A Technology Penetrates the Entire IT Jeremias Märki

Comparting, Sept. 2010

<XML/>A Technology Penetrates the Entire IT

Jeremias Märki <[email protected]>

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.jeremias-maerki.ch/

<XML/> - a Technology Penetrates the Entire IT Comparting, Sept. 2010

About me

• Independant Software Developer & Consultantfrom Lucerne (Switzerland)

• Main focus on document production and -handling

• Strong focus on Open Source Softwareand open standards

• Member of the Apache Software Foundation

• Contributor to Apache FOP (an XSL-FO formatter)and other Open Source projects

Website & Blog: http://www.jeremias-maerki.ch/

http://www.jeremias-maerki.ch/


Beware! Many, many acronyms!


XML is everywhere in the IT world

• What is XML?

• Where do I find XML?

• The hype is past. Is XML here to stay?

• Why should I bother myself with XML?


You're using XML every day!

• Your news arrive by means of an RSS feed.

• You log into your e-mail account (via SAML).

• Many websites have switched from HTML to XHTML.

• Your PowerPoint presentation is really an XML file.

• You download your sailing trip from your GPS and look at it inGoogle Earth.

Often, you'll not even realize you're using XML!


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><business-card> <name>Pepé Le Pew</name> <function>Expert d'Amour</function> <address1>13 Pleasantstreet</address1> <address2>Acme Acres</address2> <phone>+1 (23) 456-7890</phone> <mail>[email protected]</mail></business-card>

What is XML?

• An acronym for eXtensible Markup Language

• An established standard

• Essentially a text file, a markup language

• Strongly hierarchical (tree structure)

• versatile

• Easy to generateand to process

• Extensible

• Schema Validation


Once upon a time...

• GML ⇒ SGML ⇒ XML

• GML: IBM's General Markup Language (1960ies)

• SGML: Standard Generalized Markup Language (1986, ISO 8879)

• XML: eXtensible Markup Language (1998, by W3C)

• XML as subset of SGML

• XML replaces SGML more and more


Standardization Bodies


XML's Competitors

• Line data

• CSV (comma separated data/values)

• Fixed record formats

• EDIFACT (ISO 9735)

• JSON and derivates (JavaScript Object Notation)

• Proprietary Formats (collective name)


The Competitors' Problems

• A special parser and generator for each format

• Encoding problems (Umlauts etc.)

• Unintelligible documentation

• Non-uniform value formats

• No validation facilities

• Restricted ability for data transformation

• Restricted or missing extensibility

• Not always human-readable without tools

• ...and as a consequence: more expense


Downsides of XML

• Files can get big

• Compression helps out

• ex. ZIP container for ODF, OOXML etc.

• Not always easily human-readable

• Performance compromise

XML is not always the answer!


The X in XML

• Take a standard format...

• ...and extend it with private data.

• Consumers process only what they understand...

• ...and ignore the rest,

• or simply pass the rest on.



Where is XML in Use?

• Health and Social Security

• Public Administration

• Finance and Insurance

• Information and Communication

• Chemical industry

• Education

• Commerce

• Medicine

• Energy

• etc.

• etc.

So, essentially in practicallyall economic areas!


An Example from Switzerland: MediPort

• Electronic benefit settlement in health services

• Uses XML for electronic communication between involved parties.

• Avoids a media gap and improves processes.

• The patient receives a PDF or a paper document which is produced bythe print shop.

ServiceProvider

HealthInsurance

MediPort Print Shop PatientXML

Payment

Reimbursement Claim

Payment

Electronic Invoice (XML)

Electronic Invoice (XML)

Tiers garant


Format Contracts (Schemas)

• XML Schema, Relax NG etc. for language definition

• Allows for automatic validation.

• Turns generic XML into a concrete language with semantics...

• ...and subsequently defines a contract between two applications.


Security (Cryptography)

• Encryption of XML documents (or parts thereof)

• Electronic signature of XML documents (or parts thereof)

• Authentication

• Makes e-Business possible in the first place

• Standards: XML-Encryption, XML-DSig, SAML


Data Storage


Office Formats

• ODF (Open Document Format)

• OOXML (Office Open XML by Microsoft)

• Mars (Adobe's PDF expressed in XML)

• XPS (XML Paper Specification by Microsoft)

• Desktop Publishing (z.B. InDesign, Scribus etc.)

• Graphical Applications (z.B. SVG with Inkscape or Illustrator)


Example from Technical Documentation

• Content is written in DocBook (XML), for example.

• Multi-channel publishing via an XML workflow with XSLT

BookDocBook XML XSL-FO

ePub(eBook)

PDF

Web(XHTML)

XSLT


Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

BPELEngine

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

Accounting Stock Procurement

Company X Provider Y

SOAP

SOAP

SOAP SOAP

Bank Z

SOAP

WSDL WSDL WSDLWSDL

WSDLMessageTransformation

XSLT

XML

Order


Output Management

Application

InvoiceXML

XSL-FO(+ SVG)

XSLTStylesheet

Spool-File(PS, AFP...)

XSLTProcessor

XSL-FOProcessor

Post-Processing

(z.B. PPML,JDF etc.)

Archive/DMSz.B. CMIS


DirectFactory by Swiss Post


Is XML here to stay?

• YES!

• Why?

• Established

• Accepted

• Versatile

• Survived the Hype.

• New XML languages constantly evolve.


And how does that help me?

With XML you can:


Any Questions?

Jeremias MärkiSoftware-Entwicklung und BeratungLützelmattstrasse 14CH-6006 Luzern

Tel. +41 76 302 49 27E-Mail: [email protected]

Web & Blog: http://www.jeremias-maerki.ch

Most photos in this presentation were published under the Creative Commons License and originate from flickr. My thanks go to Mixy Lorenzo,AndyRob, BrendaStarr, papalars, FlorianSchroiff, crosathorian & JuditK

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.jeremias-maerki.ch

http://www.flickr.com

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A Technology Penetrates the Entire IT Jeremias Märki