XML Software Guide: Specialized XML Software

Last Modified:     July 29, 2000

In this section, we highlight software targeted for specific interpreted languages (perl, Python, JavaScript), as well as a few specialized tools (such as RDF for XML, MSXSL, B2B Server, etc.) that do not fit neatly into the previous sections of this article.

Note: The IBM software discussed below is only a small portion of their current list. See WDVL's separate IBM XML Software from alphaWorks page.

alphaWorks Technologies from IBM

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, XML BeanMaker, and XML EditorMaker look particularly interesting. [freeware for all Java platforms]

• Bean Markup Language - an XML-based component configuration and wiring language that supports the JavaBean component model. BML is a XML-based language for accessing and configuring JavaBeans. The BML language can be used to create new beans, access and configure beans by setting/getting their properties and fields, bind events from some beans to other beans, and call arbitrary methods in beans. There are two components of BML: an interpreter that "plays" a BML script to create the desired bean hierarchy; and a compiler that compiles any BML script into reflection-free Java code. The language is directly executable, so processing a BML script will result in a running application.

• DataCraft - provides an XML view of databases and enables publishing XML forms to the Web. DataCraft is an application generation tool targeted for RDF/XML applications in the context of Web-commerce applications. Datacraft offers database administrators or web developers a visual development tool for building queries and publishing the results. The current implementation is built for IBM's DB/2 and Microsoft Access.

• Dynamic XML for Java - a processor for attaching Java displays and behaviors to XML trees and sub-trees (elements and children); add namespace-based annotations that can specify how a particular subtree in the XML document is to be interpreted.

• PatML - rule-based pattern match/replace Java processor for XML. Once the match happens, an optional condition is evaluated and, if true, the optional transformation may be done. Alternatively, (or in addition) a set of Java inline statements can be applied.

• TeXML - provides a path from XML into the TeX formatting language.

• XML BeanMaker - takes an arbitrary schema (DTD) for an XML instance and automatically generates JavaBean classes. The BeanMaker reads a DTD files and generates Java class interfaces corresponding to the elements and attributes in the DTD file. The root element of the DTD is converted to a bean class, and every element inside of it is converted into an inner bean class. The BeanMaker produces a default Bean class that implements the Bean interface described above. This bean class provides mechanisms to set and get element and attribute values, notifying any listener when values are changed. XML BeanMaker enables quicker development of applications and allows the programmer to convert passive specification and data to classes and objects.

• XML Editor Maker - takes an XML schema and allows you to automatically generate visual editors for building XML documents. The Editor Maker is a Rapid Application Development Tool that can be bundled with any application that uses XML, and liberates the user from having to understand XML syntax and schema for creating XML documents. Note: Requires XML BeanMaker.

• XML Productivity Kit for Java (XPK4J) - companion technology to the XML Parser in Java which provides the next level of programming resources needed to quickly build and deploy robust XML applications using the Java language.

• XML TreeDiff - a package of beans that provide the ability to efficiently differentiate and update DOM trees, just like diff and patch differentiate and update data files.

IBM LotusXSL

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." [freeware for all Java platforms]

XML Enabler

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." [freeware for all Java platforms]

Apache XML Project

Since November 1999, the Apache XML Project has been developing a growing suite of specialized XML software, including:

• 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
• Xang - Rapid development of dynamic server pages, in Java

[freeware for all Java, C++, and other platforms]

Data Discovery

Paladyne's Data Discovery inputs a text file and then references the file against a pre-packaged default pattern library as well as against a library that you can customize and create yourself based on your unique business rules. After the pattern analysis occurs, the reformatted text file can be made available to your e-business initiative by exporting the file into XML format. [commerical product]

Financial Metadata Language Repository

Marketed by The X Markets Limited. Web browser access to the Financial Metadata Language (the-FML) element repository. The-FML elements are used to create structured DTDs supporting Enterprise Application Integration for all types of International Banking. Using common elements across all markets, front to back office, will facilitate Straight Through Processing and cross market MIS. [ccommercial product, initially for Windows, soon to be for all Java platforms]

upCast

upCast by infinity-loop converts RTF documents to XML. It may either be used to "upcast" legacy documents without any manual work into XML or to turn a typical word processor like Microsoft Word into an XML editor. Supported output formats are currently XHTML (optionally with an external CSS-1 stylesheet) as well as well-formed XML. Pictures contained in converted documents are written to external files, and wmf-files are converted into the jpg format. [commerical product for all Java platforms]

exactXML

eXactML by Bristol Technologies simplifies the task of XML-enabling your C++ applications by generating object-oriented interfaces for reading and writing valid XML content based on your DTD or Schema. [commerical product for Windows but generated C++ code can build on other platforms]

Breeze XML Studio

Breeze XML Studio is a development environment for building XML-based business solutions. It provides Java and XML developers with a natural and productive method for building Business-to-Business and EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) solutions. Breeze enables Java developers to create, access and transport XML-based objects in the most logical and efficient manner through JavaBeans bound directly to XML data elements. XML element and attribute names immediately become Java class fields. Breeeze takes a strong stand against DOM as unnatural for Java programmers with their Say No to DOM philosophy. [commerical product for all(?) Java platforms]

Python and XML

Above link is to Robin Cover's XML and Python list. See also the SIG for XML Processing in Python from www.python.org and the section entitled "Python Software for XML" on the XML-SIG: Useful Resources page. See also Python tools for parsing XML. [freeware for all Python platforms]

