XML: Learning By Example
Book Review

By Dale Farris, Secretary Golden Triangle PC Club June 2002 XML Learning By Example is intended for use in a short course focusing on XML programming, as a supplement in a course on Web programming, or for self-study. Minimal experience with personal computers is assumed, principally the ability to do basic computer operations such as launch application programs, perform tasks with application programs, and access the Internet. Although a background in computer programming is helpful, it is not necessary. Note that this relatively short work is not designed as a narrative explanation and discussion about XML. Author Mellor instead dives right into XML programming, and leaves the general discussion about XML to the many other fine works on XML that could be considered "first reads" on this subject. For those interested in creating XML programming, the author has provided exactly what they want in this small package that contains a ton of useful hints, tips, and suggestions in working with XML programming. Experience is the best teacher, and author Mellor has created a set of learning exercises that build experience. With access to a PC and a block of time to devote to working through this book, you need only a few days to become adept at XML programming operations. Further explanations are found in the appendices, and a list of Web links on XML is also provided at the back of the book. The book is designed to serve both the self-paced learner, as well as students enrolled in XML classes, and I think the use of Mellor's super guidebook will most assuredly be of great benefit in the classroom. With his inclusion of extensive XML examples, this will greatly speed up the XML coding experience for students. As a core textbook in an XML class, students will find this book a marvelous learning tool, especially those new to XML coding, or even HTML coding. As most experienced programmers know, learning any programming language is quite tedious and laborious, and will not naturally be easily grasped. This results in slow going in many programming classes, and in the case of learning XML, Mellor's many super examples of XML programming, line by line by line, will certainly be well received by students. The organization of this textbook emphasizes ease of use by the student, with great attention to the step-by-step process of using the many included XML programming selections. This high degree of detail to such tedious organization of this material must have been an enormous challenge to produce, not only for the author, but for all involved in the superb design and organization of this wealth of information. The result is a vastly superior book on how to work with XML that will make it much easier to learn this skill. Table of Contents This little book is chock-a-block filled with 26 examples of programming in XML, each followed by a detailed explanation. You can also download all code examples and files, and get additional information from the publisher's web site, www.fbeedle.com/80-5.html. Rather than be organized in traditional chapters, this book instead focuses on the XML code, which results in one main book section that is further divided into the many XML code example explanations. The beginning of the book explains the benefits of learning XML, XML tags, empty elements, comments, white space, information and metainformation, similarities between databases and XML, how XML reads data, and displaying data in an XML file using external sources. All this is presented in the first 7 pages! After this brief introduction, Mellor then gets to the XML examples, the heart of this super book, starting with formatting using cascading style sheets (CSS), working with CSS, exploring data levels in an XML source file, nodes and DOM, analyzing XML nodes with javascript, writing html in XML and using CDATA, and using XML stylesheet language. Very quickly, readers will see that Mellor's attempt in this powerful book is to eschew narrative explanation, and directly work on numerous examples of XML coding, all of which will be of super help to web site developers and programmers working with XML. Detailed Key Features The Benefits of Learning XML XML Tags Empty Elements Element Attributes Comments White Space Information and Metainformation Similarities between Databases and XML How Does XML Read Data? Displaying Data in an XML File Using External Sources Ex. A: Formatting Using CSS Different Media and the @media Directive Ex. B: One Display for Various Media Using CSS2 XML Data Display: DHTML and CSS Cascading Style Sheets Ex. C: Inline Style Ex. D: Declaring Style in the Style Element Ex. E: Linked External Style Sheets The Cascade in Cascading Style Sheets DSO: Pulling Data into an HTML File Using an External XML Source Ex. F1: Exploring Data Levels in an XML Source File Nodes and DOM Ex. F2: Analyzing XML Nodes with JavaScript PCDATA and CDATA Ex. G: Writing HTML in