OReilly XML hacks 100 industrial strength tips and tools jul 2004 ISBN 0596007116

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TableofContents
Index
Reviews
ReaderReviews
Errata
Academic

XMLHacks
ByMichaelFitzgerald

Publisher :O'Reilly
PubDate :July2004
ISBN :0-596-00711-6
Pages :478


Thispractical,roll-up-your-sleevesguide
distillsyearsofingeniousXMLhackingintoa
completesetoftips,tricks,andtoolsforweb
developers,systemadministrators,and
programmerswhowanttoleveragethe
untappedpowerofXML.Ifyouwantmore

thantheaverageXMLuser--toexploreand
experiment,discoverclevershortcuts,and
showoffjustalittle(andhavefuninthe


process)--thisinvaluablebookisamusthave.



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TableofContents
Index
Reviews
ReaderReviews
Errata
Academic

XMLHacks
ByMichaelFitzgerald

Publisher :O'Reilly
PubDate :July2004
ISBN :0-596-00711-6

Pages :478



Copyright

Credits
Author

Contributors


Preface
WhyXMLHacks?

HowThisBookIsOrganized




ConventionsUsedinThisBook




HowtoContactUs

UsingCodeExamples
Gotahack?

Acknowledgments


Chapter1.LookingatXMLDocuments
Hacks#1-10

Hack1.ReadanXMLDocument






Hack2.DisplayanXMLDocumentinaWebBrowser




Hack4.UseCharacterandEntityReferences




Hack6.ExploreXMLDocumentsinGraphicalEditors




Hack8.TestXMLDocumentsOnline

Hack3.ApplyStyletoanXMLDocumentwithCSS
Hack5.ExamineXMLDocumentsinTextEditors
Hack7.ChooseToolsforCreatinganXMLVocabulary
Hack9.TestXMLDocumentsfromtheCommandLine

Hack10.RunJavaProgramsthatProcessXML


Chapter2.CreatingXMLDocuments
Hacks#11-30




Hack11.EditXMLDocumentswith<oXygen/>




Hack13.EditXMLwithVim




Hack15.WorkwithXMLinMicrosoftExcel2003




Hack17.ConvertMicrosoftOfficeFiles,OldorNew,toXML

Hack19.ConvertTexttoXMLwithUphill



Hack20.CreateWell-FormedXMLwithMinimalManualTaggingUsinganSGML
Parser
Hack21.CreateanXMLDocumentfromaCSVFile




Hack12.EditXMLDocumentswithEmacsandnXML
Hack14.EditXMLDocumentswithMicrosoftWord2003
Hack16.WorkwithXMLinMicrosoftAccess2003
Hack18.CreateanXMLDocumentfromaTextFilewithxmlspy

Hack22.ConvertanHTMLDocumenttoXHTMLwithHTMLTidy




Hack23.TransformDocumentswithXQuery




Hack25.IncludeTextandDocumentswithEntities

Hack27.EncodeXMLDocuments




Hack29.What'stheDiff?DiffXMLDocuments

Hack24.ExecuteanXQuerywithSaxon
Hack26.IncludeExternalDocumentswithXInclude
Hack28.ExploreXLinkandXML
Hack30.LookatXMLDocumentsThroughtheLensoftheXMLInformationSet


