Weekly XML News Archives - August 1998
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This page collects recent
XML developments from many
different sources. It is updated monthly.
Contributions
of newsworthy items will be considered.
Older news items are also archived.
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Last Modified:
March 2, 2009
Our news section is changing. In an effort to include more and spend less time categorizing, we're
simply listing recent events/additions in this section and, in some cases,
pointing to other WDVL pages where you can find more details.
This section covers news from early March to late May 1999. Newest information
is listed first in each subsection.
- big news:
- major sites:
- IBM's xCentral, an XML-focused search engine
- XML.org - formed by OASIS
(Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards).
"is designed to provide a
credible source of accurate, timely information about the application of
XML in industrial and commercial settings and to serve as a
reference repository for specific XML standards such as
vocabularies, DTDs, schemas, and namespaces. "
- BizTalk.org - formed by Microsoft et al.
"The BizTalkTM Framework is an XML
framework for application integration and electronic commerce. It includes a design
framework for implementing an XML schema and a set of XML tags used in messages sent
between applications. Microsoft, other software companies, and industry standards
bodies will use the BizTalk Framework to produce XML schemas in a consistent manner."
- JavaSoft's XML site
and Sun's XML Feature Stories
- Microsoft XSL info:
Getting Started with XSL,
XSL Working Draft Conformance Notes,
XSL Developer's Guide,
XSL Reference,
Browsing XML Documents in Internet Explorer 5.
- DataChannel's xDev: The Definitive Site for Serious XML Developers
- developerlife.com: shows how to use Java2, XML, Swing, Servlet, JDBC and RMI APIs to
create real world applications using XML and Java2.
- XMLU.com: Enabling a New Generation of Web Developers.
- articles:
- WWWhat Happened at WWW8? - coverage of the
8th International WWW Conference of May 1999,
with XML, XSL, RDF, XHTML, CSS, and DOM focus.
- XSL Considered Harmful by Michael Leventhal
- Stephen Deach: Response to Leventhal's Article (above)
- XML and the Second Generation Web:
Scientific American, May 1999 - by Jon Bosak and Tim Bray
- What's the Big Deal with XSL? - by G. Ken Holman
- Java, XML, and a New World of Open Components - by Simon St.Laurent
- Formatting Objects considered harmful -
by Håkon W Lie
- Co-Stars in Networking: XML and JavaTM Technologies
- XML JavaBeans, Part 1 - Make JavaBeans mobile and interoperable with XML
- XML JavaBeans, Part 2 - Convert your JavaBeans to XML documents
- XML for the absolute beginner: A guided tour from HTML to processing XML with Java
- new software:
- updated software:
- new specs:
- updated specs:
- miscellaneous:
Other XML-Related News Sources
XHTML 1.0: The Extensible HyperText Markup Language: A Reformulation of HTML 4.0 in XML 1.0
(formerly called simply Reformulating HTML in XML)
is the third Working Draft from the new HTML Working Group, published March 4, 1999.
This is a very significant step for the W3C since it specifies how
(as they have previously stated) all future HTML changes will be expressed in terms of XML.
Note: The first version of this Working Draft used the codename Voyager, but the new name appears to be
XHTML. See also the HTML home page and
the HTML Activity page.
Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and
Syntax Specification became a full W3C Recommendation on February 22, 1999.
RDF is the basis for taking the Web from machine-readable to machine-understandable.
RDF is a foundation for processing metadata, which is in general, information about data;
in this case, metadata is data describing Web resources.
RDF provides interoperability between applications that exchange machine-understandable
information on the Web.
"RDF can be used in a variety
of application areas; for example: in resource discovery to provide
better search engine capabilities, in cataloging for describing
the content and content relationships available at a particular Web site,
page, or digital library, by intelligent software agents to facilitate
knowledge sharing and exchange, in content rating, in describing
collections of pages that represent a single logical "document",
for describing intellectual property rights of Web pages, and for
expressing the privacy preferences of a user as well as the privacy
policies of a Web site. RDF with digital signatures will be
key to building the "Web of Trust" for electronic commerce, collaboration,
and other applications."
