Learn XML Basics: Rules, Syntax, and Tools for Building Mark-up Language

Introducing XML Maria Esteva DLSD General Libraries May 2004

XML • Rules to build a mark-up language • Open standard • Unicode • Preserves the purity of the content • It is human readable • Content and metadata • Facilitates storing, exchanging,managing,preserving data

XML basic components • Prolog <?xml version=“1.0”?> • Elements <note><message>the message</message></note> • Attributes <note type=“post-it” id=“21.2” n=“ 2” place=“upper left”>

XML syntax • Boundaries <note> </note> • Roles <name> </name> • Positions <title> </title> • Nesting <note> <salutation>Hello<name>Mark,</name></salutation> <message>I will see you tomorrow</message> <farewell>Bye and <emph>Good luck to you! <emph></farewell> <signature><name>Maria</name></signature> </note> • Relationships <xlinks> outside/inside the document <xpointers> inside the hierarchy of the document

XML rules • An element containing text or other elements must have start and end tags • An empty element’s tag must have a / before the end bracket <pb n=“100”/> • Nested elements may not overlap <note><message>this is the message</message> </note> • All attribute values must be in quotes <title type=“sub”>An Introduction</title>

XML tools • Editors and parsers • Cooktop FREE • Xmetal • Latest Microsoft Office • Web browsers • Internet Explorer • Mozilla • Opera • Style-sheets

Let’s try and mark-up! • Consider the structure of your text • Choose element names that make sense • Think about what you would like to have indexed for that piece

Something simple <?xml version="1.0"?> <Dialogue> <speaker> <name>Jo Anne:</name> </speaker> <line>I told you many times that I don’t want to move to <state>Arizona!</state> </line> <speaker> <Gendermale>Joseph:</Gendermale> </speaker> <line>But my dear, <emph>we will make a new life there…</emph> </line> <speaker>Jo Anne:</speaker> <line> <desperate>The weather in Phoenix is <emph>so</emph> dry, the humidity is always below <percentage>20%</percentage> </desperate> </l> </Dialogue>

Why DTDs and schemas? Define rules to produce similarly structured documents • DTD: Defines structure elements and attributes of xml documents • Schema: Successor of the DTD,defines structure, content, and semantics of xml documents

XML et al.. • Prolog <?xml version=“1.0”?> • Namespaces <DC xmlns:dc=http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> • Notations <!NOTATION JPEG PUBLIC 'ISO DIS 10918//NOTATION JPEG Graphics Format//EN'> • Entities <!ENTITY author-b-003-f SYSTEM “author-b-003-f.jpg" NDATA JPG> <!ENTITY author “Jonas Smith”> <body> &author decided to write using the point of view of a child. While &author was not convinced of the ……</body>

Some examples • TEI • EAD • BUILDING your own DTDs / results • METS

DTDs and schemas at DLSD • TEI Text Encoding Initiative • Header • Content • MODSMetadata Object Description Schema • DCDublin Core • EADEncoding Archival Description • MIXMetadata for Images in XML Schema • METSMetadata Encoding and Transmission Standard

XML the end Bibliography Ray, E. (2001).Learning XML. O’ Reilly Acknowledgments Jennifer Lee Loretta Acevedo Aaron Choate Uri Kolodney

Learn XML Basics: Rules, Syntax, and Tools for Building Mark-up Language