James Griffiths Ltd

XML information

Information

XML

XML can be used as a universal form of data handling. The data is stored within tags, rather like an HTML document. However with XML the tags can be defined to suit the data. XML is not dependant upon the platform which it is being viewed from. Therefore, data can be passed between applications and platforms.

The data is stored in a hierarchical structure, or data tree as it is sometimes called. The Hierarchy may be only one layer deep, or several. A good example of multi-layered data is a Bill of Materials database. Here, items may belong to components, which in turn are part of larger components, and so on.

When the XML document is read, the data within the tags needs to be extracted in a way that makes sense to the application reading the document. An XSLT document can be used to create, for instance, an HTML document containing selected data from the XML file and laid out in a particular way and format.

In addition, within an XSLT document, a query language for XML, XPATH, can be used to retrieve data in a similar way that SQL does from a database.

Creating an XML document

Using ASP to create and display an XML document.

Reading an XML document

The data from an XML document retrieved by an HTML page.

Using XSLT with XML and HTML

Using XSLT to format the data form am XML document and output it as HTML.

Using XPATH to retrieve data

Selectively retrieve data using XPATH within an XSLT document.