The document discusses the importance of XML as a standard format for data interchange, enabling effective communication across disparate systems and applications. It covers the fundamentals of XML, its advantages over traditional methods like EDI, and provides insights into its future use in e-commerce, B2B services, and mobile applications. Additionally, the document introduces components of XML documents, information modeling, and the process of creating well-formed XML documents.

1. Data interchange is essential to carry out business
transactions. However, organizations store data in disparate
formats, which makes the process of data interchange
complex and time-consuming.
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a standard, simple
way of storing the data in a format that can be exchanged
across multiple systems across an enterprise. Providing an
insight into XML will benefit students as it is a standard
technology to describe and define documents.
The course is applicable to students who want to create
well-formed XML documents. This course introduces
students to the fundamentals of XML and enable them to
effectively use XML as a markup language to develop Web
applications.
Rationale

2. In this session, you will learn to:
Identify the need for XML as a standard data interchange
format
Identify the structure of XML documents
Objectives

3. Traditionally, preprinted formats were used to exchange
information between businesses.
Need for a more effective way of communicating and
processing business data led to the emergence of
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
EDI refers to the process of exchanging documents in a
standard format between two computer systems.
EDI has the following limitations:
Rigid transaction set
Fixed business rules
High costs
Slow pace of standards evolution
Getting Started with XML

4. XML is a text-based markup language that enables storage
of data in a structured format.
XML is a cross-platform, hardware and software
independent markup language that enables structured data
transfer between heterogeneous systems.
XML is used as a common data interchange format in a
number of applications.
Let us understand the usage of XML with the help of the
diagram.
Introducing XML

5. Introducing XML (Contd.)
Web Application
Web Services
.
XML
Windows Application
Mobile Application
SQL Server
DB2 Oracle
Access
Data Sources

6. Web Architecture Using XML
In a traditional Web architecture, a client sends a request to the
server in a pre-defined format and receives the response
accordingly.
The advantage of using XML in the Web architecture is that the
structure of the request can be obtained from the server at run
time.
XML can encode non-relational data as well as relational data
structure.
Introducing XML (Contd.)

7. Web Architecture Using XML (Contd.)
The following figure depicts the XML Web architecture.
Introducing XML (Contd.)

8. Difference Between SGML, HTML, and XML
Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) allows
documents to describe their grammar by specifying the tag set
used in the document and the structural relationship that these
tags represent.
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is used for data
presentation.
XML is used for data description and definition.
Introducing XML (Contd.)

9. Difference Between SGML, HTML, and XML (Contd.)
Introducing XML (Contd.)
SGML HTML XML
Extensibility
Structure
Validation
Browser
Dependency
Cost/Benefit
Low High Low
Poor Good Medium
Yes Yes Yes
Yes No Yes
Yes No Yes

10. Advantages of XML
Some of the advantages of XML are:
Domain-specific vocabulary
Data interchange
Smart searches
Granular updates
User-selected view of data
Message transformation
Introducing XML (Contd.)

11. Advantages of XML
Some of the advantages of XML are:
Domain-specific vocabulary
Data interchange
Smart searches
Granular updates
User-selected view of data
Message transformation
Introducing XML (Contd.)
In HTML, only the predefined tags can
be used.
In XML, you can create new tags based
on the requirements of the application.
Various languages such as MathML and
WML have been derived from XML.

12. Advantages of XML
Some of the advantages of XML are:
Domain-specific vocabulary
Data interchange
Smart searches
Granular updates
User-selected view of data
Message transformation
Introducing XML (Contd.)
XML produces files that are
unambiguous, easy to generate,
and easy to read.
XML provides a structure to
store data in textual format,
which can then be used as a
standard format or protocol for
data interchange.

13. Advantages of XML
Some of the advantages of XML are:
Domain-specific vocabulary
Data interchange
Smart searches
Granular updates
User-selected view of data
Message transformation
Introducing XML (Contd.)
The flexibility to create user-defined
tags in XML enables creation of
smart search engines.
You can differentiate whether you
want do to search based on a text
or on a tag, which enables the
browser to perform a focused
search and return precise
information that matches the search
query.

14. Advantages of XML
Some of the advantages of XML are:
Domain-specific vocabulary
Data interchange
Smart searches
Granular updates
User-selected view of data
Message transformation
Introducing XML (Contd.)
Document updates in HTML
are slow as the entire
document needs to be
refreshed from the server.
Document updates in XML are
faster as only the changed
content needs to be
downloaded.

15. Advantages of XML
Some of the advantages of XML are:
Domain-specific vocabulary
Data interchange
Smart searches
Granular updates
User-selected view of data
Message transformation
Introducing XML (Contd.)
In HTML, you need to create
separate HTML pages to
display the same information
in different formats while XML
concentrates on data and not
on its presentation.
HTML does not allow
conditional formatting of a
document while in XML
conditional formatting is
possible.

