XML Mini-Tutorial

XML Mini-Tutorial

Michael I. Schwartzbach
Copyright © 2000 BRICS, University of Aarhus

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/
What is XML?
HTML vs. XML
A conceptual view of XML
A concrete view of XML
Applications of XML
XML technologies
Namespaces
The recipe example
Schema languages
A schema for recipes
XLink, XPointer, and XPath
Pointing at recipes
XML-QL
Querying the recipes
XSLT
A style sheet for recipes

Exercises

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/ [18/09/2000 14:24:26]

HTML, JavaScript, and XML Mini-Tutorials

HTML, JavaScript, and XML

Mini-Tutorials

Michael I. Schwartzbach
Copyright © 2000 BRICS, University of Aarhus

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/
These mini-tutorials are created as part of the course Internet Programming at the IT-University of
Copenhagen.
HTML (PDF)
JavaScript (PDF)
XML (PDF)

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/info.html [18/09/2000 14:24:28]

 XML: what is it?

What is XML?
XML is a framework for defining markup languages:
● there is no fixed collection of markup tags;

● each XML language is targeted at different application domains;

● the languages will share many features;

● there is a common set of tools for processing such languages.

XML is not a replacement for HTML:

● HTML should ideally be just another XML language;

● in fact, XHTML is just that;

XHTML is a (very popular) XML language for hypertext markup.

●

XML is designed to:

● seperate syntax from semantics;

● support internationalization (Unicode) and platform independence;

● be the future of structured information, including databases.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/whatis.html [18/09/2000 14:24:29]

 XML vs. HTML

HTML vs. XML

Consider the following recipe collection published in HTML:

<h1>Rhubarb Cobbler</h1>
<h2>Maggie.Herrick@bbs.mhv.net</h2>
<h3>Wed, 14 Jun 95</h3>

Rhubarb Cobbler made with bananas as the main sweetener.

It was delicious. Basicly it was

<table>
<tr><td> 2 1/2 cups <td> diced rhubarb (blanched with boiling
water, drain)
<tr><td> 2 tablespoons <td> sugar
<tr><td> 2 <td> fairly ripe bananas sliced 1/4" round
<tr><td> 1/4 teaspoon <td> cinnamon
<tr><td> dash of <td> nutmeg
</table>

Combine all and use as cobbler, pie, or crisp.

Related recipes: <a href="#GardenQuiche">Garden Quiche</a>

There are many problems with this approach:

● the semantics is encoded into text formatting tags;

● there is no means of checking that a recipe is encoded correctly;

● it is difficult to change the layout of recipes (CSS is not enough).

It would be much better to invent a special recipe markup language:

<recipe id="117" category="dessert">

<title>Rhubarb Cobbler</title>
<author><email>Maggie.Herrick@bbs.mhv.net</email></author>
<date>Wed, 14 Jun 95</date>

<description>
Rhubarb Cobbler made with bananas as the main sweetener.
It was delicious.
</description>

<ingredients>
...

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 XML vs. HTML

</ingredients>

<preparation>
Combine all and use as cobbler, pie, or crisp.
</preparation>

<related url="#GardenQuiche">Garden Quiche</related>

</recipe>

This example illustrates:

● the markup tags are chosen purely for logical structure;

● this is just one choice of markup detail level;

● we need a kind of "grammar" for XML recipe collections;

● we need a stylesheet to define presentation semantics.

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 XML: a conceptual view

A conceptual view of XML

An XML document is a labeled tree.
● a leaf node is

❍ character data (a text string) - the actual data,

❍ a processing instruction - annotations for various processors, typically in document

header,
❍ a comment - never any semantics attached,

❍ an entity declaration - simple macros.

● an internal node is an element, which is labeled with

❍ a name, and

❍ a set of attributes, each consisting of a name and a value.