Chapter3.TransformingXMLDocuments
Hacks#31-58

Hack31.UnderstandtheAnatomyofanXSLTStylesheet




Hack32.TransformanXMLDocumentwithaCommand-LineProcessor



Hack34.AnalyzeNodeswithTreeViewer

Hack33.TransformanXMLDocumentWithinaGraphicalEditor




Hack35.ExploreaDocumentTreewiththexmllintShell



Hack36.ViewDocumentsasTablesUsingGenericCSSorXSLT



Hack37.GenerateanXSLTIdentityStylesheetwithRelaxer




Hack38.Pretty-PrintXMLUsingaGenericIdentityStylesheetandXalan




Hack40.ConvertAttributestoElementsandElementstoAttributes




Hack42.CreateandProcessSpreadsheetML

Hack44.TransformYouriTunesLibraryFile




Hack46.GenerateXMLfromMySQL




Hack48.ProcessXMLDocumentswithXSL-FOandFOP




Hack50.BuildResultswithLiteralResultandInstructionElements




Hack52.PerformMathwithXSLT




Hack54.GenerateSVGwithXSLT

Hack56.UseLookupTableswithXSLTtoTranslateFIPSCodes

Hack39.CreateaTextFilefromanXMLDocument
Hack41.ConvertXMLtoCSV
Hack43.ChooseYourOutputFormatinXSLT
Hack45.GenerateMultipleOutputDocumentswithXSLT2.0
Hack47.GeneratePDFDocumentsfromXMLandCSS
Hack49.ProcessHTMLwithXSLTUsingTagSoup
Hack51.WritePushandPullStylesheets
Hack53.TransformXMLDocumentswithgrepandsed
Hack55.DitherScatterplotswithXSLTandSVG
Hack57.GroupinginXSLT1.0and2.0

Hack58.UseEXSLTExtensions


Chapter4.XMLVocabularies
Hacks#59-67




Hack59.UseXMLNamespacesinanXMLVocabulary

Hack61.CreateandValidateanXHTML1.0Document




Hack63.CreateaSOAP1.2Document




Hack65.UnraveltheOpenOfficeFileFormat

Hack60.CreateanRDDLDocument
Hack62.CreateBooks,TechnicalManuals,andPapersinXMLwithDocBook
Hack64.IdentifyYourselfwithFOAF
Hack66.RenderGraphicswithSVG

Hack67.UseXFormsinYourXMLDocuments


Chapter5.DefiningXMLVocabularieswithSchemaLanguages
Hacks#68-79




Hack68.ValidateanXMLDocumentwithaDTD
Hack69.ValidateanXMLDocumentwithXMLSchema

Hack70.ValidateMultipleDocumentsAgainstanXMLSchemaatOnce




Hack72.ValidateanXMLDocumentwithRELAXNG




Hack74.CreateanXMLSchemaDocumentfromanInstanceorDTD




Hack76.ConvertaRELAXNGSchematoXMLSchema




Hack78.UseRELAXNGtoGenerateDTDCustomizations

Hack71.ChecktheIntegrityofaW3CSchema
Hack73.CreateaDTDfromanInstance
Hack75.CreateaRELAXNGSchemafromanInstance

Hack77.UseRELAXNGandSchematronTogethertoValidateBusinessRules
Hack79.GenerateInstancesBasedonSchemas


Chapter6.RSSandAtom
Hacks#80-90

Hack80.SubscribetoRSSFeeds




Hack81.CreateanRSS0.91Document




Hack83.CreateanRSS2.0Document




Hack85.ValidateRSSandAtomDocuments




Hack87.SyndicateContentwithMovableType

Hack89.CreateRSS0.91FeedsfromGoogle

Hack82.CreateanRSS1.0Document
Hack84.CreateanAtomDocument
Hack86.CreateRSSwithXML::RSS
Hack88.PostRSSHeadlinesonYourSite
Hack90.SyndicateaListofBooksfromAmazonwithRSSandASP


Chapter7.AdvancedXMLHacks
Hacks#91-100

Hack91.PipelineXMLwithAnt



Hack92.UseElementsInsteadofEntitiestoAvoidthe"ampExplosionProblem"



Hack93.UseCocoontoCreateaWell-FormedViewofaWebPage,ThenScrape
ItforData
Hack94.FromWikitoXML,ThroughSGML




