AUDIENCE:   Traditional application developers and Web site developers who wish to use XML as a data storage and exchange mechanism. Analysts, technical managers and system architects/designers with responsibility for projects that incorporate XML data structures will also benefit. PREREQUISITES:   An understanding of HTML and a Web scripting Language such as JavaScript or VBScript is ideally required. Alternatively, knowledge of a programming language such as Java, C or C# will suffice. Whilst knowledge of OO theory would be an advantage it is not a necessity. DURATION:   2 days. Hands on. OBJECTIVES:   By the end of the course students will be equipped with the knowledge to build real world applications using XML documents as a data source for Web, e-commerce and traditional output formats. The objectives of the Introduction to XML course are to provide the student with: - An understanding of the capabilities of XML technology. - An explanation of where XML fits in with current Internet application development strategies. - Experience of developing XML based applications for Web and traditional environments. - The knowledge to create XML data files with associated Document Type Definitions. - The ability to create scripting programs that navigate their way through an XML data file and process the data contained within it. - The ability to restructure XML data using XSL style sheets. - An appreciation of some of the future directions of XML technology as defined by the W3C and interested commercial organisations. COURSE CONTENT:   Introduction to XML What is XML ? XML document structure XML usage scenarios The XML standard XML Design goals XML Document Syntax and Rules The ?xml Declaration The Root element Tags, elements and attributes Predefined entities Element vs Attribute usage Physical vs Logical Structure Well formed documents White space issues Unicode Compliance Development standards The XML Parsing Process Purpose of the parser Document validation Java/C++ vs Scripting Parsers The MS XML parser in ASP, VB, and scripting environments Java parsers The Document Object Model (DOM) and DOM Navigation DOM objects The class hierarchy Document object structure The Document object, Root element and child elements Principal methods and properties The Node, Document, Element and Attribute classes The NodeList and NamedNodeMap classes Character data classes Element navigation Text processing Attribute processing Reference tables Document Updating Creating and inserting elements Adding child elements Adding element text Adding attributes Updating text and attributes Deleting elements, text and attributes Persisting data Introduction to Transformations – The XSLT Language XSLT processing architectures Understanding the transformation process Generating HTML and SQL XSLT Elements Namespaces Declarations – stylesheet and template Control instructions – apply-templates and for-each Output instructions – value-of Sorting instructions – sort Conditional instructions – if, choose, when and otherwise Multiple templates Further XSLT declarations and instructions The Document Type Definition Purpose of the DTD The DOCTYPE declaration Element and Attribute declarations Character data Element structure control Content Models Mixed content model External and Internal DTDs Additional Topics XML and XHTML XML Schemas The 'X' family of W3C standards The Simple API for XML – SAX XML Development Tools XML Reference Sites JM07/01