Sample Chapter from XML Step by Step, Second Edition by Michael J. Young

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XML Step by Step, Second Edition

		Author		Michael J. Young
		Pages		512
		Disk		1 Companion CD(s)
		Level		Beg/Int
		Published		11/28/2001
		ISBN		9780735614659
		ISBN-10		0-7356-1465-2
		Price(USD)		~~$39.99~~ To see this book's discounted price, select a reseller below.



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Chapter 3: Creating Well-Formed XML Documents

Adding Attributes to Elements

Using Namespaces

Chapter 3 Creating Well-Formed XML Documents

In this chapter, you'll learn the basic techniques for creating a well-formed XML document. A well-formed document is one that meets the minimal set of criteria for a conforming XML document. When you create a well-formed XML document, you can pitch right in and begin adding elements as you need them and entering your document's data, just as you do when you create an HTML Web page. (Although, as you learned in the previous chapters, in an XML document you invent your own elements rather than use predefined ones.) And you'll have no problem handling and displaying any well-formed XML document in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

In Chapters 5 through 7, you'll learn how to create a valid XML document: a document that is not only well-formed but that also conforms to a more rigid set of constraints. When you create a valid XML document, in addition to adding the elements and data, you must formally define the document's content and structure, either in a document type definition (DTD) or in an XML schema file.

NOTE

Permitting XML documents to be merely well-formed, rather than requiring them to be valid, is an important concession that the XML specification makes to enhance XML as a universal markup language for the Web. Merely well-formed documents are simpler to create than valid ones, making XML as easy for Web developers to use as the more familiar HTML. Also, merely well-formed documents are often easier to transmit over the Web than valid documents because they are less likely to rely on external files; and a non-validating processor can often ignore external files, making the document more suitable for Web browsing. Finally, because an XML processor isn't required to check for validity, writing a conforming XML processor that can handle any XML document is simpler, encouraging the proliferation of universal XML processors on the Web.

In Chapter 5, however, you'll learn that there are some important advantages to making documents valid, especially for creating a group of similar documents.

In this chapter, you'll first learn about all the required and optional parts of a well-formed XML document. Next you'll discover how to add information to an XML document by defining the document's elements. You'll then learn how to supply additional document information by adding attributes to the elements.

Last Updated: November 14, 2001

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