Essential XML quick reference: a programmer's reference to XML, XPath, XSLT, XML Schema, SOAP, and more

433 Pages·2002·8.66 MB·English

by  Aaron Skonnard

Skonnard.book Page i Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
Praise for Essential XML
Quick Reference
“I think it is a wonderfully clear and concise summary of a great deal of key XML
material. I expect it to find a well-thumbed home on my bookshelf.”
—Mary Holstege, PhD,
XML Architect, mathling.com, and W3C XML Schema Working Group Member
“This book is a unique collection of reference material on the most relevant XML-
related standards, which takes the important W3C recommendations and puts
them all in context. Something that definitely needs to be on every XML devel-
oper's desk!”
—Alexander Falk,
President and CEO of Altova, Inc. - The XML Spy Company
“Essential XML Quick Reference proves that Aaron Skonnard and Martin Gudgin
can distill the essence of a very large, complicated topic like XML into easy to
understand, bite-sized pieces. It’s an invaluable asset!”
—Brad Wilson,
Principal Software Architect, Quality Software Development
“Essential XML Quick Reference is one of the few printed references I would actu-
ally buy.”
—Don Box,
Series Editor, The DevelopMentor Series
“The full specification is quite verbose. Having the pocket reference makes life
simpler when it comes to the ‘What was the name of that element again?’ or ‘What
were the order of the parameters to that function?’ type questions. When I need a
quick, concise, answer, I don’t want to have to thumb through hundreds of pages
before getting the answer I need. This book is a very welcome, often relied upon,
addition to my developer tool belt.”
—Drew Marsh,
Senior Architect, Mimeo.com, Inc.
Skonnard.book Page ii Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
“I’ve read most of the documents regarding XML on the W3C site; the language
definitions and standardization jargon makes them unapproachable to most devel-
opers. This book makes the concepts make sense by giving concrete examples
showing the different syntax variations. Essential XML Quick Reference is a com-
prehensive reference book that will bridge a gap that hasn’t been filled. Almost
anyone from basic to advanced skills will be able to use this book and I know I will
keep it within arm’s reach at work. It’s a source that I will be able to go to in order
to lookup subtle syntactic information that eludes me.”
—Justin Burtch,
Software Engineer, Integrated Data Systems
Skonnard.book Page iii Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
Essential XML
Quick Reference
Skonnard.book Page iv Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
Addison-Wesley has joined forces with DevelopMentor, a premiere developer resources
company, to produce a series of technical books written by developers for developers.
DevelopMentor boasts a prestigious technical staff that includes some of the world’s
best-known computer science professionals.
“Works in The DevelopMentor Seriesare practical and informative sources on
the tools and techniques for applying component-based technologies to real-world,
large-scale distributed systems.”
—Don Box
Titles in the Series:
Don Box, Essential COM,0-201-63446-5 Stuart Halloway, Component Development for
the Java™ Platform, 0-201-75306-5
Don Box, Aaron Skonnard, and John Lam,
Essential XML: Beyond Markup, 0-201-70914-7 Joe Hummel, Ted Pattison, Justin Gehtland,
Doug Turnure, and Brian A. Randell, Effective
Keith Brown, Programming Windows Security, Visual Basic: How to Improve Your VB/COM+
0-201-60442-6 Applications, 0-201-70476-5
Matthew Curland, Advanced Visual Basic 6: Stanley B. Lippman, C# Primer: A Practical
Power Techniques for Everyday Programs, Approach, 0-201-72955-5
0-201-70712-8
Everett N. McKay and Mike Woodring,
Doug Dunn, Java™ Rules, 0-201-70916-3 Debugging Windows Programs: Strategies, Tools,
and Techniques for Visual C++ Programmers,
Tim Ewald, Transactional COM+L: Building 0-201-70238-X
Scalable Applications,0-201-61594-0
Aaron Skonnard and Martin Gudgin, Essential
Jon Flanders, ASP Internals, 0-201-61618-1 XML Quick Reference: A Programmer's
Reference to XML, XPath, XSLT, XML Schema,
Martin Gudgin, Essential IDL: Interface Design SOAP, and More, 0-201-74095-8
for COM,0-201-61595-9
Watch for future titles in The DevelopMentor Series.
Skonnard.book Page v Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
Essential XML
Quick Reference
A Programmer’s Reference to XML, XPath,
XSLT, XML Schema, SOAP, and More
Aaron Skonnard
Martin Gudgin
Boston • San Francisco • New York • Toronto • Montreal
London • Munich • Paris • Madrid
Capetown • Sydney • Tokyo • Singapore • Mexico City
Skonnard.book Page vi Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products
are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Addison-Wes-
ley, Inc., was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital
letters or in all capitals.
The authors and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book but make no
expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions.
No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising
out of the use of the information or programs contained herein.
The publisher offers discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for special sales. For
more information, please contact
Pearson Education Corporate Sales Division
201 W. 103rd Street
Indianapolis, IN 46290
[phone]
[email protected]
Visit AW on the Web: www.aw.com/cseng/
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skonnard, Aaron
Essential XML Quick Reference : a programmer’s reference to XML, XPath, XSLT,
XML Schema, SOAP, and more / Aaron Skonnard, Martin Gudgin.
p. cm. — (The DevelopMentor series)
ISBN 0-201-74095-8
1. XML (Document markup language) I. Gudgin, Martin. II. Title. III. Series.
QA76.76.H94 S59 2001
005.7'2—d21
2001034105
Copyright © 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher. Printed in the United
States of America. Published simultaneously in Canada.
0-201-74095-8
Text printed on recycled paper
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10—ML—0504030201
First printing, October 2001
Skonnard.book Page vii Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
Aaron’s dedication:
To my son Nathan, for the glimpse of heaven that
you brought to my life
Martin’s dedication:
To Matthew and Sam, with love
Skonnard.book Page viii Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
Skonnard.book Page ix Monday, October 1, 2001 10:50 AM
Chapter Contents
1 XML 1.0 and Namespaces 1
2 Document Type Definitions 15
3 XPath 1.0 35
4 XPointer, XInclude, and XML Base 69
5 XSL Transformations 1.0 85
6 SAX 2.0 159
7 DOM Level 2 193
8 XML Schema Datatypes 227
9 XML Schema Structures 287
10 SOAP 1.1 357
ix