Often, comments and entity declarations are not explicitly represented in the tree.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/conceptual.html [18/09/2000 14:24:31]

 XML: a concrete view

A concrete view of XML

An XML document is a (Unicode) text with markup tags and other meta-information.
Markup tags denote elements:
...<foo attr="val" ...>...</foo>...
| | | |
| | | a matching element end tag
| | the contents of the element
| an attribute with name attr and value val, values enclosed by ' or "
an element start tag with name foo

There is a short-hand notation for empty elements: ...<foo attr="val".../>...

Note: XML is case sensitive!!
An XML document must be well-formed:
● start and end tags must match;

● element tags must be properly nested;

● and some more subtle syntactical requirements.

Special characters can be escaped using Unicode character references:

● &#38; yields &;

● &#60; and &lt; both yield <.

CDATA Sections are an alternative to escaping many characters:

● <![CDATA[<greeting>Hello, world!</greeting>]]>

The strange syntax is a legacy from SGML...

The following service checks well-formedness of an XML document (given a full URL):

process clear

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/concrete.html [18/09/2000 14:24:32]

 XML: applications

Applications of XML
There are already hundreds of serious applications of XML.
XHTML

W3C's XMLization of HTML 4.0. Example XHTML document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
<head><title>Hello world!</title></head>
<body><p>foobar</p></body>
</html>

CML

Chemical Markup Language. Example CML document snippet:

<molecule id="METHANOL">
<atomArray>
<stringArray builtin="elementType">C O H H H H</stringArray>
<floatArray builtin="x3" units="pm">
-0.748 0.558 -1.293 -1.263 -0.699 0.716
</floatArray>
</atomArray>
</molecule>
WML

Wireless Markup Language for WAP services:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<wml>
<card id="Card1" title="Wap-UK.com">
<p>
Hello World
</p>
</card>
</wml>

There is a long list of many other XML applications.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/applications.html [18/09/2000 14:24:33]

 XML: technologies

XML technologies
Just a notation for trees is not enough:
● the real force of XML is generic languages and tools!

The XML vision offers:

namespaces
- to avoid name clashes when a document uses several "sub-languages";
schemas
- grammars to define classes of documents;
linking between documents
- a generalization of HTML anchors and links;
addressing parts of documents
- it is not enough that only the author can place anchors;
transformation
- conversion from one document class to another;
querying
- extraction of information.
The site www.xmlsoftware.com has a comprehensive list of available XML tools.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/tech.html [18/09/2000 14:24:34]

 XML: namespaces

Namespaces
Consider an XML language WidgetML which uses XHTML as a sublanguage for help messages:
<widget type="gadget">
<head size="medium"/>
<big><subwidget ref="gizmo"/></big>
<info>
<head>
<title>Description of gadget</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Gadget</h1>
A gadget contains a big gizmo
</body>
</info>
</widget>

We have some problems here:

● the meaning of head and big depends on the context;

● this complicates things for processors and might even cause ambiguities;

● the root of the problem is: one common name-space.

The solution is to introduce explicit namespace declarations:

<widget xmlns="http://www.widget.org"
xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1"
type="gadget">
<head size="medium"/>
<big><subwidget ref="gizmo"/></big>
<info>
<xhtml:head>
<xhtml:title>Description of gadget</xhtml:title>
</xhtml:head>
<xhtml:body>
<xhtml:h1>Gadget</xhtml:h1>
A gadget contains a big gizmo
</xhtml:body>
</info>
</widget>

Do not be confused by the use of URI for namespaces:

● they are not supposed to point to anything;

● it is simply the cheapest way of getting unqiue names;

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 XML: namespaces

●we rely on existing organizations that control domain names.

All XML technologies (are supposed to) respect namespaces.

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 XML: recipe example

The recipe example

Consider the following raw data describing some (Danish) recipes:
● citrontærte;

● farsbrød;
● hornfisk;
● islagkage;
● laksemousse;
● nougattoppe;
● rabarberdessert;
● smørrebrød.
We can represent this collection as an XML document.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/recipe.html [18/09/2000 14:24:35]

 XML: schemas

Schema languages
The syntax of a new XML language must be formalized:
● this is similar to the formal syntax of a programming language;

● however, usual context-free grammars are not expressive enough;

● XML languages are described using schemas.

