Introduction to XML

3 days
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Please contact FMC to schedule.

Web Programming Training at FMC

Course Description

In this lecture and hands-on lab course, studentswill come to understand what XML is and why it has become increasinglyimportant in the web world. The course covers XML syntax rules,well-formed versus valid documents, and XML document display. Studentswill be introduced to DTD and XML Schema as options for validation, aswell as both CSS and XSLT as options for presentation. Students willleave with an understanding of how to create and work with XMLdocuments.

Course Objectives

  • Understand the role of XML and its family of technologies
  • Create a well-formed and valid XML document
  • Learn about DTD and XML Schema
  • Present Data Using CSS and XSL
  • Learn about the potential of XML Linking and Pointing

Prerequisites

  • Knowledge of OS X and basic computer navigation
  • HTML experience is beneficial but not required

Course Outline

Note: The curricula below comprise activities typically covered in a class at this skill level. The instructor may, at his/her discretion, adjust the lesson plan to meet the needs of the class.

Essential XML

  • Markup Languages
  • What Does XML Look Like?
  • What's So Great About XML?
  • Well-Formed vs Valid XML Documents
  • Parsing XML Yourself
  • XML Resources, Editors, Browsers, Parsers, Validators
  • CSS and XSL
  • XLinks and XPointers
  • URLs Versus URIs
  • ASCII, Unicode, and the Universal Character System
  • XML Applications

Creating Well-Formed XML Documents

  • The World Wide Web Consortium
  • What Is a Well-Formed XML Document?
  • XML Document Components
  • XML Namespaces

Valid Documents: Creating Document Type Definitions

  • Valid XML Documents
  • Creating Document Type Declarations
  • Validating Against a DTD
  • DTD Components
  • External DTDs
  • Using Document Type Definitions with URLs
  • Public Document Type Definitions
  • Using Both Internal and External DTDs
  • Namespaces and DTDs

DTDs: Entities and Attributes

  • Creating Internal and External General Entities
  • Building a Document from Pieces
  • Predefined General Entity References
  • Creating Internal and External Parameter Entities
  • Using INCLUDE and IGNORE
  • Declaring Attributes in DTDs
  • Setting Default Values for Attributes
  • Attribute Types
  • Embedding Non-XML Data in a Document
  • Embedding Multiple Unparsed Entities in a Document

Creating XML Schemas

  • Writing XML Schemas
  • Declaring Types and Elements
  • Specifying How Often Elements Can Occur
  • Specifying Default Values for Elements
  • Specifying Attribute Constraints and Defaults
  • Creating Simple Types
  • Using Anonymous Type Definitions
  • Creating Empty Elements
  • Creating Mixed-Content Elements
  • Creating Choices, Element Groups, Attribute Groups, All Groups
  • Schemas and Namespaces

Overview of Cascading Style Sheets

  • Attaching Stylesheets to XML Documents
  • Creating Style Rules
  • Formatting with CSS
  • Layout with CSS

XSL Transformations

  • Using XSLT Stylesheets in XML Documents
  • Creating XSLT Stylesheets
  • XSLT Components
  • Understanding XPath
  • The Default XSLT Rules
  • Altering Document Structure Based on Input
  • Creating New Attributes
  • Copying Nodes
  • Sorting Elements
  • Using xsl:if and xsl:choose
  • Controlling Output Type

Overview of XLinks and XPointers

  • All About XLinks
  • XLink Components
  • All About XPointers
  • XPointer Components