Lab Session 1: Introduction to XML

This blog will consist of the CMT 3315 Lab sessions for Coursework 1: 

Here are the questions for Lab session 1 

What was the first browser to read XML?

The first browser that partially supported XML was Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (September 1997). IE4 had an XML parser built in, using client-side scripting like JavaScript you could parse data from a document and display the data in a web page. In this version, style sheets were not supported and opening an XML file by redirecting to its URL location was a dream.

Microsoft added the full support for XML Internet Explorer 5 (March 1999). IE 5 supported XML schemas and validation, XSL styles and opening XML documents via URL locations. Netscape’s first version to support XML was the fifth version.

To read XML data, browsers use XML parsers that read through the XML files and process the data in them. Parsers depend on the browser used.

What is the current status of CSS?

CSS is currently on its 3^rd version (CSS3).  This builds on its previous releases by having a lot of additional functionalities and improvements in a wide range of modules of previous versions and was developed to go with HTML 5.

Now simple ways for effects and styles that where either hard or impossible to achieve with previous versions are now implemented in this version. Examples of the functionalities implemented include the ability to produce rounded corners without having to use round cornered images, the ability to add shadows by only give the parameters of the vertical, horizontal shadow, blur distance and the colour of the shadow.

Completely new features include the 2D and 3D transformations which can move, scale, turn, spin and stretch elements in an animated way without the use of any other technology such as Flash.

What is the current status of XML?

Although the latest verion of XML is still XML 1.0 this is the 5^th edition of the Language. XML is not being used anywhere and can now be used to transfer, export and store data in meaningful ways.

Also with the use of XSL, XML can also be used to illustrate data on web browsers with added styling, making the data more meaningful.

What are the relative merits of CSS and XSL?

CSS is used to style web pages and is flexible, efficient and consistent in the way that a CSS document can be used on several HTML documents to keep the same style throughout all the HTML documents but it is not used to alter any content of a document.CSS documents are only used to improve the looks of a web page. CSS is designed for HTML documents not XML so it cannot change XML data.  

XSL extracts data from an XML document and present is in an HTML document. XSL is also able to change the data of the XML document before it is displayed. XSL is used as a transformation language to allow the browser to correctly display the data in the XML document. A transformation language is needed to display XML in web pages since its documents have no predefined tags.

What are the implications if the concept of the document tree?

The concept of a document tree lies on the fact that every branch of the tree is interconnected in the style of: Ancestor > Descendant > Parent > Child > Sibling. The implication of this concept is that since all the nodes are interconnected, changing one node may result in needing to change other nodes which are related to the original one, and since XML files may be used for large amounts of data, altering one node can become a very lengthy process.