XML Getting Started FAQ (2)

What level of support does Internet Explorer 5.0 provide for XML?

Internet Explorer 5 provides the following XML support:

View the XML directly. Microsoft XML implementations allow users to view XML through their Web browsers using XSL or cascading style sheets (CSS), just as they would view HTML documents.

High performance, validating XML engine. The XML engine familiar to Internet Explorer 4.0 developers has been greatly enhanced and fully supports the Universal XML 1.0 and XML namespaces, so that developers can uniformly qualify element names on the WEB, thereby avoiding conflicts between elements of the same name. Native XML support in Windows means that when developers move data between applications and components, they can use the full XML processing functionality to read and process data.

Extensible Style Conversion Language (XSLT) support. With the Microsoft XSLT processor based on the latest Working Draft, developers can apply style sheets to XML data and display data in dynamic and flexible ways that are easy to customize. The Microsoft XSLT processor's query functionality also allows developers to use programs to find and extract information within an XML dataset, either on the client or on the server.

XML schemas. Schemas (English) define XML document rules, including element names and rich data types, whose elements can be represented as combinations, and the attributes of each element are available. To enable multi-tier applications, Microsoft publishes a technical preview of the XML schema based on the reduced XML data schema (XDR) submitted to the Consortium's XML workgroup.

Server-side XML. Server-side XML processing allows XML to be used as a standard way of transferring data between multiple distributed application servers, even across operating system boundaries.

The XML Document Object Model (DOM). The XML DOM is a standard object application programming interface that enables developers to control the content, structure, format, and so on of XML documents. Microsoft XML implementations include full support for the recommendations of the Consortium's XML DOM, and can be accessed using scripts, Visual Basic development Systems, C + +, and other programming languages.

C + + XML data source object. XML DSO allows HTML elements to be directly bound to an XML data island. In addition, it improves performance, has the power to bind to different XML nodes, and leverages all the new data-binding capabilities of Internet Explorer 5 beta.
What is the relationship between HTML, Dynamic HTML, and XML?

HTML can be used with CSS to format and represent hyperlinked pages. Dynamic HTML, through the DOM, enables all elements in HTML to be accessed through language-independent scripts and other programming languages, thereby greatly improving client-side interaction and eliminating the need for additional server requirements. The object model of the page allows you to dynamically change any aspect of the content (including additions, deletions, and moves).

By adding XML to structured data, developers are provided with the technology to construct the next generation of rich, flexible Web applications. Using XML, they can provide structured data for the desktop and compute the data with the XML object model. Today's developers can use scripts to display xml-based data in browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, or in other applications. In addition, they can apply formatting rules to data without the need to use complex scripts for XSLT stylesheets (which actually convert xml-based data to display). Both of these display methods based on XML data, making it possible to generate multiple views of complex data.

Why is XML so important?

XML will become the future of the computing world. As a technology, its impact will permeate every aspect of programming, from embedded systems to graphical interfaces to distributed systems and database management. It has actually become the standard of data communication between software industries, and quickly replaces EDI systems as the main media for business exchanges in almost all industries worldwide. It is likely to become the language that creates and stores most documents, whether on the Internet or the Internet application Server, and some believe it will replace many of the smaller packaged products currently in production.

What XML products does Microsoft provide?

Microsoft is working to develop XML resources for many areas:

Data access. The latest ActiveX? The Incarnation of Data Objects (ADO) has supported the generation and consumption of XML for nearly a year, and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 provides many interfaces for mutual conversion between sql-based information and XML.

Browser support. Microsoft is the first company to produce a commercial browser (Internet Explorer 5) that can read XML files, whether in the form of an original structure or through an XSL or CSS style sheet.

BizTalk Server 2000. Microsoft? BizTalk (TM) Server 2000 provides a way to communicate across a large number of different formats, including XML, to help drive business-aligned applications. BizTalk Server also includes a number of schema generation and mapping tools that greatly simplify the development of XML structures for business or business needs.
Transfer on the WEB, must compress XML?

In general, the need to compress XML is related to the application and is largely a function of the amount of data moved between the server and the client. The iterative nature of the markup that describes the data structure, enabling XML to compress data very well. It is worth noting that HTTP 1.1 server and client compression are standard and that XML can benefit automatically from it.

How secure is XML as a data format? Is there a plan to increase XML security?

XML is as secure as HTML. Because secure HTTP (HTTPS) can be used to add cryptography to HTTP, which protects HTML, it can also be used to protect XML. XML is a text-based format for representing structured data. This can maximize the simplicity and interoperability of your data. There are a number of steps you can take to add security and validation to your XML format. First, XML can be encrypted on the server before it is transmitted to the customer, and then decrypted on the client. The digital signature applied to the data itself can also validate the XML.

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What is a DTD and what is its purpose?

A document type definition (DTD) defines the correct syntax for a class of XML documents. That is, it lists a number of element names, what elements can be displayed with other elements, what attributes can be used for each element type, and so on. DTDs use different syntax forms used in XML documents.

Do WEB developers have to include DTDs when they use XML to describe data?

No. XML can be used to describe data that has or does not have a DTD. The term "valid" XML refers to XML data that references DTDs, while well-formed XML is XML that is not using DTDs. In addition, "well formed" XML is one of the fundamental differences between XML and standard Unified Markup Language (SGML). Obviously, in both cases, the XML itself must conform to the standard of the language (for example, all tags must be closed and the tags cannot overlap).

What is an XML schema? What is the difference between them and the DTD?

Although XML 1.0 provides a mechanism for defining the content model of an XML document-dtd-, it is clear that a more comprehensive and efficient approach to defining the content model is needed. An XML Schema is a definition of a particular XML structure (from two aspects of its organization and data type). XML Schemas use the XML Schema language to specify how each type of element is defined in the schema, and the data types associated with the element. The most striking feature of architecture, compared with DTDs, is that the architecture itself is an XML document. This means that the tool that reads the XML it describes can also read it.

Microsoft's XML services currently support the XML data architecture, which represents a snapshot of the "All-in-your-the-system" activity during the March 1999 Internet Explorer 5 shipment. The XML data schema allows developers to add data types to their XML documents, as well as to define open content models. This extension of the DTD functionality is critical to XML programming.

But the consortium is preparing the XML Schema Definition (XSD), which becomes the XML Schema standard. Microsoft plans to make the support for XML Schema Definition (XSD) a part of its core XML service as soon as this specification becomes a recommendation.

What are namespaces and why are they important?

Namespaces are another advanced feature of XML and are outlined in the list of the XML 1.0 specifications as part of the specification in the field. They allow developers to qualify element names and relationships. Namespaces make element names uniquely identifiable, avoiding the same name, but name collisions between elements defined in different dictionaries. They allow you to mix tags from different namespaces, which is important for data from multiple sources.

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Namespaces help to define this distinction clearly.