Hack95.CreateWell-FormedXMLwithJavaScript

Hack96.InspectandEditXMLDocumentswiththeDocumentObjectModel




Hack98.ProcessXMLwithC#

Hack97.ProcessingXMLwithSAX
Hack99.GenerateCodefromXML

Hack100.CreateWell-FormedXMLwithGenx


Colophon

Index


Copyright©2004O'ReillyMedia,Inc.Allrightsreserved.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
PublishedbyO'ReillyMedia,Inc.,1005GravensteinHighway
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O'Reillybooksmaybepurchasedforeducational,business,or
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contactourcorporate/institutionalsalesdepartment:(800)

998-9938or
NutshellHandbook,theNutshellHandbooklogo,andthe
O'ReillylogoareregisteredtrademarksofO'ReillyMedia,Inc.
TheHacksseriesdesignations,XMLHacks,theimageofa
socketwrench,"Hacks100Industrial-StrengthTipsandTools,"
andrelatedtradedressaretrademarksofO'ReillyMedia,Inc.
Manyofthedesignationsusedbymanufacturersandsellersto
distinguishtheirproductsareclaimedastrademarks.Where
thosedesignationsappearinthisbook,andO'ReillyMedia,Inc.
wasawareofatrademarkclaim,thedesignationshavebeen
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Whileeveryprecautionhasbeentakeninthepreparationofthis
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Smallprint:Thetechnologiesdiscussedinthispublication,the
limitationsonthesetechnologiesthattechnologyandcontent
ownersseektoimpose,andthelawsactuallylimitingtheuseof
thesetechnologiesareconstantlychanging.Thus,someofthe
hacksdescribedinthispublicationmaynotwork,maycause
unintendedharmtosystemsonwhichtheyareused,ormay
notbeconsistentwithapplicableuseragreements.Youruseof


thesehacksisatyourownrisk,andO'ReillyMedia,Inc.
disclaimsresponsibilityforanydamageorexpenseresulting
fromtheiruse.Inanyevent,youshouldtakecarethatyouruse
ofthesehacksdoesnotviolateanyapplicablelaws,including
copyrightlaws.

Credits
Author
Contributors


Author
MichaelFitzgeraldisprincipalofWy'eastCommunications
(),awriting,training,andprogramming
consultancyspecializinginXML.Inadditiontothisbook,heis
theauthorofLearningXSLT(O'Reilly),XSLEssentials(Wiley&
Sons),andBuildingB2BApplicationswithXML:AResource
Guide(Wiley&Sons).MikeisthecreatorofOx,anopensource
Javatoolforgeneratingbrief,syntax-relateddocumentationat
thecommandline(Hewas
alsoamemberoftheoriginalRELAXNGtechnicalcommitteeat
OASIS(2001-2003).AnativeofOregon,Mikenowliveswithhis
familyinMapleton,Utah.Youcanfindhistechnicalblogat
/>

Contributors
TimothyAppnelhas13yearsofcorporateITandInternet
systemsdevelopmentexperienceandistheprincipalof
AppnelInternetSolutions,atechnologyconsultancy
specializinginMovableTypeandTypePadsystems.In
additiontobeingatechnologist,Timhasabackgroundin
publicationswhichincludescofoundingandmanaging
OculusMagazine,afreeindiemusicandarts'zine,forover
sevenyears.HeisanoccasionalcontributortotheO'Reilly
Networkandmaintainsapersonalweblogofhisthoughtsat

/>TaraCalishanistheeditoroftheonlinenewsletter
ResearchBuzz()andthe
authororcoauthorofseveralbooks,includingthe
bestsellingGoogleHacks(O'Reilly)andSpideringHacks
(O'Reilly).Asearchengineenthusiastformanyyears,she
beganherforayintotheworldofPerlwhenGooglereleased
itsAPIinApril2002.
JohnCowanistheseniorInternetsystemsdeveloperfor
ReutersHealth,averysmallsubsidiaryofReuters,awire
serviceandfinancialnewscompany.Hewasresponsiblefor
ReutersHealth'scurrentnewspublicationsystem,which
distributesabout100articlesperdaytoabout200
wholesalenewscustomers,mostlyinXML.(Yes,somostof
themwantHTMLandgetXHTML.Deal.)Johnisamember
oftheW3CXMLCoreWG(andtheeditoroftheXMLInfoset
andXML1.1specifications)andtheclosedUnicoremailing
listoftheUnicodeTechnicalCommittee.Healsohangsout
onfartoomanyothertechnicalmailinglists,masquerading
astheexpertonAfortheBmailinglistandtheexpertonB
fortheAmailinglist.Hisfriendssaythatheknowsatleast


