4a. Web Data Standards (XML, XML DTD & Schema) (Lecture Notes)

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Part 3: XML
Web Data Standards
XML and related technologies
Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16
XML - eXtensible Markup Language
Developed from SGML
XML is used for data storage/processing and data exchange.

XML is a meta-markup language
HTML is a markup language, XML is used to define markup languages.
e.g. XHTML, RSS, SOAP, SVG etc.
Markup languages defined in XML are known as applications.

For e.g, MIME type of XML based documents is application/xhtml+xml .
XML has become the basis for all new generation data interchange
formats for the www.
Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16
Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 1

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Why XML?
can be used to describe and identify information accurately and

unambiguously
computers can be programmed to understand your information (well,
at least manipulate as if they could understand it).
provides a standardised way of describing, controlling, or
allowing/disallowing particular types of document structure.
provides a robust and durable format for information storage and
transmission.
provides a common syntax for messaging systems for the exchange of
information between applications.
lets you separate form (appearance) from content.
Features of XML
XML was created to structure, store and transport data.
XML does not do anything, just contains information wrapped in tags.
XML is just plain text.

Only XML aware applications can handle the XML tags specially.
XML does not have pre-defined tags.
XML preserves whitespace.
XML is a complement, not a replacement for HTML !

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
The Syntax of XML

Levels of syntax
Well-formed : conform to basic XML rules.
XML tags are case sensitive (lowercase only)
One root tag that contains all the other tags in a document.
Each begin tag has a matching closing tag.
All elements must be properly nested.
Attributes must have a value assigned, the value must be quoted.
Attributes are specified by name=value pairs inside the starting tag of an
element.
The characters <, >, & etc can only appear with their special meaning.
Otherwise use entity references (e.g. < & etc.)
Valid: documents are well-formed and also conform to a schema

which defines details of the allowed content.
XML Necessary Accompaniments.
Each XML document uses two auxiliary files
Rules file
Specifies the documents tag set and the structural rules to which it must
conform.
Options: DTD or an XML Schema
Style file -
Contains a style-sheet to describe how the content of the document is to be
displayed or printed.
Options: Cascading Style Sheets or XSLT (XML Stylesheet Tranformations)

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Document Type Definitions (DTD)
A set of structural rules called declarations which

Define tags, attributes, entities
Specify the order and nesting of tags
Specify which attributes can be used with which tags.
Two ways of specifying a DTD -
Internal DTD
embedded in the XML document whose syntax rules it describes.
External DTD
Stored as a separate file.
Important: A DTD is not an XML document!
Syntax of a DTD
Each declaration has the form
<!KEYWORD element-name content-description>
Different keywords
ELEMENT - used to define tags.
ATTLIST - used to define tag attributes.
ENTITY - used to define entities.

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Syntax of a DTD
Part A : Declaring Elements (contd.)
Step 1: Declaring the parent element for each record

each element declaration in a DTD specifies the structure of one category of
elements.
Syn: <!ELEMENT element_name(list of child elements)>
e.g. <!ELEMENT person(name,parent,age,gender ..)>
employees
person
name
gender
parent age
Syntax of a DTD
Part A: Declaring Elements (contd.)
Step 2: Specifying Occurrences

in many cases, it is necessary to specify the number of times a child
element may appear.
This can be done by adding a quantifier to the child elements
specification.
Types: +
*
?
E.g. <!ELEMENT person(name, parent+, age, spouse?,

sibling*)>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Syntax of a DTD
Part A: Declaring Elements (contd.)
Step 3: Specifying leaf-node datatypes
Datatype of the content stored within the element tag.
Most common data type
PCDATA (parseable character data a string of any printable character except <,
> and & )
Other types EMPTY if element has no content.
ANY - element may contain literally any content.
Syn: <!ELEMENT element-name(#PCDATA)>
e.g. <!ELEMENT person(name,parent+,age,spouse?,sibling*)>

<!ELEMENT name(#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT parent(#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT age(#PCDATA)> .. .
DTD (with elements only)
<!ELEMENT person(name, parent+, age, spouse?, sibling*)>

<!ELEMENT age(#PCDATA)>
.
.
.