A modern schema language:

● is itself an XML language (and can be used to describe itself);

● imposes constraints on the contents of elements;

● is context-sensitive and very fine-grained;

● can be processed efficiently.

A schema processor:
● checks that an application document satisfies the schema;

● such a document is called valid.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/schemas.html [18/09/2000 14:24:36]

 XML: schema for recipes

A schema for recipes

The following is a complete schema for the recipe example, written in the DSD schema language:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<?dsd URI="http://www.brics.dk/DSD/dsd.dsd"?>

<DSD IDRef="opskriftsamling" DSDVersion="1.0">

<ElementDef ID="opskriftsamling">
<Optional><Element IDRef="beskrivelse"/></Optional>
<ZeroOrMore><Element IDRef="opskrift"/></ZeroOrMore>
</ElementDef>

<ElementDef ID="beskrivelse">
<Content IDRef="hvadsomhelst"/>
</ElementDef>

<ContentDef ID="hvadsomhelst">
<ZeroOrMore>
<Union>
<StringType/><AnyElement/>
</Union>
</ZeroOrMore>
</ContentDef>

<ElementDef ID="titel">
<Content IDRef="hvadsomhelst"/>
</ElementDef>

<ElementDef ID="opskrift">
<AttributeDecl Name="kvantitet" Optional="no"/>
<AttributeDecl Name="tid" Optional="yes"/>
<Sequence>
<Element IDRef="titel"/>
<Content IDRef="indhold"/>
<Optional>
<Element Name="garniture">
<Content IDRef="hvadsomhelst"/>
</Element>
</Optional>
<Optional>
<Element Name="servering">
<Content IDRef="hvadsomhelst"/>

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XML: schema for recipes

</Element>
</Optional>
<Optional>
<Element Name="tips">
<Content IDRef="hvadsomhelst"/>
</Element>
</Optional>
<Element Name="energi">
<AttributeDecl Name="kjoule" Optional="no"/>
<AttributeDecl Name="fedt" Optional="no">
<StringType IDRef="tal"/>
</AttributeDecl>
<AttributeDecl Name="kulhydrat" Optional="no">
<StringType IDRef="tal"/>
</AttributeDecl>
<AttributeDecl Name="protein" Optional="no">
<StringType IDRef="tal"/>
</AttributeDecl>
<AttributeDecl Name="alkohol" Optional="yes">
<StringType IDRef="tal"/>
</AttributeDecl>
</Element>
</Sequence>
</ElementDef>

<ContentDef ID="indhold">
<Sequence>
<OneOrMore>
<Element IDRef="ingrediens"/>
</OneOrMore>
<Element Name="tilberedning">
<Content IDRef="hvadsomhelst"/>
</Element>
</Sequence>
</ContentDef>

<ElementDef ID="ingrediens">
<AttributeDecl Name="navn" Optional="no"/>
<AttributeDecl Name="antal" Optional="yes">
<Union>
<String Value="*"/>
<StringType IDRef="tal"/>
</Union>
</AttributeDecl>
<AttributeDecl Name="enhed" Optional="yes"/>
<If><Attribute Name="antal"/>
<Then>
<Empty/>
</Then>

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XML: schema for recipes

<Else>
<Not><Attribute Name="enhed"/></Not>
<Content IDRef="indhold"/>
</Else>
</If>
</ElementDef>

<StringTypeDef ID="cifre">
<OneOrMore>
<CharRange Start="0" End="9"/>
</OneOrMore>
</StringTypeDef>

<StringTypeDef ID="tal">
<Sequence>
<StringType IDRef="cifre"/>
<Optional>
<Sequence>
<String Value=","/>
<StringType IDRef="cifre"/>
</Sequence>
</Optional>
</Sequence>
</StringTypeDef>
</DSD>

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 XML: XLink, XPointer, and XPath

XML: XLink, XPointer, and XPath

XLink, XPointer, and XPath are three related mechanisms:
●they generalize the link mechanisms from HTML;
● XPath points from without to a set of nodes in an XML document;

● XPointer uses XPath to directly generalize HTML links;

● XLink uses XPointer to vastly generalize HTML links.

