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A2. XML and XML Editors (due 9/15)

Thu, 08/26/2010 - 21:44 — admin

Create a new Assignment Submission Page titled: "A2 - Your Name".  Make sure to tag it with the correct assignment tag ("A1" or "A2", etc). You must do this to ensure that we can see your assignment once you submit it. If you fail to do this or forget to tag your assignment, you may receive a late penalty since we will not be able to find your work.

Assignment will be posted on 9/8

Information Organization and Retrieval (INFO 202)

Assignment 2: Getting Started with XML and XML Editors

Author(s):
Bob Glushko
glushko@ischool.berkeley.edu

Course: Information Organization and Retrieval (INFO 202)
Date: 8 September 2010
Title: Assignment 2: Getting Started with XML and XML Editors
This assignment introduces you to XML using the XML Spy or the oXygen XML editors. Its purpose is to get you familiar with one of the two editors and understand how an XML instance, schema, and transform fit together.

XML Spy

XML Spy is an award-winning XML editor and development environment that has been generously provided to the ISchool for use in courses and projects, but it runs only on Windows or on Mac/Linux using a Windows emulator. XML Spy is installed on all of the computers in the computing lab on the 2nd floor of South Hall and in the Master's lounge. You can use XML Spy as the primary tool for creating XML, XML schemas, XML stylesheets and transforms, and so on. You can use XML Spy in the lab or you can download it from http://www.altova.com/download.html and install it on your own computer. You can download either the "enterprise edition" or the "standard edition" - the former has way more functionality than you'll ever need, and the latter is so simple that if you get more into XML you might need more than it provides. You can install a trial version for thirty days. 

oXygen

If you don't use Windows, an alternative is an editor called oXygen XML. It runs within a Java Virtual Machine, so it runs on any platform with a Java Runtime Environment. You can download the trial version from http://www.oXygenxml.com/. As students, you can get a extended trial license for up to one year. The license is going to be sent through the class distribution list.

Assignment Instructions

1. Find XML Spy or oXygen and start it up. If you can't run XML Spy from the Programs menu, go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Altova\XMLSpy2008\XMLSpy.exe in the Explorer.

You will be working with three files: Report.xml, Report.dtd, and Report.xsl.  Just download the zip file attached at the end of this assignment page, or if you have trouble doing so, use the links below.  Make sure to download them into the same directory:

You may not understand the messages your browser displays when you grab each of these files (getting you there is part of why we're doing this assignment). Just "save as" with the appropriate file name.

2. Open an XML instance in the editor. (Report.xml)

3. Open the XML instance in a browser (IE or Mozilla). Why is it rendered this way? ("View > Source" on menu bar).

4. Back in the editor, check the XML instance for "well-formedness" - conformance to the syntax rules for XML (F7 in XML Spy; in oXygen, click the blue-checked document icon in the tool bar).

5. Delete the beginning <Name> tag. Is the instance still well-formed? Change <Para> to <para>. Is the instance well-formed? XML is enforcing more restrictive syntax rules than HTML. Or put another way, XML doesn't allow bad practices that browsers typically forgive with HTML. Undo these changes so that your instance is well-formed again.

6. Specify an XML Document Type Definition for the XML instance by inserting <!DOCTYPE Report SYSTEM "Report.dtd"> directly below the <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> declaration at the top of the file.

7. Validate the XML instance. (F8 in XML Spy; in oXygen, use the red-checked document icon, near the well-formedness icon). Insert a second author element containing your name and email. Is this valid?

8. Insert a <Phone> tag, your phone number, and </Phone> after your email element. Is this valid?

9. Open the XML DTD in the editor. The syntax is a little strange but has some resemblance to the BNF you probably know from programming languages. Try to figure out how you could have answered the previous two questions by examining the DTD rather than by experimentation.

10. Specify a style transformation for the XML instance by inserting as the third line of the instance <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="Report.xsl"?>

11. Open the XML instance in a browser again (in XML Spy, you can do this by clicking the "Browser" button at the bottom of the editor pane; in oXygen, click the red-triangle-in-a-circle icon to the right of the well-formedness icon). It should be formatted this time.

12. Delete the DTD specification. Does the style transform still work? What does this imply about XML transformation programs?

13. Open the XML transformation file (Report.xsl) in the editor. The third line of the program (where "xsl:template" occurs) matches the element named "Report" in the instance and then passes through as output everything up to the next "xsl:template" tag. Can you see how these 20 lines or so create the HTML "scaffold" for the formatted report?

14. Now that you know your way around XML and an XML editor, you can use them to do some real work. Rename a copy of Report.xml to YourlastnameA2.xml (e.g., GlushkoA2.xml). Change the Author information to your own. In the Body section of the report, change the Section title to "Reflections on Assignment 2" and write a paragraph (100 words or so, don't stress over this) assessing your confidence in being able to use an XML editor to turn in other homework assignments. Please be honest - if you say "I could do this in my sleep" we won't have to worry about you, but if you say "I can barely spell XML" we'll know to look out for you and offer you more help.

15. Make sure that your XML instance is valid (so it has to contain a document type declaration) and that it can be transformed to HTML (so it has to contain a specification to do that).

16. Submit your XML instance through the course website.  To do so, go Create Content >> Assignment Submission (For more, see the How To section).  Make sure to name your Assignment Submission page: "A2: Your Name".  The assignment is due by 9am on Wednesday September 15.

NOTE: The section on Monday September 13 will be about XML, so if you're having trouble with this assignment you can get help then.