XML, Using CDATA XML Namespaces: XMLNS XSL: XML Stylesheet Language Ex. H: Displaying Repetitive XML Data Using XSL Sorting XML Data Using XSL Ex. I: Displaying XML Data in HTML, Using an XSL File to Query and Sort the Data Ex. J: XSL Conditional Statements A Resume of XSL Element Names Ex. K: Displaying XML Data with the Data-driven Model Home Exercise 1 XPath Context and Syntax of XPath Patterns Ex. L: XPath Axes Document Validity Document Type Declaration: DTD The DTD: Occurrence Indicators The DTD: Connectors The DTD: Attribute Declarations The DTD: Attribute Types Ex. M: Validation with DTD and Microsoft XML Parser Reverse DTD Generation Ex. N: DTD Generation with PaulT Schemas Ex. O: An XML Schema XSLT: XSL Transformation Ex. P: Transforming XML into HTML Ex. Q: Client-side XSLT Using JavaScript Ex. R: Server-side XSLT Using Personal Web Server Java and XML: The Java 2 Runtime Environment Ex. S: Passive and Active Files JRE and JDK Installing Java Installing Saxon Ex. T: Converting XML to Database Using Java XML and VBScript Ex. U: XML and VBScript XML and ASP Ex. V: HTML to XML by JavaScript and on to ASP XML Editors XLink and XPointer Ex. W: A Simple XLink XHTML Ex. X: Frames in XHTML Ex. Y: XHTML and File Extensions Ex. Z: XHTML and XML in the Browser Home Exercise 2 Advanced Project: From Access to UNIX using XML (and back again) The five appendixes include Appendix A, "Troubleshooting & Debugging," Appendix B, "Document Object Model, the DOM," Appendix C, "An XML Glossary," Appendix D, "Unicode Character Reference," and Appendix E, "Useful Links." About the Author Robert B. Mellor teaches at the IT University of Copenhagen. He has 15 years of teaching experience in several countries and is Examiner at many universities all over the world. Target Readers This is one of the most succinctly organized books on XML you will find on the market. The approach here is to offer a super collection of useful XML examples in a book that is a certainty for any class in XML. Mellor's super text is tailor-made for any university or college class in XML, and it can stand alone as the sole text for such a class, or as a marvelous supplement to other programming language texts. A special note for instructors of these classes is worthy here. In addition to the high value you will receive from using this textbook, Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Inc. (FBA) also makes available superb instructor resource materials that will provide everything you need to integrate the use of this text in a class. I have greatly benefited from these many helpful materials in preparing for my own class that uses another FBA textbook, and I can highly recommend this publisher to others wishing to develop a class in Java. With this venture, the Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Inc. publishing company solidifies their rapidly growing reputation for producing excellent textbooks for computer classes that can be considered by all levels of education. Students working toward computer certification, as well as any other student, should seriously consider this superb book that thoroughly covers how to create Java programs. Recommendation While many other publishers approach works on XML as introductory, or conceptual titles, Franklin Beedle & Associates, Inc. has designed a super, concise work on XML that will be well received by students. The text is designed for students with little or no prior programming experience, as well as for students who have experience with another programming language. For any XML class, this textbook can well serve any instructor looking for a well organized collection of XML examples. The book will also be of value to others interested in learning XML, but not necessarily wanting to enroll in a class. However, self-paced learners will naturally need to also be self-disciplined enough to walk through the many included exercises, while understanding that without an instructor working with the additional instructor material they will not necessarily have readily available this type of assistance, or answers to their questions. Book Contents 135 pages; preface; extensive XML programming examples; figures; appendixes; index ISBN 1st Edition, 2002 1-887902-80-5 List Price $14.95 Supplemental Code Included In Book All the many XML programming examples included in the textbook are also accessible at Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Inc.'s web site, www.fbeedle.com/80-5.html. At this site, you can download all the different XML examples in different files, for easy loading in your web browser. This alone is worth the minimal investment in this powerful book that is a sure bet for any XML class. Publisher Contact: Christine Collier Marketing Representative Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Inc. 8536 SW St. Helens Drive, Suite D Wilsonville, Oregon 97070 1-800-FBA-BOOK 1-503-682-7668 FAX 1-503-682-7638 ccollier@fbeedle.com www.fbeedle.com