Processing XML with Java™: A Guide to SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, and TrAX [Paperback]

Elliotte Rusty Harold (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201771861 | ISBN-13: 978-0201771862 | Publication Date: November 15, 2002 | Edition: 1

Java is the ideal language for processing XML documents. Consequently, more XML tools have been written in Java than in any other language. More open source XML tools are written in Java than in any other language. Processing XML with Java fills an immediate need for developers who are working with XML in Java. It is a comprehensive tutorial and reference to the major APIs. This book shows developers how to: save XML documents from their applications written in Java; read XML documents produced by other programs; communicate with network servers that send and receive XML data; validate documents they receive against DTDs, schemas, and business rules; and integrate XSLT into their programs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Praise for Elliotte Rusty Harold’s Processing XML with Java™

“The sophistication and language are very appropriate for Java and XML application developers. You can tell by the way the author writes that he too is a developer. He delves very deeply into the topics and has really taken things apart and investigated how they work. I especially like his coverage of ‘gotchas,’ pitfalls, and limitations of the technologies.”

        —John Wegis, Web Engineer, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

“Elliotte has written an excellent book on XML that covers a lot of ground and introduces current and emerging technologies. He helps the novice programmer understand the concepts and principles of XML and related technologies, while covering the material at a level that’s deep enough for the advanced developer. With a broad coverage of XML technologies, lots of little hints, and information I haven’t seen in any other book on the topic, this work has become a valuable addition to my technical library.”

        —Robert W. Husted, Member, Technical Staff, Requisite Technology, Inc.

“The code examples are well structured and easy to follow. They provide real value for someone writing industrial-strength Java and XML applications. The time saved will repay the cost of this book a hundred times over.

“The book also contains more of the pearls of wisdom we’ve come to expect from Elliotte Rusty Harold—the kind of pointers that will save developers weeks, if not months, of time.”

        —Ron Weber, Independent Software Consultant

Written for Java programmers who want to integrate XML into their systems, this practical, comprehensive guide and reference shows how to process XML documents with the Java programming language. It leads experienced Java developers beyond the basics of XML, allowing them to design sophisticated XML applications and parse complicated documents.

Processing XML with Java™ provides a brief review of XML fundamentals, including XML syntax; DTDs, schemas, and validity; stylesheets; and the XML protocols XML-RPC, SOAP, and RSS. The core of the book comprises in-depth discussions on the key XML APIs Java programmers must use to create and manipulate XML files with Java. These include the Simple API for XML (SAX), the Document Object Model (DOM), and JDOM (a Java native API). In addition, the book covers many useful supplements to these core APIs, including XPath, XSLT, TrAX, and JAXP.

Practical in focus, Processing XML with Java™is filled with over two hundred examples that demonstrate how to accomplish various important tasks related to file formats, data exchange, document transformation, and database integration. You will learn how to read and write XML documents with Java code, convert legacy flat files into XML documents, communicate with network servers that send and receive XML data, and much more. Readers will find detailed coverage of the following:

• How to choose the right API for the job
• Reading documents with SAX
• SAX filters
• Validation in several schema languages
• DOM implementations for Java
• The DOM Traversal Module
• Output from DOM
• Reading and writing XML documents with JDOM
• Searching XML documents with XPath
• Combining XSLT transforms with Java code
• TrAX, the Transformations API for XML
• JAXP, the Java API for XML Processing

In addition, the book includes a convenient quick reference that summarizes the major elements of all the XML APIs discussed. A related Web site, located at http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xmljava/, contains the entire book in electronic format, as well as updates and links referenced in the book.

With thorough coverage of the key XML APIs and a practical, task-oriented approach, Processing XML with Java™ is a valuable resource for all Java programmers who need to work with XML.

About the Author

Elliotte Rusty Harold is an internationally respected writer, programmer, and educator. He is an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, where he lectures on Java and object-oriented programming. His Cafe con Leche Web site has become one of the most popular sites for information on XML. In addition, he is the author and coauthor of numerous books, the most recent of which are The XML Bible (John Wiley & Sons, 2001) and XML in a Nutshell (O'Reilly, 2002).