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
XML document corresponding to DTD (with elements only)
<?xml version=1.0 encoding=utf-8?>
<person>
<name></name>
<parent> </parent>
<parent> </parent>
Elements
<age> </age>
<spouse> </spouse>
<sibling> </sibling>
..
</person>

Syntax of a DTD
Part B: Declaring Attributes
Attribute declaration contains
Name of the element to which that attribute belongs
Name of the attribute
Value of the attribute.
Syn: <!ATTLIST element-name attr_name attr_type
default_value >
OPTIONAL
If an element has multiple attributes
<!ATTLIST element-name
attr_name1 attr_type default_value_for_1
attr_name2 attr_type default_value_for_2

attr_namen attr_type default_value_for_n >

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Syntax of a DTD
Part B: Declaring Attributes (contd.)
Most commonly used attribute type is CDATA
Possible default values for attributes

Value Description
A value - Any quoted given value.
#FIXED - The quoted value which every element will have and
which cannot be changed.
#REQUIRED -No default value is specified, every instance of the
element must specify a value.
#IMPLIED -No default value is given ( the browser chooses the
default value)
- The element value may or may not be specified.
Syntax of a DTD
Part B: Declaring Attributes (contd.)
Examples
<!ATTLIST person dept CDATA #REQUIRED>
If an element has multiple attributes
<!ATTLIST person dept CDATA #REQUIRED

company CDATA #FIXED NITK
room_no CDATA #IMPLIED
emp_role CDATA teaching >

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
XML document corresponding to DTD

(with elements and attributes)
<person dept=Accounts gender=male emp_role=non-
teaching company=nitk>
<name></name>
<parent> </parent>
Attributes
<parent> </parent>
<age> </age>
<spouse> </spouse>
Elements
.
.
</person>
Syntax of a DTD
Part C: Declaring Entities
Entities can be defined so that they can be referenced anywhere in the

content of an XML document.
Syn: <!ENTITY entity_name entity_value>
E.g.
<!ENTITY nitk
National Institute of Technology Karnataka,
Srinivas Nagar P.O, Surathkal, Mangalore>
- This entity declaration in the DTD allows us to specify the complete
name with just a reference &nitk; in the corresponding XML
document.
<address>&nitk;</address>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Syntax of a DTD
Part C: Declaring Entities (contd.)
If entity is longer than a few words (e.g. a section of a technical article,

footnotes etc.) its text can be defined outside the DTD and used as
follows-
Syn: <!ENTITY entity_name SYSTEM file_location>
- Keyword SYSTEM indicates that entity defined is in a separate file.
E.g.
<!ENTITY footnote C:\..\..\footnote.txt>

(with elements, attributes and entities)

teaching>
<name></name>
<parent> </parent> Attributes
<parent> </parent>
Elements <age> </age>
<spouse> </spouse>
.
.
Entity
</person>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Syntax of a DTD
Part A : Declaring Elements
Step 4: Declaring the document root element:

each element declaration in a DTD specifies the structure of one category of
elements.
Syn: <!ELEMENT element_name(list of child elements)>
e.g. <!ELEMENT employees(person+)>
employees
person
person
person person

(with root elements, record elements, attributes and entities)
<employees>
teaching>
<name></name>
<parent> </parent>
<parent> </parent>
<age> </age>
<spouse> </spouse>
</person>
<person> . </person>
</employees>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Internal and External DTDs

A document type declaration can either contain declarations directly or can
refer to another file.
Internal
<!DOCTYPE root-element [declarations]>
e.g. <!DOCTYPE employees[!-DTD for emp file--]>
OPTIONAL
External file
<!DOCTYPE root-element SYSTEM file-name>
e.g. <!DOCTYPE employees SYSTEM ../../emp.dtd >
Complete DTD for example discussed