HTML links are just too simple:

● an anchor must be placed at every link destination (problem with read-only documents)
- we want to express relative locations;
● the link definition must be at the same location as the link source
- we want out-of-line links ("link databases");
● only individual nodes can be linked to
- we want links to whole tree fragments;
● a link always has one source and one destination
- we want links with multiple sources and destinations.
The XLink pointer model looks like this:

These technologies are not really supported by any browsers today.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/xpath.html [18/09/2000 14:24:38]

 XML: pointing at recipes

Pointing at recipes
The following simple XPath expressions point to parts of the XML recipe document:
//ingrediens[@navn="radiser i små tern"]/@antal
200
//ingrediens[@antal="100" and @enhed="g"]/@navn
flødeost med løg og urter
blødt smør i mindre stykker
Feta ost 45+
smeltet overtrækschokolade
//titel[text()="Citrontærte"]
/following-sibling::ingrediens[@navn="dej"]/tilberedning/text()
Bland mel og sukker i en skål. Skær smørret i mindre stykker og
smuldr det i melblandingen, til den ligner revet ost. Tilsæt vand
og saml hurtigt dejen. Tryk den ud i en smurt springform (ca. 22 cm
i diameter). Lad dejen gå halvt op ad formens side. Stil den
tildækket i køleskabet i mindst 1 time. Forbag bunden midt i ovnen
i 12 minutter ved 200 grader.

XPath expressions navigate step by step through the XML tree.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/xpathrecipe.html [18/09/2000 14:24:39]

 XML: XML-QL

XML-QL
XML-QL is a query language for XML documents:
● XML document can be seen as generalizations of database relations;
● XML-QL is a similar generalization of SQL;

● it can extract data from exisiting XML documents and construct new XML documents.

Relations are special, restricted cases of XML trees:

XML query languages are not released until 2001.

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/xmlql.html [18/09/2000 14:24:40]

 XML: querying the recipes

Querying the recipes

The following XML-QL queries extract information from the XML recipe document:

WHERE <opskriftsamling>
<opskrift>
<titel>$t</titel>
</opskrift>
</opskriftsamling>
IN "karoline.xml"
CONSTRUCT <titel>$t</titel>

<?xml version="1.0"?<
<XML>
<titel>Filokurve med tigerrejer</titel>
<titel>Laksemousse</titel>
<titel>Smørrebrød med flødeost og tomat</titel>
<titel>Citrontærte</titel>
<titel>Hornfisk med radisesalat</titel>
<titel>Islagkage med chokolade</titel>
<titel>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</titel>
<titel>Nougattoppe</titel>
<titel>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</titel>
</XML>

CONSTRUCT <opskriftermedsukker> {
WHERE <opskriftsamling>
<opskrift>
<titel>$t</>
<ingrediens*>
<ingrediens navn="sukker"/>
</>
</opskift>
</opskriftsamling>
IN "karoline.xml"
CONSTRUCT <navn>$t</navn>
} </opskriftermedsukker>

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XML: querying the recipes

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<opskriftermedsukker>
<navn>Citrontærte</navn>
<navn>Islagkage med chokolade</navn>
<navn>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</navn>
</opskriftermedsukker>

WHERE <*><ingrediens navn=$i/></> IN "karoline.xml"

