1. eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and Documentation --ManojBokil -- Manoj Bokil

2. Agenda  Basic XML  From SGML – HTML and XML  Introduction to XML  Limitations of HTML  XML vs. HTML  Sample XML Document  Advanced XML What is –  Document Type Definition (DTD) ?  Internal DTD  External DTD  eXtensible Style Language (XSL)  XML in documentation

3. SGML – HTML and XML  Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is the international standard for defining descriptions of the structure of different types of electronic documents.  SGML is the mother tongue - large and complex.  Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is just one of the many SGML applications and is the one most frequently used on the Web.

4. SGML – HTML and XML (contd…)  XML is an extension of the HTML specification.  XML provides a robust, non-proprietary, and verifiable file format for the storage and transmission of text and data both on and off the Web.  XML removes the complexity of SGML, making it easier to define your own document types, and to write programs to handle them.

5. Limitations of HTML  HTML is not extensible – Not possible to define your own tags for specific requirements, or to use data formats within documents.  Inability to cover any content aspects – HTML only describes the appearances of documents and cannot cover any content related aspects. It is therefore unsuitable for explicit queries.  Inability for semantic markup – Individual elements on a page cannot be marked semantically. Inability for semantic markup

6. Example:  Consider the following HTML Expression: Seal

7. Introduction to XML  XML v1.0 specification was accepted by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as Recommendation on Feb10, 1998.  XML is a sub-set of SGML. It is a non-proprietary, public format.  It is not really an independent markup language, but rather a meta language – a definition tool that enables users to define their own markup languages.

8. XML vs. HTML Syntactical Differences

9. XML vs. HTML  Focused more on describing the logical structure of a wide variety of documents and data.  Focused more on displaying the data and how the data is presented.

10. XML vs. HTML  XML tags are not predefined. You need to define your own tags. Example: Fountainhead  HTML tags are predefined. Example: Body Text, LinktoURL You cannot define your own tags in HTML…

11. XML vs. HTML  XML tags are case- sensitive. Fountainhead is not the same as Fountainhead  HTML tags are not case- sensitive. Bold Text is the same as Bold Text

12. XML vs. HTML  All XML elements must have a closing tag. Content Fountainhead  HTML tags like, need not have a corresponding closing tag.

13. XML vs. HTML  XML elements must be properly nested. Incorrect Ayn Rand Correct Ayn Rand  HTML elements need not be properly nested. This is bold and italicized text. would give the same result as This is bold and italicized text.

14. XML vs. HTML  Attribute values must always be quoted. Example:  Attribute values need not always be quoted. Example: BodyText Change It

15. Sample XML Document (Code View…)

16. Sample XML Document (Viewed in Browser…)

17. Document Type Definition (DTD)  Defines the legal building blocks of an XML document.  It also defines the document structure with a list of legal elements.  A DTD can be declared inline in your XML document, or as an external reference.

18. Why use a DTD? With a DTD: - Each of your XML files can carry a description of its own format with it. - Independent groups of people can agree to use a common DTD for interchanging data. - Your application can verify whether the data you receive from the outside world is valid. - You can verify your own data.

19. Internal DTD Declaration  If the DTD is included in your XML source file, it should be wrapped in a DOCTYPE definition with the following syntax:

20. External DTD Declaration  If the DTD is external to your XML source file, it should be wrapped in a DOCTYPE definition with the following syntax:

21. eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)  XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) is a language for expressing style sheets.  It consists of three parts: - XSLT (a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents.) - Xpath (a language for defining parts of an XML document.) - XSL Formatting Objects (a vocabulary for formatting XML documents.)

22. Sample XSL Style Sheet

23. The Result…

24. XML in Documentation – WHY ??  Consider a company developing some 40 plus documents per year between two (or three) people. Each document is 50 % unique, with the other half being custom copy.  Push Word and RTF to the max, database-enabling Word, creating several work-around macros, and dynamically stitching together Word documents that otherwise would be 15 MB plus. Even with that, face the possibility of three or four of the documents getting corrupted !!

25. XML in Documentation – WHY ?? CAN YOU SEE THE PAIN ??

26. Solution:  FrameMaker supported by a database of XML text can be a solution.  It is cross-platform, allows you to create different types of help, print, and intranet projects and it keeps the bean counters happy.  It is stable, (something that can’t always be said about MS Word.)

27. XML in Documentation – WHY ??  XML editors such as Arbortext allow you to 'burst' your data. To convert a MS-Word doc to PDF, you need to make the changes in the source file and then re-convert it to PDF.  XML editors such as Arbortext, break the source data into multiple small sections. So, if you have to make changes to a section, you can go to that section and then make the changes. This prevents corruption of large amounts of data ( a problem most commonly seen in MS-Word) !!

28. Summary  What is XML ?  Some basic XML Concepts  Some advanced XML Concepts  XML in documentation

29. Some useful links:  http://www.xml.com http://www.xml.com  http://www.arbortext.com/html/think_tank.html http://www.arbortext.com/html/think_tank.html  http://www.w3schools.com http://www.w3schools.com  http://www.xmlspy.com http://www.xmlspy.com  http://www.ucc.ie/xml/faq.xml http://www.ucc.ie/xml/faq.xml

30. Acknowledgements  Ms. Taru Mateti (BindView India Pvt. Ltd.)  Mr. M. Jagadish (BindView India Pvt. Ltd.)  Mr. Roy Savio Athayde (BindView India Pvt. Ltd.)  Mr. Sanjay Kinikar (BindView India Pvt. Ltd.)  Ms. Vasudha J. Singh (Wipro Technologies)  Ms. Smita Iyer (Parametric Technology Corporation)

31. THANK YOU !!