Essential XML Quick Reference
A Programmer's Reference to XML, XPath, XSLT, XML Schema, SOAP, and More

Book Description

This book is for anyone working with today's mainstream XML technologies. It was specifically designed to serve as a handy but thorough quick reference that answers the most common XML-related technical questions.It goes beyond the traditional pocket reference design by providing complete coverage of each topic along with plenty of meaningful examples. Each chapter provides a brief introduction, which is followed by the detailed reference information. This approach assumes the reader has a basic understanding of the given topic.The detailed outline (at the beginning), index (in the back), bleeding tabs (along the side), and the page headers/footers were designed to help readers quickly find answers to their questions.

Electronic Version

New! The entire book is now available online in a searchable electronic format (PDF). We hope you find it useful. Enjoy!

Table of Contents
  1. XML 1.0 and Namespaces
  2. Document Type Definitions
  3. XPath 1.0
  4. XPointer, XInclude, XML Base
  5. XSL Transformations 1.0
  6. SAX 2.0
  7. DOM Level 2
  8. XML Schema Datatypes
  9. XML Schema Structures
  10. SOAP 1.1

Notable Quotes

"A handy, comprehensive reference guide to all the latest XML and Web services technologies. Skonnard and Gudgin give you all the details in one place."
  --Noah Mendelsohn, Distinguished Engineer, IBM and Lotus Development Corporation, and coeditor of W3C XML Schema Recommendation

"If you are building XML-aware applications, attach this book to your utility belt. You'll need it."
  --Mark Fussell, Program Manager for the XML Framework in .NET, Microsoft

"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 developer's desk!"
  --Alexander Falk, President and CEO of Altova, Inc., The XML Spy Company

"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

"Finally, a complete and thorough reference book covering all of the most important XML technologies, including the latest addition (XML Schema), in one concise and consistent presentation. I will definitely have this book close at hand."
  --Chris Lovett, Product Unit Manager, B2B Web Services, Microsoft

"Essential XML Quick Reference is one of the few printed references I would actually buy."
  --Don Box, Series Editor, The DevelopMentor Series

Where to buy

You can buy Essential XML Quick Reference from Amazon. Check out the other new works in the Developmentor Series from Addison Wesley.

Additional Samples/Resources

See the authors' personal sites for additional samples and resources (linked from the authors' names above).

Questions and Comments

See the errata section below before sending questions/comments concerning errata. Send all other inquiries to aarons@develop.com.

Errata

The errata for Essential XML Quick Reference is listed below. If you find any additional errors not documented here, please send mail to aarons@develop.com.

Page Description Submitted By
9 Second XML fragment: there should be a space between 'xmlns:' and 'pre' Mark Szolkowski
48 The third XPath example in section 3.3.1 should read 'Identifies the child item elements that have either a sku child element with a value less than 100 or a price child element with a value greater than 50.' Joe Chung
130 First code sample, 'indents' should be 'indent' Adrian Matthews
142 The table entry for extension-element-prefixes should read "...element bearing the attribute...' instead of '...element bearing the element...". Martin Gudgin
184 The comments in the Java code fragment are delimited with the VB ' instead of Java's // or /* */ Mark Szolkowski
206 The first sentence of the second description should read: "Returns a read-only collection containing notations declared in the internal or external subset of the DTD." Martin Gudgin
268, 278 'derived from number' should be 'derived from decimal' Simon Horrell
339 base='string' should be base='xs:string' Martin Gudgin
340 Sample at top of page contains an xs:complexContent end tag when it should really be an xs:simpleContent end tag Kim Shearer
348 First paragraph of 9.2.26 should read: 'The simpleContent element appears as a child of the complexType element and indicates that the content model of the new type contains only character data and no elements.' Gregor Kovač
373 Code example, the next element with xsi:nil='1' should be nested within the innermost next element within the soap:Body element Joe Chung

Last updated on 2/19/2003 by Aaron Skonnard