16. Advantages of XML
Some of the advantages of XML are:
Domain-specific vocabulary
Data interchange
Smart searches
Granular updates
User-selected view of data
Message transformation
Introducing XML (Contd.)
In XML, a message can be stored in
the form of a document, object data,
or data from a database.
XML design provides flexibility while
storing data as it does not impose
any restriction on the field size and
the order in which the data is stored.

17. Future of XML
The future uses of XML can be summarized as:
XML will be widely used in e-commerce.
XML will have a huge core market in the form of Business to
Business (B2B).
XML will be used for mobile devices due to its ability to easily
convert into the appropriate format for any device.
XML will be used to solve communication problems in EDI and
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) as it provides
interoperability between disparate applications.
Introducing XML (Contd.)

18. W3C is responsible for the development of Web
specifications that describe communication protocols and
technologies for the Web.
Due to the flexibility for customization in XML, W3C has laid
down these rules that need to be followed by all XML
vendors:
XML must be directly usable over the Internet.
XML must support a wide variety of applications.
XML must be compatible with SGML.
XML should have absolute minimum number of optional
features, ideally zero.
XML documents must be human legible and clear.
XML design must be formal and concise.
XML documents must adhere to a set of constraints called full
normalization.
Introducing W3C

19. An XML application is considered well designed if it is robust
and scalable.
To design a robust and scalable XML application, the
following steps need to be performed:
1. Create an information model.
2. Identify the required components of the XML document.
3. Create the XML document.
Identifying the Structure of XML Documents

20. An information model is a description of the information
used in an organization.
Information modeling helps identify:
Objects involved in an application
Properties of the objects
Relationships among objects
XML provides the following additional capabilities to
information modeling:
Heterogeneity
Extensibility
Flexibility
Information Modeling
Each record can contain different data
fields.
New data types can be added
whenever required.Data fields can vary in size and
configuration between instances.

21. Types of information models that can be created for an XML
application are:
Static model: Helps define all the objects in an application and
the relationships among them.
Dynamic model: Helps to determine the information flow of an
application in the form of messages.
Information Modeling (Contd.)

22. The various components of an XML document used for
representing data in a hierarchical order are:
Processing Instruction (PI)
Tags
Elements
Content
Attributes
Entities
Comments
Components of an XML Document

23. <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>
<STOREDATA>
<!--STOREDATA is the root element-->
<STORE STOREID=“S101”>
<PRODUCTNAME>Toys</PRODUCTNAME>
<QUANTITY>100</QUANTITY>
<DISPLAY>The price of this toy
is &lt; 200 </DISPLAY>
</STORE>
</STOREDATA>
Components of an XML Document (Contd.)
Processing Instruction (PI)
Provides information on how
the XML file should be
processed.

24. <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>
<STOREDATA>
<!--STOREDATA is the root element-->
<STORE STOREID=“S101”>
<PRODUCTNAME>Toys</PRODUCTNAME>
<QUANTITY>100</QUANTITY>
<DISPLAY>The price of this toy
is &lt; 200 </DISPLAY>
</STORE>
</STOREDATA>
Components of an XML Document (Contd.)
Tags
Is a means of identifying
data. Tags consist of start
tag and end tag.

25. <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>
<STOREDATA>
<!--STOREDATA is the root element-->
<STORE STOREID=“S101”>
<PRODUCTNAME>Toys</PRODUCTNAME>
<QUANTITY>100</QUANTITY>
<DISPLAY>The price of this toy
is &lt; 200 </DISPLAY>
</STORE>
</STOREDATA>
Components of an XML Document (Contd.)
Root Element
Contains all other elements
in the document.

26. <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>
<STOREDATA>
<!--STOREDATA is the root element-->
<STORE STOREID=“S101”>
<PRODUCTNAME>Toys</PRODUCTNAME>
<QUANTITY>100</QUANTITY>
<DISPLAY>The price of this toy
is &lt; 200 </DISPLAY>
</STORE>
</STOREDATA>
Components of an XML Document (Contd.)
Comments
Are statements used to
explain the XML code.

27. <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>
<STOREDATA>
<!--STOREDATA is the root element-->
<STORE STOREID=“S101”>
<PRODUCTNAME>Toys</PRODUCTNAME>
<QUANTITY>100</QUANTITY>
<DISPLAY>The price of this toy
is &lt; 200 </DISPLAY>
</STORE>
</STOREDATA>
Components of an XML Document (Contd.)
Child Elements
Are the basic units used to
identify and describe data in
XML.

28. <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>
<STOREDATA>
<!--STOREDATA is the root element-->
<STORE STOREID=“S101”>
<PRODUCTNAME>Toys</PRODUCTNAME>
<QUANTITY>100</QUANTITY>
<DISPLAY>The price of this toy
is &lt; 200 </DISPLAY>
</STORE>
</STOREDATA>
Components of an XML Document (Contd.)
Attributes
Provide additional
information about the
elements for which they are
declared.

