![]() The particular XML Files column just mentioned has lots of good information for someone who is starting out with XML. You can see the XPath statement is actually a path to a node in the hierarchy, so it's pretty simple, but obviously it's powerful because it provides you with access to a very specific place in the tree, or in the document. descendant::contact /child::numbers/child::* While this could be accomplished using SAX or DOM manual processing, this type of query can be described with a simple XPath expression: Suppose it was necessary to locate Smith's phone numbers contained within the document. In the XML Files column in the May 2000 issue of MSDN® Magazine, Aaron Skonnard describes XPath this way: ![]() Because XML describes the hierarchical structure of a document or set of data, an XPath statement simply points to where in the tree particular information can be found. For example, what is XPath? Is it some strange new language we have to learn to use XML?Ī Actually, XPath turns out to be very simple, yet very powerful. Q I'm new to XML so there are a few things I don't understand. The important consideration is that you have an XML editor that you can use to view the output from your applications.XPath, XML Notepad, Data Islands, Case Sensitivity, XSL, and More £ Siirnpl]:Daliv>nil XJifl Nnti'('n:l £ ¡fc-'Xįigure 13.8: Creating an XML database using XML Notepad is relatively easy as long as you follow a few rules.Īs you can see, XML Notepad doesn't have some of the bells and whistles of high-end products such as XML Spy ( ), but it's a good alternative if you only use an XML editor occasionally and don't want to spend a lot of money. Figure 13.8 shows the structure and contents of the SampleData.XML file. Each copy will become one record within the XML database. Now that you have one complete record, you can use the Duplicate command to create copies of it. Finally, type values for each of the child elements. Add additional columns as needed until you complete one record's worth of entries. Type the name of the first data column in this element. You'll notice that the first element changes into a folder. Add a new child element using the options on the Insert menu. ![]() Rename the first element to reflect the new table. Type the name of the dataset in the Root object. ![]() Create a blank project using the File ^ New command. Igure 13.7: The names of the elements are important when working with exported data in XML format.Ĭreating new data for testing purposes is relatively painless once you see the exported data from an existing database. The right pane shows the data contained within each one of the child elements.īap /I'-^m.Iti jV^H ¿M".'-¡1« Cobtfn. Likewise, each of the child elements matches the name of one of the fields within the table. Notice that the name of the elements matches the name of the table for the movie database. All you need is a filename (and path) or a URL to get started.įigure 13.7 shows the output of the sample XML application. Use the File ^ Open command to display an Open dialog that allows you to open XML files from a local drive or from a website. When you start XML Notepad, you'll see a blank project. (Microsoft hasn't bothered to update the date for this site, but be assured that XML Notepad runs fine under both Windows 2000 and Windows XP.) This utility is free for the price of a download and does a reasonable job of reading most XML files. Microsoft has remedied this problem a little with the introduction of XML Notepad ( The only problem is that some of these tools cost quite a bit for the occasional user. That's why you should have a tool for reading XML in your developer toolkit. Reading simple files is almost trivial, but once the data gets nested a few layers deep, reading it can become tiresome. XML is almost, but not quite, readable by the average human.
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