RDF uses the Extensible Markup Language [XML] encoding as its interchange syntax.
RDF also requires the XML namespace facility to precisely associate each property
with the schema that defines the property.
This example is an edited version of the first page of the source of the
RDF specification itself:
<rdf:Description about=""
xmlns:rdf="http://w3.org/TR/1999/PR-rdf-syntax-19990105#"
dc:Title="Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and
Syntax Specification"
dc:Description="The Resource Description Framework (RDF)
is a foundation for processing metadata; it provides
interoperability between applications that exchange
machine-understandable information on the Web. RDF
emphasizes facilities to enable automated processing of
Web resources."
dc:Publisher="World Wide Web Consortium"
dc:Date="1999-01-05"
dc:Format="text/html"
dc:Type="technical specification"
dc:Language="en">
<dc:Subject rdf:resource="http://purl.org/net/ddc/025.316"
ddc:Class="025.316"
ddc:Heading="Machine-readable catalog record formats" />
<dc:Creator>
<rdf:Bag rdf:_1="Ora Lassila"
rdf:_2="Ralph Swick" />
</dc:Creator>
</rdf:Description>
Resource Description Framework (RDF) Schemas
became a Proposed Recommendation on March 3, 1999.
"Resource description communities require the ability to say certain
things about certain kinds of resources. For describing bibliographic
resources, for example, descriptive attributes including "author", "title",
and "subject" are common. For digital certification, attributes such as
"checksum" and "authorization" are often required. The declaration of
these properties (attributes) and their corresponding semantics are
defined in the context of RDF as an RDF schema. A schema defines
not only the properties of the resource (Title, Author, Subject, Size,
Color, etc.) but may also define the kinds of resources being described
(books, Web pages, people, companies, etc.).
This document does not specify a vocabulary of descriptive elements
such as "author". Instead, it specifies the mechanisms needed to define
such elements, to define the classes of resources they may be used
with, to restrict possible combinations of classes and relationships, and
to detect violations of those restrictions. Thus, this document defines a
schema specification language. More succinctly, the RDF Schema
mechanism provides a basic type system for use in RDF models. It
defines resources and properties such as Class and subClassOf that
are used in specifying application-specific schemas."
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
is the first Working Draft on this topic from the
Scalable Vector Graphics Working Group.
"SVG is a language for describing two-dimensional graphics in XML. SVG allows for three types
of graphic objects: vector graphic shapes (e.g., paths consisting of straight lines and curves),
images and text. Graphical objects can be grouped, styled, transformed and composited into
previously rendered objects. The feature set includes nested transformations, clipping paths,
alpha masks, filter effects, template objects and extensibility.
SVG drawings can be dynamic and interactive. The Document Object Model (DOM) for SVG
allows for straightforward and efficient vector graphics animation via scripting. A rich set of event
handlers such as onmouseover and onclick can be assigned to any SVG graphical object.
Because of its compatibility and leveraging of other Web standards, features like scripting can be
done on HTML and SVG elements simultaneously within the same Web page."
XML Fragment Interchange is
a new Working Draft from the XML Fragments Working Group.
"The XML standard supports logical documents composed of possibly several entities. It may
be desirable to view or edit one or more of the entities or parts of entities while having no
interest, need, or ability to view or edit the entire document. The problem, then, is how to
provide to a recipient of such a fragment the appropriate information about the context that
fragment had in the larger document that is not available to the recipient. The XML Fragment
WG is chartered with defining a way to send fragments of an XML document--regardless of
whether the fragments are predetermined entities or not--without having to send all of the
containing document up to the part in question. This document defines Version 1.0 of the
[eventual] W3C Recommendation that addresses this issue."
XML XLink Requirements Version 1.0
and
XML XPointer Requirements Version 1.0
were posted on February 24, 1999.
