In Professional XML Design and Implementation, author Paul Spencer teaches readers XML through a combination of traditional tutorial and practical applications. Aimed at HTML coders, this book covers Extensible Markup Language (XML) implementation using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and Active Server Pages.
Spencer organizes his book into two distinct parts, with the whole of the book revolving around Centaur--a complete, real-world application that helps users book travel packages using online tour agent and booking systems. XML is the glue between Centaur and external, online travel-related systems.
In the tutorial, the author starts with the Document Object Model (DOM), including the W3C Level 1 DOM, as well as Microsoft's extensions. He uses frequent code snippets to illustrate all of the key elements. Next comes a discussion of how to render XML code in a browser; Spencer talks about how you can do it using cascading style sheets, the DOM, and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) databinding. A chapter on XSL--the Extensible Stylesheet Language--follows and includes information on how you can use XSL to convert XML formats to other XML formats or to HTML.
Eventually, Spencer guides you through the creation of Centaur in a methodical manner that helps you put XML in perspective and learn valuable techniques. Nine appendices include the XML 1.0 specification and several other key references. This book offers a well-grounded look at XML and its possibilities. --Stephen W. Plain
Book Description
XML is a mark up language which allows you to define your own tags, and to define data rather than format it. The overall concepts of XML are quite well understood but there is little information available about issues of developing applications using XML. By considering the decisions to be made at various stages of the project, it will help readers understand the various aspects of XML and its related technologies. It will stress the benefits of XML in informational systems, where it can be used to separate content from presentation, and in transactional systems, where it can act as a low-cost alternative to EDI protocols.
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