<!DOCTYPE employees
[ emp.dtd
<!ELEMENT employees (person+)>
<!ELEMENT person(name, parent+, age, spouse?, sibling*)>
)>
<!ELEMENT age(#PCDATA)>
..
<!ATTLIST person dept CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST person company CDATA #FIXED NITK>
<!ATTLIST person gender CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST person emp_role CDATA teaching>
.
<!ENTITY nitk National Institute of Technology
Karnataka, Srinivas Nagar P.O, Surathkal, Mangalore>
]
>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Complete XML document corresponding to the DTD

<!DOCTYPE employees SYSTEM ../../emp.dtd> emp.xml
<employees>
<person dept=Accounts emp_role=non-teaching ..>
<name></name>
<parent> </parent>
. . .
</person>
<person dept=IT gender=male emp_role=teaching>
<name></name>
. . .
</person>
. . .
</employees>
Exercise
Create a DTD for an online booklet for a used car sale consisting of
ads for different vehicles to be sold. Each ad gives the make (e.g.
Honda, Tata), model, year, color, engine-type, no-of doors, price,
seller and location of the seller. Declare entities for the names of
popular car makes.
Create an XML file for above DTD with at least 5 instances of the car
element. Process the doc using the DTD and produce a display of the
raw XML document.

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
eXtensible Markup Language
XML Namespaces and Schemas
Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16
Limitations of DTDs
DTDs have several deficits -

They do not use XML syntax. It is sometimes difficult to deal with two
different syntactic forms ( one to define the document, the other to
define its structure.)

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Limitations of DTDs

There are only 10 data types, none of which are numeric.
Limitations of DTDs

Attribute types cannot be strictly specified, can only be specified as text.

(CDATA)
E.g.: if content of a tag represents time, DTD only specifies it as text

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Limitations of DTDs

Attribute types cannot be strictly specified, can only be specified as text.

(CDATA)
E.g.: if content of a tag represents time, DTD only specifies it as text
They do not support namespaces.
W3C Standard for XML Structure - Schemas
XML Schema was designed by W3C as an alternative to DTDs.
Main differences
XML schema is an XML document itself, so can be processed by a
XML parser.

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Main differences
XML parser.
Provides 44 different data types to describe the content of a specific
element (tag).
Main differences
XML parser.
element (tag).
Also allows defining new types with constraints on existing data types.
For e.g. a numeric data value can be constrained to have exactly 6 digits for a
element <pincode>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Main differences
XML parser.
element (tag).
Also allows defining new types with constraints on existing data types.
For e.g. a numeric data value can be constrained to have exactly 6 digits for a
element <pincode>
Concept of namespaces introduced.
Need for Namespaces

Sometimes XML docs are constructed by using tag-sets that may be
defined and used by other docs.
Example 1: (data exchange)
XML data has to be exchanged between organizations.
Same tag name may have different meaning in different organizations,
causing confusion on exchanged documents.
Example 2: (formatting for display)

Creating an XML catalog with user-defined tags that may also be found
in HTML. (<title>, <body>, <table>, <form> etc..)
For example, we may want to use the HTML <table> tag to format the display
of data stored in this XML document.

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Need for Namespaces (contd.)
To deal with these problems, W3C introduced a standard called XML

Namespaces.
Basic Idea - Specifying a unique string as an element name avoids

confusion.
Improved Idea: use unique-domain-name : element-name
Defining Namespaces
A XML docs namespace uniquely identifies every element and attribute
used in that document.
Multiple namespaces can be used in a single document.
Syntax: <element-name xmlns[:prefix]=URI>

The prefix is used to qualify elements that belong to the namespace.
Symbols [ ] indicate that prefix is optional.

