Pro PHP XML and Web Services [Hardcover]

Robert Richards (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pro | Publication Date: March 28, 2006

Pro PHP XML and Web Services is the authoritative guide to using the XML features of PHP 5 and PHP 6. No other book covers XML and Web Services in PHP as deeply as this title. The first four chapters introduce the core concepts of XML required for proficiency, and will bring you up to speed on the terminology and key concepts you need to proceed with the rest of the book. Next, the book explores utilizing XML and Web Services with PHP5. Topics include DOM, SimpleXML, SAX, xmlReader, XSLT, RDF, RSS, WDDX, XML-RPC, REST, SOAP, and UDDI.

Author Robert Richards, a major contributor to the PHP XML codebase, is a leading expert in the PHP community. In this book, Richards covers all topics in depth, blending theory with practical examples. You’ll find case studies for the most popular web services like Amazon, Google, eBay, and Yahoo. The book also covers XML capabilities, demonstrated through informative examples, in the PEAR libraries.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to XML and Web Services
2. XML Structure
3. Validation
4. XPath, XPointer, XInclude, and the Future
5. PHP and XML
6. Document Object Model (DOM)
7. SimpleXML
8. Simple API for XML (SAX)
9. XMLReader
10. Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT)
11. Effective and Efficient Processing
12. XML Security
13. PEAR and XML
14. Content Syndication: RSS and Atom
15. Web Distributed Data Exchange (WDDX)
16. XML-RPC
17. Representational State Transfer (REST)
18. SOAP
19. Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)
20. PEAR and Web Services
21. Other XML Technologies and Extensions

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Richards, an independent contractor, has worked in various fields including medical information, telecommunications, media and e-learning. Having been exposed to XML since its inception and used it for various projects during his career, his most extensive work with the technology was within the e-learning space. He helped created a proprietary XML based application server which used XML for data publishing, defining application business logic as well as data querying. He was also the lead engineer for the company�'s involvement in SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model), used for Web-based learning, established by the U.S. Department of Defense through its Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative.

 

After becoming the latest casualty of the dot-com implosion in 2001, Rob had his first taste of PHP and began contributing code to the domxml extension in 2002. Since then, he has become one of the authors of the DOM extension for PHP 5, contributes to the other XML based extensions and has authored the xmlReader, for PHP 5, and xmlwriter, for PHP 4.3+, extensions. Also on occasion, he contributes bug fixes to the libxml2 project found during the development of these extensions.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 936 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (March 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590596331
• ISBN-13: 978-1590596333
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.2 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > XML

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Metal XML, September 28, 2006

By 

David Stapleton (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pro PHP XML and Web Services (Hardcover)

This is first and foremost an XML reference. The author takes the reader through over 100 pages XML background in the first three chapters, then an overview of a few utilities like XPath and XPointer before he touches on PHP. Having provided some grounding in the basics, he then proceeds to develop the use of XML in PHP from the basic topics of DOM (Document Object Model) and XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) to the more advanced topics of SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and web services.

Along the way Richards introduces the reader to utility classes like SimpleXML, SAX (Simple API for XML), XMLReader. He also touches on PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository) utility classes and topics like security, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration). The author's examples are reasonably concise and readable; making the necessary points without getting carried away.

The bottom line is that this is a highly effective reference (that means fairly comprehensive, but dry reading; I read cover to cover, but it was relatively tedious) on XML and its varied uses in association with PHP. This is not a book for the newcomer to programming, nor is it a cookbook for examples for the casual programmer/web developer, although the author does provide PEAR examples for connecting with major web services like Amazon, Google and Yahoo (among others). My suggestion for readers is to review what you need of the first 11-12 chapters to ensure a firm grounding in XML, and then hop to the chapters specific to the problem being faced.
P-)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, May 3, 2006

By 

Joseph Topjian (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pro PHP XML and Web Services (Hardcover)

Let's get the obvious out of the way: this book is massive. Like 850 pages massive. And it's all about XML and PHP. Normally I'd be put off by a book like this. I'd think that there had to have been an easier and shorter way to explain these technologies. But I gave this book a chance anyway, and in the end, I wasn't disappointed at all.

Before I started reading, I knew just the basics about XML. I knew you could write some markup, transfer information using XML-RPC, and a little RSS. But that was about it. However, after finishing, I knew about such wonderful acronyms like XSLT, XPath, WDDX, and UDDI. I was also able to build on my beginning knowledge of RSS, DOM, XML-RPC, and SOAP. And finally, I learned all about the world of XML Security which I never knew existed.

In between the teachings of these XML topics, PHP was used for the code examples. Although PHP has an extremely large selection of XML tools and a lot of time was spent with these tools, I found the coverage to be complementary rather than a main subject. What I mean is that Mr. Richards covered every aspect of XML in great detail. He made sure the reader understood the purpose and mechanics of each topic first. Only after that did he present the reader with the knowledge of how to apply that topic with PHP. This is similar to saying, "Here's XML and here's how to do it with PHP. However, if you don't like the PHP way, at least you still know the core concepts so you can apply it another way."

Although this book is pretty long, I found it to be well written and just the right length to properly go over all the included topics. Each topic is covered in a manageable chapter - and some of the chapters even conclude with really nice example projects. It's obvious Mr. Richards spent a lot of time putting this book together and his finished work was well worth the effort. Apress has done a great job releasing another "Pro" title and by choosing Mr. Richards to write it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The standout reference on PHP and XML, June 20, 2006

By 

R. Dlugy-Hegwer (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pro PHP XML and Web Services (Hardcover)

This book is amazingly well written. The content is organized in an intuitive and logical fashion. The author explains base concepts and progresses into advanced topics, providing consistent depth of coverage along the way. The author's writing and concise examples get the message across on the first reading - unlike some texts that require multiple passes. It's also noteworthy that the Technical Reviewers, Christian Stocker and Adam Trachtenberg, are renowned PHP experts and authors. If you plan to study or work with PHP and XML, this book is a MUST HAVE.