We've updated our
Big Picture diagram
which shows nearly all XML-related specifications and how they relate
to one another.
The Web Standards Project, an international
coalition of Web developers, called on Microsoft Corp. and
the World Wide Web Consortium to clarify whether a recent Microsoft
patent
gives the company control over two key Web standards developed by W3C: CSS and XSL.
See also this Wired News article.
James Clark attempts to demystify us about
Namespaces in XML
in this short and to-the-point article.
Clark is co-author of several XSL-related W3C technical reports and publications,
including the XSL Working Draft.
Namespaces in XML became a W3C
Recommendation on January 14, 1999. Namespaces provide a simple method for qualifying element and attribute
names used in XML documents by associating them with namespaces identified by URI references.
This is necessary to avoid collisions that would otherwise occur when, in a single XML
doucment, multiple XML vocabularies are referenced and they happen to use some of the same
names for elements and/or attributes.
Names from XML namespaces may appear as qualified names, which contain a single colon, separating the name
into a namespace prefix (which selects the namespace) and a local part. An example from the
spec follows:
<x xmlns:edi='http://ecommerce.org/schema'>
<!-- 'price' element's namespace is http://ecommerce.org/schema -->
<edi:price units='Euro'>32.18</edi:price>
</x>
Associating stylesheets with XML documents
became a Proposed Recommendation on January 14, 1999.
"This document allows a stylesheet to be associated with an XML document by
including one or more processing instructions with a target of xml-stylesheet in
the document's prolog....There was an urgent requirement for a specification for stylesheet linking that could be
completed in time for the next release from major browser vendors."
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Specification
- Just when most of us were catching on to DOM, Level 1, W3C was busy preparing the Working Draft
for DOM, Level 2, which Lauren Wood et al delivered on December 18, 1998. Here's how they describe it:
"This specification defines the Document Object Model Level 2, a platform- and
language-neutral interface that allows programs and scripts to dynamically access and
update the content, structure and style of documents. The Document Object Model Level 2
builds on the Document Object Model Level 1. Level 2 adds interfaces for a Cascading
Style Sheets object model, an event model, and a query interface, amongst others.
This first release of the Document Object Model Level 2 does not have all these interfaces.
It contains interfaces for the Cascading Style Sheets object model, the Range object model,
filters and iterators, and the Events object model. The other interfaces will be added in future
versions of this specification."
Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) - The second
Working Draft was released Dec. 16, 1998. This 150-page draft
represents a revision of the earlier draft from Aug. 18, 1998.
The draft provides more formatting object (fo:) functionality but no significant change in syntax.
WebCGM (Computer Graphics Metafile)
became a W3C Recommendation in January 1999.
Read more
in our XML Specifications section.
DrawML, Markup for Scalable and Intelligent Drawings
was submitted as a W3C Note in Dec. 1998.
Read more
in our XML Specifications section.
Composite Capability/Preference Profiles (CC/PP):
is a user side framework for content negotiation.
Commerce XML (cXML)
is a new proposed standard being developed by "more
than 40 leading companies" for business-to-business electronic commerce.
"cXML defines a request/response process for the exchange of
transaction information. These business processes include purchase orders, change orders,
acknowledgments, status updates, ship notifications and payment transactions. The contributors to the
cXML initiative are focused on achieving reference implementations through creation and rapid iteration of
cXML. The cXML specification, including reference production implementations and associated
implementation knowledge, will be submitted to the appropriate standards organizations. The cXML
initiative is therefore complementary to existing XML initiatives led by CommerceNet, RosettaNet,
Information & Content Exchange (ICE) and Open Buying on the Internet (OBI). The cXML specification
will be made publicly available in March 1999."
Paul Prescode announced a
proposal for the creation of a W3C-recommended transformation language
to the XSL developers list.
JSci - A science API for Java
to encapsulate scientific methods/principles in the most natural way possible.