somethingaboutalmosteverything,whilehisenemiessay
thatheknowsfartoomuchaboutfartoomuch.Inhis
copioussparetime,Johnconstructedandmaintains
TagSoup,aSAX-compatibleJavaparserforugly,nasty
HTML,andtheItsyBitsyTeenyWeenySimpleHypertext
DTD,asmallsubsetofXHTMLBasicsuitableforaddingrich
texttootherwisebaldandunconvincingdocumenttypes
(nowavailableinRELAXNG,too).Heisinterestedin

languagesnatural,constructed,andcomputerandisthe
authorofTheCompleteLojbanLanguage.Heisalsothe
currentmaintainerofFIGlet,theworld'sonlyUnicode
renderingenginethatusesASCIIcharactersinsteadof
pixels.
LeighDoddsisanapplicationdeveloperanddesigner
specializinginJavaandXML.Hecurrentlymanagesasmall
engineeringteamatIngenta( />andisresponsiblefordevelopingbibliographiccontent
managementanddocumentdeliverysystemsandservices.
Leighisalsoafreelanceauthorandhascontributed
numerousarticlesandtutorialstoxmlhack.com,XML.com,
andIBMdeveloperWorks.LeighisbasedinBath,United
Kingdom.
MicahDubinkoisasoftwareengineerwholivesinPhoenix,
Arizona,withhiswifeandchild,andworksforVerity,Inc.
(HeistheauthorofXForms
Essentials(O'Reilly),availableonlineat
.Healsoservedasaneditorand
authoroftheW3CXFormsspecification
(andparticipatedinthe
XFormseffortbeginninginSeptember1999,ninemonths
beforetheofficialWorkingGroupwaschartered.Hewas
awardedCompTIACDIA(CertifiedDocumentImaging
Architect)certificationinJanuary2001.


BobDuCharme(istheauthorof
XSLTQuickly(ManningPublications),XML:TheAnnotated
Specification(PrenticeHall),SGMLCD(PrenticeHall),and
OperatingSystemsHandbook(McGrawHill).Hewritesthe

monthly"TransformingXML"columnforXML.comandhas
contributedtoXMLMagazine,XMLJournal,IBM
developerWorks,XMLDeveloper,andXMLHandbook
(PrenticeHall).Aconsultingsoftwareengineerat
LexisNexis,BobreceivedhisBAinreligionfromColumbia
Universityandhismaster'sincomputersciencefromNew
YorkUniversity.
HansFugalistheauthorofdesert.vim,thenumber-one
ratedcolorschemeatvim.org
(He
alsowroternc.vim,aVimsyntaxhighlightingspecification
fortheRELAXNGcompactsyntax
(He
istheauthorofthegdmxmlschema,anXML
implementationoftheGENTECHGenealogicalDataModel
().Hehasabachelor'sdegreein
computersciencefromBrighamYoungUniversityandis
preparingtopursueaPhDincomputerscience.Heisvery
interestedincomputermusicandmaintainsafewcomputer
music-relatedpackagesinDebian.Heplaysthepianoand
theorgan.Heispresentlyemployedasasystem
administratoratWencorWest,Inc.
( />JasonHunteristheauthorofJavaServletProgramming
(O'Reilly)andcoauthorofJavaEnterpriseBestPractices
(O'Reilly).He'sanApacheMember,andasApache's
representativetotheJavaCommunityProcessExecutive
Committee,heestablishedalandmarkagreementforopen
sourceJava.HeispublisherofServlets.comand
XQuery.com,anoriginalcontributortoApacheTomcat,

