RE: [docbook-apps] What is Xml ?

["Kerry, Richard" <richard.kerry@atos.net>]

Stefan,

Thanks for that, but I know most of it already.

The issue is that if I'm to get the supplier to change their software or docs I'll need to be able refer to an authoritative source.


Appreciatlvely,
Richard.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stefan Hinz [mailto:stefan.hinz@oracle.com] 
> Sent: 30 July 2012 13:45
> To: docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: Re: [docbook-apps] What is Xml ?
> 
> 
> Hi Richard,
>  
>  > Please can someone direct me to an authoritative 
> explanation of what
> > constitutes a valid XML file ?
> 
> Let me try with expert knowledge freshly gained from Wikipedia 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML#Well-formedness_and_error-handling).
> 
> For your below document, this means:
> 
> * The <?xml?> prolog is optional.
> * There's no single "root" element that contains all the 
> other elements. 
> Therefore, the XML isn't well-formed, and thus not valid.
> 
> HTH.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Stefan
> 
> > I've been provided with some "XML" files which are a bit like this :
> > <?xml?>
> > <category id="information">
> >   <section id="general">
> >    <element id="fileinfo" />
> >   </section>
> > </category>
> > <category id="device">
> >   <section id="Status">
> >    <element id="1" />
> >    <element id="2" />
> >   </section>
> > </category>
> > They are described as "XML", together with a note that "... 
> file can be
> > created using any XML editor providing the format and tags 
> required are
> > used", though I get various errors from emacs+nxml-mode, 
> XmlMind and Serna.
> > I think that they are not well-formed, on account of having 
> two "root
> > nodes".
> > I'm also a bit surprised by the lack of the usual version, 
> encoding and
> > standalone attributes in the xml PI, though I suspect they 
> are actually
> > optional.
> > And I've just found that it starts with (hex) ef bb bf, 
> before the "<?"
> > - is that a byte-order mark ?  Or just another non-standardness ?
> > I will need to pass this back to the originators so that 
> they can either :
> > 1.  Change their software to produce/use real XML.
> > or:
> > 2.  Change their documentation to refer to "XML-like" or similar.
> > In the meantime I'll need to do some sort of processing to 
> get it into a
> > form that I can process.
> > Appreciatively,
> > Richard.
> > Blue line
> >
> > *Richard Kerry*
> >
> > BNCS Engineer
> >
> > T: +44 (0)20 82259063
> >
> > M: +44 (0)7812 325518
> >
> > Room EBX 301, BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London, W12 7RJ
> >
> > richard.kerry@atos.net <mailto:richard.kerry@atos.net>
> >
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> >
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> 
> -- 
> Cheers,
> 
> Stefan Hinz <stefan.hinz@oracle.com>, MySQL Documentation Manager
> 
> Phone: +49-30-82702940, Fax: +49-30-82702941, http://dev.mysql.com/doc
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