29. <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>
<STOREDATA>
<!--STOREDATA is the root element-->
<STORE STOREID=“S101”>
<PRODUCTNAME>Toys</PRODUCTNAME>
<QUANTITY>100</QUANTITY>
<DISPLAY>The price of this toy
is &lt; 200 </DISPLAY>
</STORE>
</STOREDATA>
Components of an XML Document (Contd.)
Content
Refers to the information
represented by the elements
of an XML document. An
element can contain:
• Character or data content
• Element content
• Combination or mixed
content

30. <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>
<STOREDATA>
<!--STOREDATA is the root element-->
<STORE STOREID=“S101”>
<PRODUCTNAME>Toys</PRODUCTNAME>
<QUANTITY>100</QUANTITY>
<DISPLAY>The price of this toy
is &lt; 200 </DISPLAY>
</STORE>
</STOREDATA>
Components of an XML Document (Contd.)
Entities
Is a set of information that
can be used by specifying a
single name.

31. The rules that govern the creation of a well-formed XML
document:
Every start tag must have an end tag.
Empty tags must be closed using a forward slash (/).
All attribute values must be given in double quotation marks.
Tags must have proper nesting.
XML tags are case sensitive.
Identifying the Rules for Creating XML Documents

32. Problem Statement:
CyberShoppe, Inc. sells toys and books in the United States. It
has three branches in different parts of the country. Currently,
the three branches maintain data on their local computer
systems. The IT manager at CyberShoppe has identified that a
centralized data repository on the products sold through its
e-commerce site is required. The data from all branches must
be collated and housed in a centralized location. This data
must be made available to the Accounts and Sales sections at
the individual branches, regardless of the hardware and
software platforms being used at the branches.
In addition, the sales personnel require access to the data
using palmtops and cellular phones. The product details of
CyberShoppe consist of the product name, a brief description,
the price, and the available quantity on hand. A product ID
uniquely identifies each product.
Demo: Creating an XML Document

33. Consider the following statement:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding= "UTF-8"?>
Which component of an XML document does the preceding
statement represent?
a. Element
b. Content
c. Entity
d. Processing Instruction
Answer:
d. Processing Instruction
Practice Questions

34. Bob is the EDP head of an organization that manufactures
and sells hardware parts. The organization has presence in
all the major cities of the United States. At present, all
branch offices maintain their data locally. Bob wants to
centralize the repository of data in his organization. Data
from all the branch offices needs to be collated and stored
in a centralized location. Data pertaining to a branch should
be available only to that branch office. However, the head
office should be able to access all the data.
Practice Questions

35. In addition, Bob also wants that the sales personnel should
be able to access sales data from mobile devices, such as
palmtops and mobile phones. This sales information should
have a brief description of the product, the price, and the
available inventory. Using which of the following markup
languages can Bob achieve the preceding goals?
a. HTML
b. XML
c. SGML
d. EDI
Answer:
b. XML
Practice Questions (Contd.)

36. Which of the following statement is NOT true about
information modeling?
a. Information Modeling is used to understand the structure and
meaning of information that will be stored in XML documents.
b. Information Modeling helps you identify the objects involved in
an application, the properties of the objects, and the
relationships among them.
c. In an Information Model, each record can contain different data
fields.
d. An information model imposes restrictions on data.
Answer:
d. An information model imposes restrictions on data.
Practice Questions

37. Which one of the following statements is true about XML?
a. XML is a text-based markup language that provides predefined
tags to store data.
b. XML is a platform-neutral data interchange format.
c. XML requires VAN for data interchange.
d. XML allows you to specify data formatting instructions.
Answer:
b. XML is a platform-neutral data interchange format.
Practice Questions

38. Which one of the following is a disadvantage of traditional
EDI?
a. It provides fixed transaction sets.
b. It increases the communication lag time between an agency
and a customer.
c. It increases data entry errors.
d. It increases the time taken to process orders.
Answer:
a. It provides fixed transaction sets.
Practice Questions

39. In this session, you learned that:
EDI refers to the process of exchanging documents in a
standard format between two computer systems.
XML is a text-based markup language that enables you to store
data in a structured format by using meaningful tags.
Using XML in Web architecture enables loose coupling
between the server application and the client application.
XML has the following advantages:
Domain specific vocabulary‑
Data interchange
Smart searches
Granular updates
User selected view of data‑
Message transformation
Summary

40. In future, XML will be widely used in:
E-commerce
B2B services
Mobile services
EDI and EAI
XML was defined by W3C to ensure that structured data is
uniform and independent of vendors and applications.
In XML, an information model is used to understand the
structure and meaning of information that will be stored in XML
documents.
You can create static, dynamic, or a combination of both these
information models for an XML application.
A static information model helps you define all the objects in an
application and the relationships among them.
Summary (Contd.)

41. In a dynamic model, data flow diagrams and process diagrams
are used to determine the flow of information.
An XML document consists of:
Processing Instruction (PI)
Tags
Elements
Content
Attributes
Entities
Comments
Summary (Contd.)