creatorofthecom.oreilly.servletlibrary,andamemberof
theExpertGroupsresponsibleforservlet,JSP,JAXP,and
XQJAPIdevelopment,andhesitsontheW3CXQuery
WorkingGroup.Heco-createdtheopensourceJDOMlibrary
toenableoptimizedJavaandXMLintegration.Heworksat
MarkLogic(wherehehas
beenworkingontheirXQueryimplementationsinceJune
2002.
RickJelliffeisCTOofTopologiPty.Ltd.
(),acompanymakingXML-related
desktoptools,andspendsmostofhistimeworkingon
editors,validators,andpublishing-relatedmarkup.His
currentmainstandardsprojectiseditinganupcomingISO
standardfortheSchematronschemalanguage
(whichheoriginally
developed.AswellashisworkwithISOSC34andthe
originalXMLgroupatW3C,Rickwasasporadicmemberof
theW3CSchemaWorkingGroupandtheW3C
InternationalizationInterestGroup.HeistheauthorofXML
&SGMLCookbook:RecipesonStructuredInformation
(PrenticeHallPTR).HeleadtheChineseXMLNowprojectat
AcademiaSinicaComputingCentre
(HelivesinSydney,Australia,
andhasaneconomicsdegreefromSydneyUniversity.
SeanMcGrathisCTOofPropylon,anXMLsolutions
company.Heisaninternationallyacknowledgedauthority
onXMLandrelatedstandards.Heservedasaninvited
experttotheW3C'sExpertGroupthatdefinedXMLin1998.
Heistheauthorofthreebooksonmarkuplanguages

publishedbyPrenticeHallandwritestheweekly"ebusinessintheenterprise"newsletterforITWorld
(Hisblogisat
.


SeanNolanfoundedSoftwarePoetry
(andwastheCTOfor
drugstore.com,wherehewasthefifthemployeeandledthe
designandimplementationoftheiraward-winningecommercesystems.Whileatdrugstore.com,Seanwas
honoredasoneofthenation'sPremier100ITLeadersfor
2001byComputerworldmagazine.
ThomasPassinisasystemsengineerwithMitretekSystems
(anonprofitsystemsand
informationengineeringcompany.HegraduatedwithaBS
inphysicsfromtheMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology,
andstudiedgraduate-levelphysicsattheUniversityof
Chicago.HehasbeenactiveinXML-relatedworksince
1998.HehelpedtodevelopXMLversionsofmessage
standardsforAdvancedTravelerInformationSystems
(including
translationsofthemessageschemasfromASN.1toXML.
HedevelopedanXML/XSLT-basedquestionnairegeneration
system.HeisalsoactiveintheareaofTopicMaps,and
developedtheopensourceTM4JScriptJavascripttopicmap
engine.Mr.PassinistheauthorofExplorer'sGuidetothe
SemanticWeb,forthcomingfromManningin2004
( />DavePawsonisfromPeterboroughintheUnitedKingdom.
Hehasanaerospacebackground,andiscurrentlyworking
foronwebstandardsaccessibility.
Inhissparetime,hemaintainstheXSLTFAQ

