XPath) and XML Pointer Language (XPointer) enable you to search
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for and identify data in the hierarchical XML document structure.</p>
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<p>XPath
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defines a syntax for locating data in an XML document. (Both XSLT and XPointer
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use XPath.) XPath defines an XML document as a hierarchy of nodes, with the
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top node being the root. Just like using a regular expression finds one or
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more patterns in text, using XPath finds patterns in data within the nodes
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of one or more XML documents.</p>
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<p>XML Pointer Language (XPointer) extends
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XPath to enable locating specific portions of data (called fragments) based
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on XML attribute values, types, content, or relative position. These fragments
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can be seperate pieces of data, a range of information between two points,
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or a continuous series of elements.</p>
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<p>For links to more information about
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XPath and XPointer, see the XML related information.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="rzaklintrostandards__NamespacesandXMLSchema"><a name="rzaklintrostandards__NamespacesandXMLSchema"><!-- --></a><h4 class="sectiontitle">Namespaces and XML Schema</h4><p>Namespaces
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are pointers (URIs) that enable you to differentiate between duplicate XML
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elements or attribute names, a situation that can occur when using XSLT stylesheets
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or more than a single DTD. For example, the <code> element from one
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DTD might mean something very different from a <code> element in another
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DTD. To avoid name collisions and ambiguity, giving each URI a unique local
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name makes it simple to distinguish between the different namespaces.</p>
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<p>XML
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Schema Language defines the logical structure of an XML document, much like
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a DTD.</p>
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<p>The significant difference between DTDs and XML Schemas are that
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schemas:</p>
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<ul><li>Are written as XML markup language itself, making them extensible, unlike
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DTDs</li>
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<li>Focus on the problem of cardinality, enabling the enumeration of minimum
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and maximum allowed elements</li>
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<li>Allow constraints on values</li>
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<li>Allow additional data types and definitions of datatypes that can be inherited</li>
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</ul>
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<p>All of these enhancements giving you more control over the allowable
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content of the XML document/message.</p>
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<p>For example, you can add a different
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type of element to an existing schema as long as your addition does not break
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the original schema. Schemas also have many more available datatypes than
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do DTDs, making importing and exporting data somewhat easier.</p>
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<p>For links
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to more information about Namespaces and XML Schema Language, see the XML
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related information.</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div>
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<div class="familylinks">
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<div class="parentlink"><strong>Parent topic:</strong> <a href="rzaklintro.htm" title="This topic explains what XML is, what extensions and companion standards it uses, and what it can do for you.">Using XML</a></div>
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</div>
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<div class="relconcepts"><strong>Related concepts</strong><br />
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<div><a href="rzakltools.htm" title="i5/OS integrates XML parsers and an XSL processor for Java right into the operating system. Additionally, you can use a wide variety of free and licensed programs to help you use XML.">XML tools for i5/OS</a></div>
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</div>
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<div class="relref"><strong>Related reference</strong><br />
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<div><a href="rzaklreference.htm" title="The XML community continually improves existing tools, adds tools, and helps evolve standards and extensions that increase the usefulness and flexibility of XML.">Related information for XML</a></div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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