Weekly XML News Archives - November 1999
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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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Weekly XML News: Week Ending Nov. 28
HTML Working Group Roadmap
The W3C HTML Working Group has
published a roadmap
with a schedule
that outlines their plans for XHTML, DOM Level 2, and Extended Forms
for the next year of so.
SML: Simplified Markup Language
Just when people are catching on to XML's benefits over HTML and SGML,
a number of experts are suggesting that a simplification of XML
called SML (Simplified Markup Language) is needed. See Edd Dumbill's
review for xmlhack and also
the XML.com article,
SML: Simplifying XML.
XML Inclusion Proposal (XInclude)
A W3C note published by the XML Linking Group describes a new way to include
or merge different XML Infosets into one, a la the show="parsed" (embed)
XLink attribute.
New XPath Tutorials
Miloslav Nic posted a new
XPath Tutorial
which augments his popular
XSLT tutorial.
Lisa Rein recently added an
XPath FAQ to finetuning.com.
XSLT Tutorials Updated
G. Ken Holman of Crane Softwrights has updated his popular XSLT and XPath tutorial,
Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath
(XSL Transformations and the XML Path Language).
The Sixth Edition weighs in at over 300 pages
and has been updated to match the November 16, 1999 XSLT and XPath W3C
Recommendations. A variety of PDF bindings are available for purchase
from Crane Softwrights.
On a related note,
Lisa Rein added an
XSLT FAQ and updated
her XSL and CSS tutorials.
JAXP: Java API for XML Parsing
JavaSoft has published something called the
Java API for XML Parsing
which they describe as follows:
The Java API for XML Parsing (JAXP) Optional Package provides basic functionality
for reading, manipulating, and generating XML documents through pure Java APIs. This
API optional package provides a standard way for any XML-conformant parser to be
accessed by an application. The reference implementation uses the high performance Java
Project X as its default XML parser. However, the software's pluggable architecture
allows any XML conformant parser to be used.
It's not clear what this means in light of
their recent contribution of their
Java Project X's XML Parser and XHTML parser to
Apache XML Project.
XEDI: An Approach to XML-EDI
A promising recent eCommerce XML EDI solution called
XEDI has emerged.
The XEDI.org website describes XEDI
(not to be confused with XML/EDI)
as:
....a simple and complete approach for
representing X12 and EDIFACT EDI semantics in XML syntax named XEDI
(pr. zee' dee). The simplicity begins with the use of just one DTD for all EDI
transaction sets. All of the EDI semantics for transaction sets, segments
and elements are stored in a data dictionary that is a collection of XML
documents. Users that are familiar with XML can modify and customize the
data dictionary to meet their company or industry specific trading
requirements.
Weekly XML News: Week Ending Nov. 21
XSLT and XPath Promoted to W3C Recommendations
On November 16, 1999,
XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0 and
XML Path Language (XPath) Version 1.0
became full W3C Recommendations.
>From the press release:
"XSLT makes it possible for one XML document to be transformed into another according
to an XSL Style sheet. As part of the document transformation, XSLT uses XPath to
address parts of an XML document that an author wishes to transform. XPath is also
used by another XML technology, XPointer, to specify locations in an XML document."
Read the testimonials
or press release.
XSL Editor and X-It from IBM alphaWorks
The folks at IBM alphaWorks have given the XML community an XSL Editor which
combines the features of their earlier XSL Trace and Visual Transformation Tool for XML.
They have also released X-It, which applies transformations to a group of XML documents,
either interactively or in batch mode. LotusXSL and XMI Toolkit have also been updated.
For longer descriptions and links, see WDVL's key
IBM XML Software from alphaWorks page.
DT4DTD from Extensibility
Simon St.Laurent of xmlhack.com reports:
"Extensibility has released
Data Types for DTDs (DT4DTD),
with both a specification and a Java implementation for SAX and the DOM.
DT4DTD puts the techniques Extensibility used for data
typing with DTDs in their
XML Authority
product on a firmer and more public footing."
Proposed Updates to RDF
Stefan Decker has nicely
summarized a number of recent threads from the
rdf-interest mailing list,
which has become quite active in the past month.
See also coverage on xmlhack.com.
Canonical XML
Simon St.Laurent of xmlhack.com reports
on Canonical XML, a Working Draft from
the W3C. Canonical XML
encodes the "logical structure" of XML documents; two XML documents whose
Canonical-XML form is identical will be considered equivalent for the purposes of many
applications, as the W3C states.
Document Structure Description (DSD)
Document Structure Description (DSD)
is an XML Schema language.
"DSD provides an alternative to XML DTDs and other XML
schema languages. It adds expressive power, increases
readability, and contains support for default attributes and
contents. Furthermore, it guarantees linear time processing in
the size of the application document."
Schematron: An Interview with Rick Jelliffe
Those interested in a different approach to XML Schema may enjoy
reading Simon St.Laurent's
interview of Rick Jelliffe for xmlhack.com.
Weekly XML News: Week Ending Nov. 14
Apache XML Project - Open Source XML Tools
Apache Software Foundation (ASF),
the organization that developed the world's most popular (and free)
Web server,
announced on November 9, 1999 the creation of the
Apache XML Project.
The press release
discusses the goals of the project, which include
promoting an open source approach to XML and XSL tools.