CONSTRUCT
<ingrediens navn=$i>
{ WHERE <opskriftsamling>
<opskrift>
<titel>$t</titel>
<*>
<ingrediens navn=$i/>
</>
</opskrift>
</opskriftsamling>
IN "karoline.xml"
CONSTRUCT <ret>$t</ret>
}
</ingrediens>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<XML>
<ingrediens navn="æggeblommer">
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="friskpresset citronsaft">
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="jordbær i skiver">
<ret>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="dej">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="agurketern">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="hornfisk">
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="yoghurt">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>

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XML: querying the recipes

<ingrediens navn="kvarkdressing">
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="sukker">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
<ret>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</ret>
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="radisesalat">
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="mellemstore æg">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="rom">
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="vand">
<ret>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</ret>
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="koldt smør">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="hvedemel">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="små papir- eller folieforme">
<ret>Nougattoppe</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="fyld">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="fars">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="friskkværnet peber">
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="rabarber">
<ret>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="agurkesalat">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="bladselleri">

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XML: querying the recipes

<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="knust fed hvidløg">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="piskefløde">
<ret>Nougattoppe</ret>
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="frisk, hakket persille">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="groft salt">
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="husblas">
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="Feta ost 45+">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="frisk, rød chilipeber">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="tørret basilikum">
<ret>Smørrebrød med flødeost og tomat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="lille hakket zittauerløg">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="smør">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="hakket hvidløgsfed">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="creme fraiche">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="overtræk">
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="parfait">

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XML: querying the recipes

<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>

</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="smeltet overtrækschokolade">
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="agurk">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="udbenet hornfisk">
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="makronbund">
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="olivenolie">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="frisk, klippet purløg">
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="jordbærskiver">
<ret>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="limefrugt i halve skiver">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="creme fraiche 18%">
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="friske, hakkede citronmelisseblade">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="kvark 5+">
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="frosne, optøede tigerrejer med halevifte">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="agurk i små tern">
<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="cherrytomater i skiver">
<ret>Smørrebrød med flødeost og tomat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="magert, hakket svinekød">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="flødeost med løg og urter">
<ret>Smørrebrød med flødeost og tomat</ret>

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XML: querying the recipes

</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="mælk">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="groft knækbrød">
<ret>Smørrebrød med flødeost og tomat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="hakket lammekød">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="friske citronmelisseblade">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="ris">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="frossen, optøet filodej">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="citroncreme">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="mellemstort æg">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="smeltet smør">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="majsstivelse">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="parboiled ris">
<ret>Græsk farsbrød og agurkesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="blødt smør i mindre stykker">
<ret>Citrontærte</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="iskold piskefløde">
<ret>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="rababerkompot">
<ret>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="jordbær">
<ret>Rabarberdessert med jordbær</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="filokurve">
<ret>Filokurve med tigerrejer</ret>
</ingrediens>

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/xmlqlrecipe.html (6 of 7) [18/09/2000 14:24:42]

XML: querying the recipes

<ingrediens navn="radiser i små tern">

<ret>Hornfisk med radisesalat</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="mørk rom">
<ret>Nougattoppe</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="finthakket bladselleri">
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="overtrækschokolade">
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="blød nougat">
<ret>Nougattoppe</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="citronbåde">
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="vanillekorn">
<ret>Islagkage med chokolade</ret>
</ingrediens>
<ingrediens navn="laks">
<ret>Laksemousse</ret>
</ingrediens>
</XML>

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/xmlqlrecipe.html (7 of 7) [18/09/2000 14:24:42]

 XML: XSLT

XSLT
An XSLT style sheets transforms an XML document into another:
● if the target language is XHTML, then this is similar to a CSS style sheet;

● however, often the target language is really another XML language.

An XSLT style sheet:

● uses pattern matching and templates to specify the transformation;

● may perform arbitrary computations;

● is vastly more expressive than a CSS style sheet.

XSLT will be everywhere:

● browsers will only directly understand the XML language FO (formatting objects);

● HTML will be defined be a canonical XSLT style sheet into FO;

● many applications of XSLT will be involved in rendering a typical document.

There is little support for XSLT style sheets yet:

● Netscape 4 does nothing;

● Explorer 5 supports a subset of a deprecated syntax from 1998.