Perl and XML

Above link is to Robin Cover's XML and Perl list. See also the Perl and XML page from www.perl.com which, among other things, calls for a Perl/XML spec in Q3, 1998. According to perl inventor, Larry Wall, "Plans call for Unicode support (UTF-8 for starters), an object-oriented model of XML in Perl, a Perl processing model that hides some or all of the hierarchical nature of XML." [freeware for all perl platforms]

Parser for XPointer

XML Pointer Language (XPointer) is a W3C Working Draft. XPointer is related to the XML Link Language (XLink). This XPointer parser uses the Java Parser Generator from Sun. [freeware for all Java platforms]

SParse

Sparse is an alpha XSL (eXtensible Style Language) parser in JavaScript by the same developer as Xparse. Note: No longer under development; based on old XSL syntax (pre-Working Draft). [freeware for all JavaScript platforms]

XT

James Clark is a long time SGML/DSSSL/XML/XSL developer with a number of tools to his credit: XP (a high-performance XML parser in Java), SP (leading SGML parser which also converts SGML to XML), and Expat (C XML Parser Toolkit), as well as XML test cases. As co-author of the W3C XSL Working Draft, Clark provides XT as a sample implementation of the tree construction (transformation) portion of XSL. (The other portion is formatting, which is only partially specified in the Working Draft so far.) [freeware for all Java platforms]

Koala XSL engine

"This is an XSL processor written in Java, using the Simple API for XML (SAX 1.0) and the Document Object Model (DOM 1.0) API. This package also contains xslSlideMaker, a post-processor that can quickly make slides and multi-level slides with XML and XSL." [freeware for all Java platforms]

RDF for XML

Like the XML for Java parser, RDF for XML is the product of the alphaWorks folks at IBM. It conforms to the February 1998 RDF Working Draft, Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and Syntax Specification. According to IBM, "This RDF processor builds, queries, and manipulates RDF structures, and it serializes and de-serializes them to and from XML forms. As a foundation for processing metadata, RDF for XML provides inter-operability between applications that exchange machine-understandable information on the Web. RDF for XML describes resources and their properties in a domain-independent way. It can be used in a variety of areas, including resource discovery for search engines, cataloging for describing contents, content rating, and so on." [free product from IBM for all Java platforms]

SiRPAC

Simple RDF Parser And Compiler. "The program compiles RDF/XML documents into the triples of the corresponding RDF data model; it is suitable for embedded use as well as command line use. It is designed as a reference implementation of an RDF parser which does a compilation process from XML encoding syntax to the triples of the underlying data model. SiRPAC builds on top of the Simple API to XML documents (SAX)." [free reference software from W3C for all Java platforms]

Zydeco

Zydeco claims to be an XML Development Environment. "Zydeco's purpose is to offer a development environment to aid in the creation of DTDs and XML documents....Zydeco is meant to be a powerful tool, allowing people to create new DTD's (Document Type Definitions) if they want to create their own tags and languages, and it is also meant to serve as a general XML editor for creating and maintaining XML documents." [freeware for all Java platforms]

B2B Product Line

According to webMethods, " The B2B Integration Server is the first and only XML-based e-commerce solution that automates the exchange of data between applications, Web sites and legacy data sources. The B2B Integration Server makes it possible for companies to encapsulate key business services for automated access by their major business partners or customers." [commercial product from webMethods, Inc. for all Java platforms]

DataChannel: XML Resources page

DataChannel offers a number of XML-related tools, in addition to DXP (above): the XML Development Kit, XML Generator, DOM Builder, XMLTreeViewer applet, and the Xapi-J compliant XML parser Pax Syntactica. [free and commercial products from DataChannel; all Java platforms]

Jade

James' DSSSL Engine (also by James Clark, developer of XP, expat, and SP) [freeware; all Windows and Unix platforms]

xslj

XSL with Jade. "xslj is a virtually complete implementation of XSL by way of translation into extended DSSSL, as supported by the latest release of James Clark's DSSSL engine Jade. xslj translates valid XSL style sheets into valid extended DSSSL style sheets, which can then be used to render XML documents using Jade." [freeware for all Java platforms]

TaskGuide Viewer

"TaskGuide Viewer is an XML-based tool for creating wizards. This wizard-creation tool makes computer tasks easier by breaking complicated tasks into sequential, simple steps that can be performed using a graphical, user-friendly interface. TaskGuide Viewer is a step above other wizard systems, which require you build the graphical user interface and manage data using traditional programming languages. Building & displaying wizards with the TaskGuide Viewer is as easy as creating & viewing HTML files." [freeware by IBM for all Java platforms]

Productivity+PLUS

"Information Strategies, Inc. currently delivers a tool suite called Productivity+PLUS that has proven useful and popular in structured editing circles, especially among technical and reference publishers. The suite runs on top of ADEPT (but is undergoing preliminary consideration for expansion to Word in structured editing mode) and supports several functions that are often encountered by authors creating data for electronic delivery, including the Web. We believe that these functions describe at least part of the evolving market for XML authoring tools, focusing not on the basic creation of tagged files but the processes required to ensure that those files are tagged correctly and that the processes themselves are productive. With Microsoft leaving the field open (for now), niche uses and tools may act to fill the function gap for many parts of the editorial market likely to be affected by the need to generate XML for electronic delivery." [commercial product for Windows platforms]

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." [commercial product for all Java platforms]

XML Software Guide: XML APIs
XML Software Guide
XML Software Guide: Additional XML Software Resource Lists