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Defining Namespaces
A XML docs namespace uniquely identifies every element and attribute
used in that document.
Multiple namespaces can be used in a single document.
Syntax: <element-name xmlns[:prefix]=URI>

The prefix is used to qualify elements that belong to the namespace.
Symbols [ ] indicate that prefix is optional.
Default namespace is that used by XHTML docs. Here tags can appear
without prefixes.
<html xmlns = http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml>
Defining Namespaces (example.)
<bank xmlns:sbi=http://www.statebankofindia.com>

<sbi:branch>
<sbi:branchname>NITK</sbi:branchname>
<sbi:city>Surathkal</sbi:city>
</sbi:branch>
</bank>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Schema Fundamentals
Documents that conform to a schemas rules are considered instances

of that schema.
Analogy:
Schema --- Class in an OO Language.
XML doc --- Object of the class Schema
Purpose of a Schema:
Defines the structure of its instance XML docs, including
which elements & attributes may appear
where and
how often.
the data type of every element and attribute of its instance XML doc.
Defining a Schema
Each schema uses XSD (XML Schema Definition) Language namespace. (prefix
xs or xsd)
<xs:schema> element is the root element of every XML schema.
Syntax:
<xs:schema xmlns:xs=W3Cs namespace URI
targetNamespace = your websites namespace URI
xmlns = default namespace URI for your site
elementFormDefault = qualified>
.
.
.
</xs:schema>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Defining a Schema (contd.)

Example (same as the one discussed for DTD)

<xs:schema xmlns:xs=http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema
targetNamespace = http://www.nitk.ac.in/
xmlns = http://www.nitk.ac.in/
elementFormDefault = qualified>
.
.
.
.
emp.xsd
</xs:schema>
Referencing a Schema in an XML document

<?xml version="1.0" encoding=utf-8 ?>
<employees xmlns = "http://www.nitk.ac.in"

xmlns:xsi = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation = "http://www.nitk.ac.in/files emp.xsd
>
Two separate attributes are required
<person>
<name>..</name>
<parent>....</parent>
<age>.</age>

</person> emp.xml
.
.
</employees>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Overview of Data Types used in XML Schema
Data types are of two kinds
Simple data types

Content is restricted to text. It cannot contain any other elements or
attributes.
Complex data types

Defined for elements that contain other elements, attributes and string
content.

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Built-in Simple Types <xs:element>

Content : text only, cannot contain any other elements or have any attributes.
Common built-in data types - xs:string, xs:decimal, xs:integer, xs:date, xs:time...
Syntax:
<xs:element name=value type=value optional_arguments=/>
Optional arguments - default, fixed values or more than one occurrences.
Examples :
<xs:element name=emp_role type=xs:string
default=Teaching />
<xs:element name=country type=xs:string fixed=India />
<xs:element name=parents type=xs:string
minOccurs=1 maxOccurs=2 />
(value can be unbounded wherever needed)
User defined Simple types

Built-in data types with some constraints.
These properties are called restrictions or facets.
Uses <xs:simpleType> inside the built-in tag <xs:element>
Syntax and Example:

<xs:element name=ename>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base=xs:string>
<xs:maxlength value=20/>
<xs:minlength value=3/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:element>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Complex Types <xs:complexType>

Used for 4 types of elements
Empty elements
e.g. <spouse value=yes/>
Elements that contain other elements. (most commonly used)
e.g. <ename>
<fname> </fname>
<mid> </mid>
<lname> </lname>
</ename>
Elements with attributes that contain text.
e.g. <parent rel=father> </parent>
Elements with attributes that contain both text and other elements
e.g. <note lang=english>This person is a
<emptype>adjunct</emptype> faculty </note>
Complex Types (contd.)

Defining Complex types
1. Ordered Group
<xs:sequence> element
Example
<xs:element name=ename>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name=fname type=xs:string/>
<xs:element name=mid type=xs:string/>
<xs:element name=lname type=xs:string/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Complex Types (contd.)

