XML:  Advanced

Duration:   3 days

Participants:   Developers who have a good understanding of XML data and its structure, and who need to transform the data or apply styling for business-to-business and web applications.

Objectives:   Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to: -  Explain what XSL is and what it is for. -  Describe the XPath language for specifying locations in an XML tree. -  Use XSLT basics - the core features of the language sufficient for creating most applications. -  Use Advanced XSLT - additional features and techniques to enhance and improve your applications. -  Demonstrate common structural transformations. -  Demonstrate transforming XML for display (including HTML, Word, PDF, WML, VoiceXML, and SVG/VML formats). -  Describe concepts and key elements of CSS and XSL-FO. -  Work with XSLT and XML Schemas. -  Extract and process information from documents using the Document Object Model (DOM). -  Generate XML from databases. -  Understand how to apply Data Source Objects to XML and XSL files. -  Create XML Data Islands using DSO. -  Create XML Schemas for data definition and validation. -  Integrating XML, XSL and the DOM to enhance your Web applications and implement personalization. -  Discuss the Simple API for XML (SAX). -  Discuss SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). -  Discuss the development of enterprise Web applications using Extensible Markup Language (XML). -  Find out about current XML developments and what the future holds for XML. -  Explore XML reference sites and materials. -  Read and discuss a series of white papers and articles regarding XML. -  Examine tools currently available to develop XML components. -  Research the XML technology paths of Microsoft, IBM, Sun, Oracle, etc.

Overview:   -  XML is now the established standard for platform-neutral data storage and exchange, separating content from presentation. Its popularity is due to the flexibility of the language and the ability to reuse the data in a variety of ways. This course teaches the core fundamentals of the XSLT, XPath and XSL-FO specifications. You'll learn how to create well structured and modularized stylesheets to generate your required output, how to change, filter, and sort data, and how to incorporate other content for presentation purposes. -  XML has established itself as the universal standard for delivering documents and data on the web. The question now is: how do you process all this data? The new XSL Transformation language (XSLT) was developed to meet this need: it is poised to become the SQL of the structured document world. It allows you to convert XML documents into HTML for display, or to convert XML data from one representation to another, all using a high-level declarative language. Already several open source implementations are available, as well as technology previews from Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM. -  XSL is a key technology for working with XML, and is comprised of two parts: XSLT is the official language for transforming XML from one format to another, whether for restructuring/selectively processing the data or presenting the data for display; XSL-FO is a proposed vocabulary for incorporating information concerning how the document should be arranged for presentation. A related standard, XPath, is the language for addressing specific parts of an XML document. In this course, you gain hands-on experience developing XML-based solutions. You also learn how to integrate XML with existing applications.

Prerequisites:   An XML Introduction course or commensurate experience; including an understanding of well-formed and valid XML documents.

Format:   Lecture and discussion with hands-on exercises.

Topic Outline:   -  Introduction to XSL         XPath:  XML Path Language         XSLT Basics         Modular XSLT         External XSLT         Transformations using DOM and SAX         Microsoft XSL Technologies         Optimizing Performance         CSS and XSL-FO         Common Structural Transformation         Adding Style with XSLT         Transforming to SVG         Transformations to VoiceXML          XSLT and XML Schemas         XSLT and Schema-Based Programming -  XML Data Source Objects (DSO) -  XML Data Islands -  Scripting XML         A scripting refresher         XML Processor         From XML to HTML -  Exploration of XML Parser Technology         Event vs. Tree-oriented Parsers         Validating vs. non-validating Parsers         Incorporating Parsers into your application -  XML Linking         Linking the "old fashion" way using HTML namespaces         XLink and XPointer -  XML Namespaces -  Creating XML Schemas -  Processing Information with the Document Object Model (DOM)         Preparing for DOM         Object-oriented concepts         JavaScript fundamentals         Taking advantage of DOM         DOM components         DOM hierarchical structure         Processing XML with DOM         Converting XML to HTML using DOM         Processing XML with event handlers -  Simple API for XML (SAX)         SAX vs. DOM -  Using XML Pages to Store and Retrieve Structured Data -  Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) -  Enhancing Enterprise Solutions With XML         Implementing personalization         Enhancing your e-commerce Web site with personalization         Designing personalization solutions         Adding personalization with XML         Solutions checklist         Business requirements         Security, data distribution, performance and scalability considerations         Communication model -  Using XML Tools to Construct Examples of XML Files, DTDs, Schemas and XSL Stylesheets -  Review of Current XML News Articles and White Papers from Various Sources

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