XML for Astronomy is a new site
that lists all known efforts of in the field of astronomy involving XML, including
Astronomical Data Center (astronomical data tables published in journals),
Astronomical Instrument Markup Language (instrument description and
control), Astronomical Markup Language (images and publications), and
Gemini Observatory (writing observation proposals).
Please notify me if you know of others not on this list.
XML Schema Languages
is a slide presentation by Ron Bourret covering XSchema, SOX, DCD, XML-Data, and more.
You can also download the PowerPoint slides.
XML Metadata Interchange Format (XMI)
advances at OMG - XMI should be approved in February or March as the format for interchange
of object modeling information between applications. XMI is a proposal from IBM, Unisys, Oracle, et al.
VRML DTD is in the works.
FlixML is
an interesting application for creating descriptions of B movies.
FlixML is intended mostly as a tutorial or demo application, one which
exercises a reasonably broad range of XML features and facilities
(including XLink and XPointer).
The FlixML DTD
is also available.
XBEL: XML Bookmark Exchange Language:
XBEL from the Python XML SIG
"represents a Web browser's collection of bookmarks. Converters
are available to convert several browser-specific formats (Netscape,
MS Internet Explorer, Opera, Lynx) to XBEL and back."
Human Resources XML (HR XML)
is a language from Structured Methods.
Read more
in our XML Specifications section.
WDVL's XML Software Guide
has benefited from a major update March 7, 1999. Thanks to all
the vendors and developers who have contributed to this.
Our guide has well over 80 entries.
IBM alphaWorks released February, 1999 updates to
LotusXML and
XML Parser for Java (xml4j).
We note that xml4j was rated the best of seven XML parsers written in Java.
MDSAX (Multi-Document Simple API for XML)
"is a set of tools for working with
Java SAX parsers and parser filters. MDSAX provides developers with considerably more
control over the creation and arrangement of SAX filters, and makes it easy to specify
different filter stacks for different types of documents (as identified by their root elements.)
MDSAX also provides access to a number of services, allowing filters to communicate
amongst themselves and with the application."
XML Spy is a $45 shareware editor for
XML, XSL, 3DML, and DTD documents on the Windows 95/98/NT/2000 platform.
It has a tree and enhanced grid view, offers drag & drop, unlimited undo,
and detailed find/replace functions. It is a non-validating editor and is suitable for
low-level viewing and editing
of all well-formed XML files.
The Document with Style Kit is a browser add-on that allows SGML or XML documents to be
rendered in Document browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Mozilla. The current
version only allows rendering in Microsoft Explorer browser with or without the Talva Document
Explorer. A future version will work as well with Mozilla.
"Bluestone's XML Product Family provides you with the tools to facilitate
application-to-application and business-to-business communication, today."
Current offerings include XML-Server,
Visual-XML, and
XwingML.
LotusXSL is
yet another free XML product
from IBM's alphaWorks folks.
"XSL provides a mechanism for formatting and transforming XML, either
at the browser or on the server. It allows the developer to take the
abstract data semantics of an XML instance and transform it into a
presentation language such as HTML.
LotusXSL implements an XSL processor in Java, and can interface to
APIs that conform to the October 1 Document Object Model (DOM)
Level 1 Specification. The processor can be used from the command line
or from an wrapper applet, or it can be used as a submodule of other
programs, and accessed via the API."
XML Enabler,
also from IBM's alphaWorks group,
"....is a servlet that can successfully implement stylesheets
such as the LotusXSL technology. Using the XML Enabler, developers
with any kind of browser can now send requests to a servlet and as the
servlet responds, it formats the data using different XSL stylesheets. The
system administrator can then configure which stylesheets go with which
browser types."
AXSL: Activated [Intelligence] XSL
- AXSL combines XML and XSL so you can create customizable presentations.
Read How AXSL Works.
"AXSL is in production use today, dynamically generating hundreds of thousands of page
views per month in real time at the Java Lobby website."
SoftQuad XMetaL update:
You can now download a free evaluation copy of this XML editor.
