Archive: Technical Terms – XML

XML

 

XML is an acronym for eXtensible Markup Language and is an outgrowth of the older SGML – Standard Generalized Markup Language developed by IBM researchers. XML is actually quite easy to understand – it consists of textual information “tagged” with descriptive labels. Each text section of interest has a starting tag and an ending tag. For example, the tags surrounding this paragraph might appear embedded in the text as “<XML Intro>” (to mark the start), and “</XML Intro>” (to mark the end – note the slash). The “extensible” portion of XML means that you are free to create new descriptive tags for your data.

XML tagged text creates “self-descriptive” documents. Computers can easily find the tags, thus isolating sections of text for different purposes. For example, if your company were to receive XML-tagged purchase orders, your system could hunt for data bracketed with tags such as <Part Number> and <Purchase Order Number>, allowing even free-form orders from a variety of sources to be automatically processed. It is easy to see why XML is becoming increasingly important in the business-to-business world.

But what about the web? In the past, all web pages were expressed in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) – and they still are. But today, XML – when transformed using XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) – provides a way to dynamically alter the way in which information is presented. For example, a document that lists information about a new car might have tagged sections describing the color, size, upholstery, engine, performance, and many other things. Using XSL, desired sections of the document can be filtered, formatted, and transformed into appropriate HTML for display to the user. Based on user preferences, a website might present one user with a listing of the convenience features of the car, while another user might see engine and performance specifications – with all data originating from the same source XML document.

Because we recognize the increasingly important role of XML, mindwrap has added XML support throughout our Optix products. Optix WEB uses Java Servlets that produce XML output, formatted through XSL. By tailoring the XSL, clients can customize the way in which Optix WEB appears to end users and easily integrate our product with an existing website or intranet.

Contact us for details or download our Optix product briefing.

 

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