(andaDocBook
FAQ(Hisinterestin
DSSSLandXSL-FOledtothepublicationoftheO'Reilly
bookXSL-FO.
DeanPetersisagrayingcode-monkeywhobydayisa
mild-manneredIIS/.NETprogrammer,butbynightbecomes


anot-so-evilLinuxgeniusashedevelopssoftwareand
articlesforhisblogs,
and.
EddieRobertssonfinishedhismaster'sdegreeincomputer
scienceattheLundInstituteofTechnologyinSwedenin
1999.ShortlythereafterhemovedtoSydney,Australiafor
employmentatAlletteSystems,whereheworkedasan
XMLdeveloperandtrainerspecializinginXMLschema
languages.DuringhislastfewyearsinSydney,Eddie
workedverycloselywithRickJelliffeandTopologiwiththe
designandimplementationofTopologi'ssuiteofXMLtools.
Inmid-2003,EddiemovedbacktoSweden,wherehe
continuestoworkwithsoftwareengineeringandXMLrelatedtechnologies.
RichardRosebeganlifeatanearlyageandrapidlystarted
absorbinginformation,findingthathelikedthetasteof
informationrelatingtocomputersthebest.Hehassince
feasteduponinformationfromtheUniversityofBristolin
theUnitedKingdom,whereheearnedaBScwithHonors.
HelivesinBristolbutcurrentlydoesnotwork,andhewill
bereturnedforstorecreditassoonassomebodycanfind
thereceipt.Richardwritesprogramsfortheintellectual
challenge.Healsoturnshishandtosystemadministration

andhasdonetheobligatorytimeintechsupport.Forfun,
hejuggles,doesclose-upmagic,andplaystheguitarbadly.
HecanalsobefoundonIRC,wherehecurrentlyisa
networkoperatorknownasrikontheOpenandFree
TechnologyCommunity(irc.oftc.net).
MichaelSmithisasoftwarenon-executivelivingand
workinginTokyo,withaparticularfondnessforRELAXNG
andDocBook.He'samemberoftheDocBookTechnical
Committee( />

isinvolvedwiththeDocBookOpenRepositorydevelopment
team,andistheowner/moderatorofthexml-docmailing
list(Inthegood
olddays,hewroteforthexmlhack.comwebsiteinsome
prettyselectcompany,amongwhomwereUcheOgbuji,Edd
Dumbill,MicahDubinko,SimonSt.Laurent,andEricvander
Vlist.
SimonSt.LaurentisaneditorwithO'ReillyMedia,Inc.Prior
tothat,he'dbeenawebdeveloper,networkadministrator,
computerbookauthor,andXMLtroublemaker.Helivesin
Dryden,NewYork.HisbooksincludeXML:APrimer,XML
ElementsofStyle,BuildingXMLApplications,Cookies,and
SharingBandwidth.Heisanoccasionalcontributorto
XML.com.


Preface
ExtensibleMarkupLanguageorXML
(appearedasa
recommendationoftheWorldWideWebConsortium

()inearly1998.XMLisarestrictedsubset
ofStandardGeneralizedMarkupLanguageorSGML(ISO/IEC
8879).Bysomegrace,XMLhasenjoyedconsiderablepopularity
andhasbeenalmostuniversallyreceivedasaninteroperability
solutionforheterogeneouscomputersystems.Althoughnot
withoutshortcomings,XMLisprobablythebestthingwehave
goingforustodealwithsoftwareinteroperabilityissues,mainly
becauseofitswideacceptanceandpresence.
Today,youcanfindXMLjustaboutanywhereyoufindsoftware.
Tonameafewexamples:
OpenOffice'sfileformat[Hack#65]consistsofasetof
ZIP-archivedXMLfiles.
Ant'sbuildfileformat[Hack#91]iswritteninXML,asare
MicrosoftVisualStudio.NETprojectfiles
( />Macplistconfigurationfiles[Hack#44]arealsowrittenin
XML.
WebpagesnowincreasinglyuseExtensibleHypertext
MarkupLanguage(XHTML),anXMLversionofHTML.
XMLUserInterfaceLanguage(XUL)isaMozillaprojectthat
allowsyoutodefineapplicationswithXML
(Likewise,Extensible
ApplicationMarkupLanguage(XAML)isanXML-based