However, the following service correctly processes an XML document with an associated stylesheet
(given a full URL):
http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/karoline.xml process clear

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/xslt.html [18/09/2000 14:24:43]

 XML: style sheet for recipes

A style sheet for recipes

The following XSLT style sheet illustrates many features (the two namespaces are in different colors):

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"

xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<xsl:template match="opskriftsamling">
<html>
<head>
<title><xsl:apply-templates select="beskrivelse"/></title>
</head>
<body>
<xsl:apply-templates select="opskrift"/>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="beskrivelse">
<xsl:value-of select="text()"/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="opskrift">
<h1>
<xsl:value-of select="titel"/><xsl:text> </xsl:text>
(<xsl:value-of select="@kvantitet"/>)
</h1>
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="ingrediens"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="tilberedning"/>
</ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="garniture"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="servering"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="tips"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="energi"/>
<hr/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="ingrediens">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="@antal">
<li>
<xsl:if test="@antal!='*'">
<xsl:value-of select="@antal"/>
<xsl:text> </xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="@enhed"/>
<xsl:text> </xsl:text>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:value-of select="@navn"/>
</li>
</xsl:when>

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/xsltrecipe.html (1 of 2) [18/09/2000 14:24:44]

XML: style sheet for recipes

<xsl:otherwise>
<li><xsl:value-of select="@navn"/></li>
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="ingrediens"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="tilberedning"/>
</ul>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="tilberedning">
<xsl:if test="node() or text()">
<li>
<i>
<xsl:value-of select="text()|node()"/>
</i>
</li>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="garniture">
<h3>Garniture</h3>
<xsl:value-of select="text()|node()"/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="servering">
<h3>Servering</h3>
<xsl:value-of select="text()|node()"/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="tips">
<h3>Tips</h3>
<xsl:value-of select="text()|node()"/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="energi">
<p/>
<table border="2">
<tr>
<th>kJoule</th><th>Fedt</th><th>Kulhydrat</th><th>Protein</th>
<xsl:if test="@alkohol">
<th>Alkohol</th>
</xsl:if>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right"><xsl:value-of select="@kjoule"/></td>
<td align="right"><xsl:value-of select="@fedt"/>%</td>
<td align="right"><xsl:value-of select="@kulhydrat"/>%</td>
<td align="right"><xsl:value-of select="@protein"/>%</td>
<xsl:if test="@alkohol">
<td align="right"><xsl:value-of select="@alkohol"/>%</td>
</xsl:if>
</tr>
</table>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/xsltrecipe.html (2 of 2) [18/09/2000 14:24:44]

XML: exercises

Exercises
1. Browse through the collection of XML applications.
2. Add the recipe for tigerrejer to the XML recipe collection (save as file). Check that the result is well-formed XML.
3. Apply the given style sheet to this extended collection.
4. Add the necessary HTML to the following style sheet:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"

xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<xsl:template match="opskriftsamling">
<html>
<xsl:apply-templates select="opskrift"/>
</html>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="opskrift">
<xsl:value-of select="titel"/>
<xsl:value-of select="energi/@kjoule"/>
<xsl:value-of select="energi/@fedt"/>
<xsl:value-of select="energi/@kulhydrat"/>
<xsl:value-of select="energi/@protein"/>
<xsl:if test="energi/@alkohol">
<xsl:value-of select="energi/@alkohol"/>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

which extracts nutrition tables from recipe collections. Try it out. As it stands, the output looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
Smørrebrød med flødeost og tomat2616553411Citrontærte1510065314Græsk farsbrød og
agurkesalat13920463519Islagkage med
chokolade21655672742Laksemousse5838611722Nougattoppe8616692542Rabarberdessert med
jordbær852044542Hornfisk med radisesalat9140283834
</html>

http://www.brics.dk/~mis/ITU/XML/exercises.html [18/09/2000 14:24:45]