gtpx1m06XML User's Guide

Why XML?

XML allows you to tag data in a way that is similar to how you tag data when creating an HTML file. XML incorporates many of the successful features of HTML, but was also developed to address some of the limitations of HTML. XML tags are actually user-defined through a schema, which can either be a Document Type Definition (DTD) or a document written in the XML Schema language. In addition, namespaces can help ensure you have unique tags for your XML document. The syntax of XML has more restrictions than HTML, but this results in faster and cheaper browsing. The ability to create your own tagging structure gives you the power to categorize and structure data for both ease of retrieval and ease of display. XML is already being used for publishing, as well as for data storage and retrieval, data interchange between heterogeneous platforms, data transformations, and data displays. As it evolves and becomes more powerful, XML may allow for single-source data retrieval and data display.

XML4C parser 3.5.1 (APAR PJ28176) is a port of XML Parser for C++ (XML4C) version 3.5.1. With this APAR installed, applications on your TPF 4.1 system can interact with tagged XML data.

The benefits of using XML vary but, overall, marked-up data and the ability to read and interpret that data provide the following benefits

However, despite all the benefits of using XML, there are some things to be aware of. First of all, working with marked up data can be additional work when writing applications because it physically requires more pieces to work together. (Go to Learn XML for more information.) Given the benefits of using XML, this additional work up front can reduce the amount of work needed to make a change in the future. Second, although it is a recommendation developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), XML is still a developing technology.

There are many resources available for learning about XML, some of which are included in Resources.