0201771861AB06062003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1120 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (November 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201771861
• ISBN-13: 978-0201771862
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elliotte is originally from New Orleans to which he returns periodically in search of a decent bowl of gumbo. However, he currently resides in Irvine, California with his wife Beth, dog Shayna, and cats Charm (named after the quark) and Marjorie (named after his mother-in-law). He's a frequent speaker at industry conferences including Software Development, Dr. Dobb's Architecure & Design World, SD Best Practices, Extreme Markup Languages, and too many user groups to count. He's currently working on the XOM Library for processing XML with Java, the Jaxen XPath engine, and the Amateur media player.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Attractively lucid and comprehensive, November 22, 2002

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Processing XML with Java™: A Guide to SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, and TrAX (Paperback)

It used to be that to get a job as a java programmer, all you typically needed was knowledge of java itself plus some general background in computer science. But today we have a severe high tech slump, and technology has also moved on. The former has caused companies that are still hiring, and those that are picking programmers to retain, to require a broader skill set. One of these has been produced by the latter, XML. It really is shaping up that data serialisation is increasingly in XML format, if that data exists outside a database. So for professional reasons you should learn XML, if you are indeed any type of programmer. For example, Microsoft's .NET revolves around XML, and they don't use java. But it turns out that the coupling between java and XML is tight. The most advanced parsers for XML exist for java. In C++ and C#, the parsers are essentially one step/generation behind.

Given this, where do you turn to learn XML? An excellent choice is this book. A voluminous and eloquent exposition of the uses of XML. Harold covers the latest versions of the SAX and DOM parsers, explaining the relative merits. As a java programmer, you should find the idea behind SAX simple. It uses a callback, similar to that in GUIs. Simpler, in fact, because you can only have a single callback. SAX's biggest drawback is that it does not build a tree of the document. DOM addresses this. Harold explains the tradeoffs, and how you can decide which to use. Plus, he describes JDOM, which is DOM-like, but written expressly for java. You should find JDOM far more intuitive than DOM.

There is one place where I must differ with the author. He claims that this book is for the experienced java programmer who has already had some XML. I think he is being too conservative; he doesn't want to oversell this book to someone who will not benefit from it. I claim that if you are experienced, by which I mean you have a year or more in java, then you have the intellectual wherewithal to gain, even if you have never seen a stitch of XML.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended especially for newbies & beginners, December 11, 2002

By 

O (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Processing XML with Java™: A Guide to SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, and TrAX (Paperback)

Today XML landscape has became quite large. I can't even count XML related specs and protocols. Everyday a new X.. is popping up.
To understand -most- of technical XML concepts, one has to understand so many stuff: What XML is really about othen than buzz some people is making, why/how one should use schemas (DTD, W3 XML-Schema, RelaxNG...), how XML data can be processed (parsing and transformation), how XML data can/should be stored, what Web Services/SOAP is about...

It's impossible to cover all these in a single or even a few books. So it's logical that "Processing XML with Java" focuses on a single dimension of XML: "Parsing and Trasformation"

Harold splits the book into 5 logical parts according to APIs, each 2 to 5 chapters:
- XML (Introduction and Overview),
- SAX (Simple API for XML: event based relatively low level API)
- DOM (most popular, cross language API)
- JDOM (Java only DOM-like API)
- XPATH/XSLT (Stylesheet transformation)

Each chapter includes an overview of the covered API(s), detailed description of classes & interfaces as well as examples showing how and when to use them.

"Processing XML with Java" includes fair amount of code which is readable and understandable. In fact it would be crazy, trying to learn XML processing without coding, since it requires knowledge of very specific APIs, libraries, interfaces etc. whatever you name.

Overall, I recommend the book to especially those who have beginner to intermediate level exposure to XML. In such a case, you can quickly pick the pros, cons, dos, don'ts and save much time in building your XML skills. After reading this book, next step would be learning more about XML schema languages, XSLT, Web Services and the story about XML-database.

If you've already worked with XML, used SAX, DOM and XSLT in a few real life projects, then I suggest you to check the online version of the book (at cafeconleche.org) before buying. Best would be to read a couple of chapters and decide yourself, whether you like it or not.

And kudos to Elliotte Rusty Harold for publishing an online (HTML) version. It's a brave decision that I know not so many authors have made so far (who doesn't know Thinking in Java/Bruce Eckel ?).

Disclaimer: I've received a copy of "Processing XML with Java" from the publisher for reviewing purpose.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars XML as high art - THE classic guide on modern XML, February 5, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Processing XML with Java™: A Guide to SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, and TrAX (Paperback)

I bought this book with high expectations. I have read Elliott Rusty Harold's XML in a Nutshell book from O'Reilley twice. He is an exceptional technology writer. This new book brings the subject to a new level. As always, Addison-Wesley editors prove that they are the exceptional publisher of quality technical material. ...

This book is really a substantial update of the author's Java Network Programming book by O'Reilly. It takes the subject to an entirely new space. For example, want to understand SAX exception handling using JDOM processing instructions ? This is THE book. There is more information about how XML parsers really work in this book then many of the other XML texts combined. (Although the O'Reilly XML Cookbook is really good as well).

Chapter 4 on converting flat files (he uses the US Federal Budget data) to XML is priceless. Worth the cost of the book alone!