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XML as a Document Exchange Format. Tom Loukas AMS Center for Advanced Technologies September 26th, 2001. Why XML?. To exchange data you must speak a common language XML is well on its way to becoming that language Flexible self-describing language Worldwide sanctioning bodies
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XML as a Document Exchange Format Tom Loukas AMS Center for Advanced Technologies September 26th, 2001
Why XML? • To exchange data you must speak a common language • XML is well on its way to becoming that language • Flexible self-describing language • Worldwide sanctioning bodies • Supported by most major software vendors • Already adopted by many industries
What is XML? • Extensible Markup Language • Structured language using tags to describe data elements with a document • Designed to facilitate data exchange over the internet • Version 1.0 of spec released in 1998 by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) • Many additions to spec since then
Some Design Goals for XML • Straightforward use over the Internet • Support a wide variety of applications • Ease of programmatic processing • XML documents should be human-legible and reasonably clear • XML documents shall be easy to create
Sample XML Document Element tags Attributes Data <purchaseOrderorderDate="1999-10-20"> <shipTocountry="US"> <name>Alice Smith</name> <street>123 Maple Street</street> <city>Mill Valley</city> <state>CA</state> <zip>90952</zip> </shipTo> <items> <itempartNum="872-AA"> <productName>Lawnmower</productName> <quantity>1</quantity> <price>148.95</price> </item>
Sample XML Document (continued) Element tags Attributes Data <itempartNum="926-AA"> <productName>Baby Monitor</productName> <quantity>1</quantity> <price>39.98</price> <shipDate>1999-05-21</shipDate> </item> </items> </purchaseOrder>
XML Document Definition - DTD • Part of XML version 1.0 • Used to specify structure of an XML document • Element names, element structure, attribute names, valid value lists • Can be embedded within the XML document or specified via a location reference (e.g. a URL) • Uses non-XML syntax and lacks ability to specify data types
Sample XML DTD <!DOCTYPE purchaseOrder [ <!ELEMENT purchaseOrder (shipTo, Items) > <!ATTLIST purchaseOrder orderDate CDATA #REQUIRED > <!ELEMENT shipTo (name, street, city, state, zip) > <!ATTLIST shipTo country CDATA #REQUIRED > <!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA) > <!ELEMENT street (#PCDATA) > <!ELEMENT city (#PCDATA) > <!ELEMENT state (#PCDATA) > <!ELEMENT zip (#PCDATA) > <!ELEMENT Items (item+) > <!ELEMENT item (productName, quantity, USPrice) > <!ATTLIST item partNum CDATA #REQUIRED > <!ELEMENT productname (#PCDATA) > <!ELEMENT quantity (#PCDATA) > <!ELEMENT USPrice (#PCDATA) >
XML Document Definition - Schema • Created to address failings of original DTD specification • Support for data typing • Enables more rigorous validation • Uses XML syntax • Finally became part of official spec in May 2001
Sample XML Schema <xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <xsd:element name="purchaseOrder" type="PurchaseOrderType"/> <xsd:complexType name="PurchaseOrderType"> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="shipTo" type="USAddress"/> <xsd:element name="items" type="Items"/> </xsd:sequence> <xsd:attribute name="orderDate" type="xsd:date"/> </xsd:complexType>
Sample XML Schema (continued) Definition of the USAddress complex type <xsd:complexType name="USAddress"> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="name" type="xsd:string"/> <xsd:element name="street" type="xsd:string"/> <xsd:element name="city" type="xsd:string"/> <xsd:element name="state" type="xsd:string"/> <xsd:element name="zip" type="xsd:decimal"/> </xsd:sequence <xsd:attribute name="country" type="xsd:NMTOKEN” fixed="US"/> </xsd:complexType>
Sample XML Schema (continued) Definition of the USAddress complex type <xsd:complexType name="Items"> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="item" minOccurs="0” maxOccurs="unbounded"> <xsd:complexType> <xsd:sequence> <xsd:element name="productName" type="xsd:string"/> <xsd:element name="quantity"> <xsd:simpleType> <xsd:restriction base="xsd:positiveInteger"> <xsd:maxExclusive value="100"/> </xsd:restriction> </xsd:simpleType> </xsd:element>
Sample XML Schema (continued) …more child elements of the “item” element ….. <xsd:element name="USPrice" type="xsd:decimal"/> <xsd:element name="shipDate" type="xsd:date" minOccurs="0"/> </xsd:sequence> <xsd:attribute name="partNum" type="xsd:string” use="required"/> </xsd:complexType </xsd:element> </xsd:sequence </xsd:complexType>
Manipulating XML Documents • Parsing • DOM (Document Object Model) Parsers • SAX (Simple API for XML) Parsers • Translating • XSLT processors • XML Mapping tools • Custom code • Editing • Text editors • Third party tools (e.g. XML Spy) • Storage and retrieval • Store as large text or binary object in an RDBMS • Map XML elements to columns of relational tables • Use specialized XML data store (e.g eXelon)
Major Uses of XML • Data and document exchanges (A2A, B2B, G2B, G2G) • As a metadata format • XLANG for process definitions (Microsoft) • XMI for metadata exchange • Separating content from presentation • Emerging Web Services Paradigm • Business functions accessible over the web via widely used protocols • Developing Standards • SOAP: Invoking web services • WSDL: Describing web services • Others: UDDI, WSFL, ….
Sample Web Service invocation using SOAP and HTTP POST /StockQuote HTTP/1.1Host: www.stockquoteserver.comContent-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"Content-Length: nnnnSOAPAction: "Some-URI"<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"> <SOAP-ENV:Body><m:GetLastTradePrice xmlns:m="Some-URI"> <symbol>DIS</symbol> </m:GetLastTradePrice> </SOAP-ENV:Body> </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
Sample Web Service response HTTP/1.1 200 OKContent-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8"Content-Length: nnnn<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"/> <SOAP-ENV:Body><m:GetLastTradePriceResponse xmlns:m="Some-URI"> <Price>34.5</Price> </m:GetLastTradePriceResponse></SOAP-ENV:Body></SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
Benefits of XML • Industry support • IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, ….. • Ariba, Commerceone, webMethods, ... • SAP, Baan, Siebel, Peoplesoft, AMS, …. • Human readable • Self describing • New elements can be added readily
The Other Side of the Coin • Parsing overhead • Tag data and text format result in increased network utilization
XML Standards and Initiatives • XML specification itself - W3C • Industry-specific XML vocabularies • FpML Financial Products Markup Language • Vendor driven XML standards • cXML and xCBL • Open standards initiatives • ebXML • Government XML initiatives • xml.gov
Establishing XML standards for data exchange • Document types • Document structure and content • Document processing flow and rules
Document processing flow and rules Transmit order Organization A Organization B Acknowledge receipt of order Provide estimated ship date Acknowledge receipt of ship date info Indicate order shipped Acknowledge receipt of shipping confirmation Payment notification Acknowledge payment notification
Other processing considerations • Transport protocols and security • Error handling procedures
Standards Administration Some things to consider: • Who will participate in developing and maintaining the standards? • Where will the standard specifications reside? (schemas, process definitions, etc) • What process will be used for approval consensus? • How will change requests be administered? • Others …...