XML.com has a very useful Authoring Tools page
as part of its larger XML Buyer's Guide.
David Brownell reported that Sun has proposed a
Java Standard Extension for XML
(requires free login).
Java Report published an article in February 1999 on Java XML Parsers.
Oracle released its XML Parser for Java,
a standalone XML component that enables
parsing of XML documents through either SAX or DOM interfaces using
validating or non-validating modes.
See also the Oracle XML site.
Java Project X: JavaSoft has renamed its XML Library
"Java Project X"
(Java Services for XML Technology). Early Access release 2 became available
Dec. 1, 1998. Technology Release 1 became available in late February 1999.
Java Project X provides
"full XML processing capabilities, including a fast XML parser with optional validation, an
in-memory object model tree that supports the W3C DOM Level 1 recommendation, and basic
support for JavaBeans integration with XML."
See the FAQ
and our WDVL entry with a code example.
In a Q and A interview,
Dave Brownell said:
"Java Project X is the codename for a set of core XML-enabling
services, using JavaTM technology. It's now available as an early
access release, which means among other things that the APIs and
functionality are subject to change. The intention is that the
functionality here should be sufficient to add XML support to existing
applications, and to let new XML-oriented apps be written."
In other Java/XML news, reader mays be interested in
XMLNet: Java API for Streaming XML:
"Using XMLNet, information can be transferred over the internet or
other network in real time as a series of XML documents immediately
and with high frequency on a schedule determined by a server, as
opposed to relying upon requests from clients. These documents are
delivered, one after another, on continuously open sockets to
connected clients and delivered to objects in that client as Document
Object Model (DOM) Document's, an open standard for representing XML
documents as objects. Client objects can subscribe to any of these
documents through the well-known Observer design pattern simply by
implementing an interface and specifying what document or documents it
would like to receive."
SIG for XML Processing in Python:
"The Python/XML distribution contains the basic tools required for
processing XML data using the Python programming language, assembled
into one easy-to-install package. The distribution includes parsers
and standard interfaces such as SAX and DOM, along with various other
useful modules. Version 0.5 can be considered a beta release."
Perl programmers will want to read about
XML::Parser Module Enables XML Development in Perl
and also
Using XML::Parser.
REX: XML Shallow Parsing with Regular Expressions
- describes simple approaches to parsing XML in
perl,
JavaScript, and
lex/flex.
WDVL has completely re-vamped its XSL home page -
Stop here for an XSL introduction, the XSL Working Draft and related specs, W3C's XSL page,
major XSL sites, XSL examples and tutorials, XSL mailing list, and more.
WDVL launches a new page devoted to XLink and XPointer -
Read brief overviews, go to the Working Drafts, find lists of XLink and XPointer resources,
check out implementations, join the XLink/Xpointer mailing list,
examine the predecessors (HyTime and TEI); it's all in one place!
XSL fans: see our Tools news for info about AXSL and LotusXSL.
Are you ready for the official (non-beta) release of
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0?
IE5 is due March 18, 1999. It will support XML 1.0, the XSL Working Draft, Namespaces,
and Vector Markup Language.
Hybrick has been updated.
HyBrick is based on an architecture that supports advanced linking and formatting
capabilities.
Lisa Rein has added a
A-Z Index of Companies Developing XML-Enabled
Software to her finetuning.com XML resource site.
Introduction to SMIL
(Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) is a WDVL article by Jeff Rule.
More IBM alphaWorks Freeware:
At the XML '98 conference in Chicago in November 1998,
alphaWorks Technologies from
IBM
announced nine XML freeware technologies. XML Productivity Kit for Java, Bean
Markup Language, XLM EditorMaker and XML Beanmaker look particularly
interesting. Read about all nine in the
Specialized Software
section of WDVL's XML Software Guide.
Note also that IBM added
official Web site
dedicated to XML technology in November 1998.
Link Update: E.R. Harold's Cafe con Leche XML News and Resources has moved to http://metalab.unc.edu/xml/.
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