languagefordefininguserinterfacesfortheAvalon
framework,partofMicrosoft'supcomingreleaseofWindows
code-named"Longhorn"
( />XMLisbynomeansapanaceaforalltheillsofinterchange,but
it'sbecominganincreasinglypracticaloptionforpackagingand
movingdatainandoutofsystemsorforrepresentingdataina

consistent,readableway.Anditcanbefuntouse,too,asmany
ofthehacksinthisbookdemonstrate.
TheXMLspecificationdefinesasyntaxforcreatingmarkup.
Markupconsistsofelements,attributes,andotherstructures
thatallowyoutolabeldocumentsanddatainawaythatcan
givethemmeaningthatotherhumanbeingsorsoftwarecan
understandandinterpret.BecausereliableXMLparsersare
readilyandoftenfreelyavailableinavarietyofprogramming
languages,itisrelativelyeasytointegrateXMLprocessinginto
justaboutanyapplication.
Thisbook'smissionistogiveyouarunningstartatdoingmany
ofthethingsthatarecommonlyandsometimes
uncommonlydonewithXML.Whileyou'llfindbeginning,
intermediate,andadvancedhacksbetweenthecovers,this
bookisnotanexhaustivetreatmentofeverythingyoucando
withXML.Instead,itfocusesonthemainstream,coretasks
foundinXMLterritory.Thesetaskscanbeaccomplishedquickly
andusuallyusedownloadable,opensourcesoftwareor
softwarethatisavailableforfreetrial.


WhyXMLHacks?
Thetermhackinghasabadreputationinthepress.Theyuseit
torefertosomeonewhobreaksintosystemsorwreakshavoc
withcomputersastheirweapon.Amongpeoplewhowritecode,
though,thetermhackreferstoa"quick-and-dirty"solutiontoa
problem,oracleverwaytogetsomethingdone.Andtheterm
hackeristakenverymuchasacompliment,referringto
someoneasbeingcreativeandhavingthetechnicalchopsto
getthingsdone.TheHacksseriesisanattempttoreclaimthe

word,documentthegoodwayspeoplearehacking,andpass
thehackerethicofcreativeparticipationontotheuninitiated.
Seeinghowothersapproachsystemsandproblemsisoftenthe
quickestwaytolearnaboutanewtechnology.
XMLHacksisforfolkswholiketocobbletogetheravarietyof
freeorlow-costtoolsandtechniques,withXMLasthe
touchstone,togetsomethingpracticaldone.Thisbookis
designedtomeettheneedsofabroadaudience:fromthose
whoarejustcuttingtheirteethonXMLtothosewhoare
alreadyfamiliarwithit.Evenexpertswillfindnewapproaches
tosolvinginterestingchallengesamongthesehacksfor
example,RickJelliffe'shackonconvertingWikitoXMLvia
SGML[Hack#94].Becauseitcoversalotofground,this
bookwillprobablymeetsomeneed,nomatteratwhatlevel
youarehackingwithXML.


HowThisBookIsOrganized
Thisbookisdividedintosevenchapters,eachofwhichisbriefly
describedhere:

Chapter1,LookingatXMLDocuments
Containsaseriesofintroductoryhacks,includingan
overviewofwhatanXMLdocumentshouldlooklike,howto
displayanXMLdocumentinabrowser,howtostyleanXML
documentwithCSS,andhowtousecommand-lineJava
applicationstoprocessXML.

Chapter2,CreatingXMLDocuments
TeachesyouhowtoeditXMLwithavarietyofeditors,

includingVim,Emacs,<oXygen/>,andMicrosoftOffice
2003applications.Amongotherthings,showsyouhowto
convertaplaintextfiletoXMLwithxmlspy,translateCSV
toXML,andconvertHTMLtoXHTMLwithHTMLTidy.

Chapter3,TransformingXMLDocuments
ExploresmanywaysthatyoucanuseXSLTandothertools
totransformXMLintoCSV,transformaniTuneslibrary
(plist)fileintoHTML,transformXMLdocumentswithgrep
andsed,andgenerateSVGwithXSLT.