Contributions include:
- XML4J and XML4C Parsers from IBM
- Java(TM) Project X and XHTML Parser from Sun Microsystems
- LotusXSL, from Lotus Development Corporation
- XPages, from DataChannel
- FOP, from James Tauber, now with Bowstreet
- Cocoon, from Stefano Mazzocchi and the Java-Apache community
- OpenXML, from Exoffice and Assaf Arkin
- XSL:P, from Exoffice and Keith Visco
The Apache XML Project home page
describes 4 sub-projects:
- Xerces - XML parsers in Java, C++, and Perl
- Xalan - XSLT stylesheet processors, in Java and C++
- Cocoon - XML-based web publishing, in Java
- FOP - XSL formatting objects, in Java
See also coverage on
IBM developerWorks,
CNET, and
XML.com.
XML 2.0 Alpha Specification (humor)
Who says XML developers don't have a sense of humor?
If you have been struggling with some of the esoteric features of XML
this
humorous posting by Rick Jelliffe
(November 11, 1999) to xml-dev should amuse you. We look forward to XML 2.0 beta, Rick!
Software: Visual XML, XML Spy, eXcelon, XPath Tool
Bluestone Software's
Visual XML 1.1
development environment and
Object Design's eXcelon middleware
were reviewed by Infoworld.
Icon has announced a beta version of
XML Spy 3.0, an editor.
Takuki Kamiya has released an
XPath tool
that complements James Clark's XT.
The XML/EDI Group: Business vs. W3C
XML.com published an interesting
article on XML/EDI November 10, 1999.
"David Webber from the XML/EDI Group, in an
article co-authored with Alan Kotok from the
Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA),
presents his perspective on the
integration of XML with EDI. The authors argue strongly that
simplicity is the key to the widespread adoption of XML
e-business solutions. The article urges the W3C to look to the
needs of mainstream business as well as publishers, and not to
overcomplicate XML standards."
XML.org Presentations from XML One
XML.org presentations from XML One
(Santa Clara) include:
OASIS and XML Industry Applications and OASIS and XML.org Overview.
Weekly XML News: Week Ending Nov. 7
New XML Schema Working Drafts
On Nov. 5th, W3C published revised working drafts of the 2 XML Schema
documents:
XML Schema Part 1: Structures
XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes
The XHTML Controversy
A good bit of
controversy
surrounds XHTML concerning the use of multiple namespaces
inherited from HTML 4.0 and the use of text/xml as
the XHTML MIME type.
For the first time, Tim Berners-Lee invoked his veto power
as W3C Director to
send the XHTML Proposed Recommendation
back to the working group.
Edd Dumbill of xmlhack writes:
Predictably, Tim Berners-Lee's announcement that XHTML
1.0 is to go back to the HTML working group has sparked
further debate on XML-dev....
The continuing debate illustrates well the tension between
vendors and companies actually wanting to get on and do
things with W3C standards versus the need to "get it right"
on the part of the W3C.
WAP and WML for Cellular Phones
In our Oct. 22nd news, we reported about IBM software for
WAP [Wireless Application Protocol] Binary XML Content Format and
the WAP Forum Web site.
Simon St.Laurent writes for xmlhack that WAP
and the Wireless Markup Language (WML):
...[have] been receiving a lot of
discussion on the XML-dev mailing list recently....
WAP support is already available from vendors
(Phone.com, Ericsson, Nokia, Sprint) and many
cell-phone manufacturers have either begun building
these features into new products or announced plans to
do so. WAP itself was developed in the WAP Forum, a
consortium of wireless vendors.
XML Authority 1.1 Released
Extensibility has announced a new version of
XML Authority
which includes support for a large number of schemas:
DTD, XDR, DCD, XML Schema, SOX 2, Biztalk compatibility,
as well as tab and CVS files, ODBC, and more.
XML Authority 1.1
is a "graphical design tool accelerating the creation and enhancing
the management of schemas for XML. With support for data typing, solutions for data
structures and document structures converge."
A ten-use evaluation copy may be downloaded prior to purchasing.
Clark's XT Now Supports DOM
James Clark has released two new versions of
XT, his XSLT processor,
on 11/2/99 and 11/5/99, both with
support for the Document Object Model.
Clark, the XSLT spec
editor, states that the DOM API is slower and less functional
than the SAX API at this time.
Morphon XML/XSL Editor
Lunatech's
Morphone XMLEditor and EXSLEditor
are written in Java and allow for DTD-directed editing of
documents with support for XSL editing and preview (via XT or LotusXSL).
The beta software is free; schema support is planned.
www-rdf-interest Mailing List
RDF developers will be interested in the new, offical W3C-sponsored
www-rdf-interest mailing list,
which replaces the rdf-dev list.
You do not need to be a W3C member to join this discussion list, but it is
for RDF-related topics only.
Send a blank message to
www-rdf-interest-request@w3.org with the Subject
"subscribe".
Amaya 2.2.0 Arrives
W3C released version 2.2.0 of Amaya,
the browser they use to test new specifications. Amaya supports HTML 4.0, MathML,
XHTML and CSS. XML support in still surprisingly absent.
ASC X12 and XML
For e-Commerce,
Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12
has published a technical report representing X12 EDI
semantics in XML Format. Rising interest in XML initiatives
prompted ASC X12 to form an XML group and endorse the ebXML.org
project, an initiative of UN/CEFACT and OASIS.
WWW9: The Next Generation
http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/bosakWWW9Ann.html
The Ninth International World Wide Web Conference (WWW9)
will be held
May 15-19, 2000 at the RAI International Exhibition & Congress
Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Leaders from industry, academia,
and government will present the latest developments in Web technology
and discuss the issues and challenges facing the Web community as it
moves into the 21st Century.
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