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XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. XML is a flexible, open
and powerful way to help you exchange information among diverse
platforms and applications, geographic boundaries and businesses. XML is
widely touted as a key component in the solution to the problem of
information exchange between applications and within BtoB environments.
XML is simple, extensible and, best of all, nonproprietary.
In order for your applications to work with XML content, you need an
XML parser. An XML parser is a set of APIs that assist in the creation,
navigation (retrieval) or modification of XML document content. Ideally,
you want to find an XML parser interface that accommodates your
application language of choice. On iSeries, this might be Java, C++, or
the procedural languages, ILE RPG, ILE COBOL or ILE C.
XSL stands for Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) and allows you to
format and re-organize existing XML documents into another format (e.g.,
XML or HTML).
You can use XSL (in Java or C++) to reformat an XML file to specify
the how the data is to be presented on the web via XSLT stylesheets. You
can also write XSLT stylesheets to reorganize an XML document to remove
or add elements or to simply change it into another XML document. XSLT
stylesheets are written in XML to achieve this.
XML Toolkit for iSeries (5733XT1) and it's follow-on product XML
Toolkit for IBM System i5 (5733XT2) provides this key application
enabling component, XML parsers, to assist you in using XML for general
application or business-to-business (BtoB) solutions. The XML Toolkit
for iSeries provides XML parsers for both C++ and Procedural languages.
In addition, XSL provides the capability to format and re-organize
existing XML documents using either C or C++ languages. These XML
parsers and XSL transformers are based on cross-platform, Apache
open-source code that is compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) XML industry standards. Also included with the XML Toolkit for
iSeries is XML Scripting for IBM System i5, which provides an XML based
build tool; and the IBM Web Services Client for C++, which is used for
building Web Services client applications requiring SOAP/HTTP messaging
in C++ environments. Starting with 5733XT2, the Web Services Client for
C++ will be available through another product.
The XML Toolkit for iSeries V1R1 includes software developed by the
Apache Software
Foundation, of which IBM is a key contributor. This latest offering
of XML Toolkit parsers is consistent with Apache Software Foundation's
Xerces-C 2.6 with fixes and Xalan-C 1.10. In addition, this offering of
the XML Toolkit will also continue to provide previously supported XML
parsers. The Apache code name for XML parsers is Xerces and for the XSL
transformer is Xalan.
Although an XML parser or XSL transformer for Java is not included as
part of the XML Toolkit, XML for Java parsers and XSL for Java
transformers are still available for use on iSeries.
XML Scripting for IBM System i5 version 1.0 includes C++ code that
used Apache Software Foundation's Ant version 1.5.4 written in Java as a
base.
IBM Web Services Client for C++ is based on Apache Software
Foundation's Axis C++ version 1.5.
See Components for information about the various features of the XML
Toolkit for iSeries. |