Defining Complex types
2. Unordered Group
<xs:all> element
Example:
<xs:element name=depts>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:all>
<xs:element name=IT type=xs:string/>
<xs:element name=CS type=xs:string/>
<xs:element name=EE type=xs:string/>
</xs:all>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
XML file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding=utf-8 ?>
<employees xmlns = "http://www.nitk.ac.in"
xmlns:xsi = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation = "http://www.nitk.ac.in emp.xsd >
<person>
<name>..</name>
<dept> . </dept>
<parent>....</parent>
<parent> </parent>
<spouse> </spouse>
<age>.</age>
<gender></gender>
<address> </address>
</person>
.
</employees>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
XML Schema
<?xml version="1.0 encoding=utf-8 ?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
<
targetNamespace = "http://www.nitk.ac.in"
xmlns = "http://www.nitk.ac.in"
elementFormDefault = "qualified">
emp.xsd
.
.
.
.
</
</xs:schema>
XML Schema (contd.)

<xs:schema xmlns:xs =
<
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
<
<xs:element name=employees>
emp.xsd
<xs:complexType>
.
.
.
</xs:complexType>
</
</xs:element>
</
</xs:schema>

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
XML Schema (contd.)

<
<
emp.xsd
<xs:complexType>
<xs:element name=person">
<xs:complexType>
.
.
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:complexType>
</
</xs:element>
</
</xs:schema>
XML Schema (complete)

<
<
<xs:complexType>
emp.xsd
<xs:element name=person">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name=name" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name=parent" type="xs:string minoccurs =1
maxoccurs =2/>
<xs:element name=age" type="xs:positiveInteger"/>
.
.
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:complexType>
</
</xs:element>
</ Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal
</xs:schema> 30-Aug-16

IT702 AWT (Jul Dec 2016) 31-08-2016
Exercise
Create a Schema for an online booklet for a used car sale consisting of
ads for different vehicles to be sold. Each ad gives the make (e.g.
Honda, Tata), model, year, color, engine-type, no-of doors, price,
seller and location of the seller.
Create an XML file for above Schema with at least 3 instances of the
car element. Process the doc using the Schema and produce a display
of the raw XML document.

4a. Web Data Standards (XML, XML DTD &amp; Schema) (Lecture Notes)

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Web Data Standards

XML and related technologies

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

XML - eXtensible Markup Language

Developed from SGML

XML is used for data storage/processing and data exchange.

Markup languages defined in XML are known as applications.

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 1

can be used to describe and identify information accurately and

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

XML is just plain text.

XML does not have pre-defined tags.

XML preserves whitespace.

XML is a complement, not a replacement for HTML !

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 2

The Syntax of XML

Valid: documents are well-formed and also conform to a schema

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

XML Necessary Accompaniments.

Each XML document uses two auxiliary files

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 3

Document Type Definitions (DTD)

A set of structural rules called declarations which

Important: A DTD is not an XML document!

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Each declaration has the form

<!KEYWORD element-name content-description>

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 4

Step 1: Declaring the parent element for each record

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Step 2: Specifying Occurrences

E.g. <!ELEMENT person(name, parent+, age, spouse?,

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 5

e.g. <!ELEMENT person(name,parent+,age,spouse?,sibling*)>

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

DTD (with elements only)

<!ELEMENT person(name, parent+, age, spouse?, sibling*)>

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 6

XML document corresponding to DTD (with elements only)

<?xml version=1.0 encoding=utf-8?>

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 7

Most commonly used attribute type is CDATA

Possible default values for attributes

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

<!ATTLIST person dept CDATA #REQUIRED>

If an element has multiple attributes

<!ATTLIST person dept CDATA #REQUIRED

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 8

XML document corresponding to DTD

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Entities can be defined so that they can be referenced anywhere in the

Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 30-Aug-16

Dr. Sowmya Kamath S, Dept of IT, NITK Surathkal 9

If entity is longer than a few words (e.g. a section of a technical article,

4a. Web Data Standards (XML, XML DTD & Schema) (Lecture Notes)

4a. Web Data Standards (XML, XML DTD & Schema) (Lecture Notes)