Chapter4,XMLVocabularies


HelpsyougetacquaintedwithnamespacesandRDDL,and
describeshowtousecommonXMLvocabulariesand
frameworkssuchasXHTML,DocBook,RDDL,andRDFin
theformofFOAF.

Chapter5,DefiningXMLVocabularieswithSchemaLanguages
CoversthecreationofvalidXMLusingDTDs,XMLSchema,
RELAXNG,andSchematron.Italsoexplainshowto
generateschemasfrominstances,howtogenerate
instancesfromschemas,andhowtoconvertaschemafrom
oneschemalanguagetoanother.

Chapter6,RSSandAtom
TeachesyouhowtosubscribetoRSSfeedswithnews
readers;createRSS0.91,RSS1.0,RSS2.0,andAtom
documents;andgenerateRSSfromGooglequeriesand

withMovableTypetemplates.

Chapter7,AdvancedXMLHacks
ShowsyouhowtoperformXMLtasksinanAntpipeline,
howtouseCocoon,andhowtoprocessXMLdocuments
usingDOM,SAX,Genx,andthefacilitiesofC#'s
System.Xmlnamespace,amongothers.


ConventionsUsedinThisBook
Thefollowingisalistoftypographicalconventionsusedinthis
book:

Italic
Usedtoindicatenewterms,URLs,filenames,file
extensions,directories,commandsandoptions,and
programnames,andtohighlightcommentsinexamples.
Forexample,apathinthefilesystemmayappearas
C:\Hacks\examplesor/usr/mike/hacks/examples.

Constantwidth
Usedtoshowcodeexamples,XMLmarkup,Javapackageor
C#namespacenames,oroutputfromcommands.

Constantwidthbold
Usedinexamplestoshowemphasis.

Constantwidthitalic
Usedinexamplestoshowtextthatshouldbereplacedwith
user-suppliedvalues.

[RETURN]


Acarriagereturn([RETURN])attheendofalineofcode
isusedtodenoteanunnaturallinebreak;thatis,you
shouldnotentertheseastwolinesofcode,butasone
continuousline.Multiplelinesareusedinthesecasesdue
topage-widthconstraints.
Youshouldpayspecialattentiontonotessetapartfromthe
textwiththefollowingicons:

Thisisatip,suggestion,orgeneralnote.Itcontainsuseful
supplementaryinformationaboutthetopicathand.

Thisisawarningoranoteofcaution.

Thethermometericons,foundnexttoeachhack,indicatethe
relativecomplexityofthehack:

beginner

moderate

expert


UsingCodeExamples
ThisbookisheretohelpyougetyourjobdonewithXML.In
general,youmayusethemarkup,stylesheets,andcodeinthis

bookinyourprogramsanddocumentation(allavailablefor
downloadinaZIParchivefrom
ofthehacks
assumethattheseexamplefilesareinplaceinaworking
directory).Youdonotneedtocontactusforpermissionunless
you'rereproducingasignificantportionofthecode.For
example,writingaprogramthatusesseveralchunksofcode
fromthisbookdoesnotrequirepermission.However,sellingor
distributingaCD-ROMofexamplesfromanO'Reillybookdoes
requirepermission.Answeringaquestionbycitingthisbook
andquotinganexampledoesnotrequirepermission,but
incorporatingasignificantamountofexamplesfromthisbook
intoyourproduct'sdocumentationdoesrequirepermission.
Weappreciate,butdonotrequire,attributionwhenusingcode.
Anattributionusuallyincludesthetitle,author,publisher,and
ISBN.Forexample:"XMLHacksbyMichaelFitzgerald.
Copyright2004O'ReillyMedia,Inc.,0-596-00711-6."
Ifyoufeelyouruseofcodeexamplesfallsoutsidefairuseor
thepermissiongivenabove,feelfreetocontactusat