In Part 1 of this article (XML-J, Volume 4, issue 7) we outlined why a
development group might consider alternative validation schemes. An example
from our experience is applying work group rules to the process of XSD
design. We said rules could take the form of a Schematron schema that would
be applied when a developer validates an XSD against the schema for XSD. In
our past work, a need existed for a productive way to put the alternative
into play without losing familiar tools or disrupting current development
patterns. For that reason we developed a simple multipass validation
framework using XMLSPY's Scripting Environment. In this installment, we walk
you through the scripting that remains to be set up and then look at how our
framework can be a productive tool for your real-world use.
Finishing the Global Functions
At this point your "(GlobalDeclarations)" shoul... (more)
This morning I find myself pondering one of the more subtle coincidences of
my daily life: this month my company, Altova, launched not only a formal
standards-based XML certification exam, but also new training classes for our
first systems integration-oriented tool, MAPFORCE. Beyond the blatant plug
for my team's work, why is the proximity of these two very different
educational efforts interesting? Well, on one hand the new XMLSPY
Certification is mainly about the nitty-gritty details of the core XML
standards and less about Altova's tools or the sexier new XML dialects like
... (more)
If it is important that your XML documents are correct, catching mistakes
early is, of course, much less costly than catching them later. This should
not be news to any XML developer.
But "correct" often means more than just a simple validity test at the end of
the development process. Today, no one schema language covers all the bases.
Different languages offer different possible measures of correctness. In
combination, multiple schemas may provide the rich structure an application
or organization needs for success.
The most common of the newer schema languages is W3C XML Schema... (more)
Moving information from a database into an application may be the most common
challenge developers face. How many of us make it through life without
meeting object/relational (O/R) mapping in some form? Certainly not too many.
Lately it has become equally difficult to avoid XML/relational (X/R) mapping.
Because XML, and especially XML Schema (XSD), are object-like paradigms, the
mapping difficulty is approximately the same. However, under the
ever-expanding influence of XML, the extract, transform, load process that
gets data from a database into an application (and vice versa) m... (more)
David Kershaw is the professional services manager at Altova, Inc., the XMLSPY company. David brings 11 years of software engineering, project, and product management to Altova. His previous positions include serving as the Director of Engineering at Classwell Learning Group and the Group Director of Engineering at Organic, Inc. David received his master's degree from Harvard University and his bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts.
Scott Sellers
Anthony Franco
Daniel Morris
Wayne Walls
Niki Acosta
Jereme Hancock
Oren Michels
Marvin Wheeler
Douglas Kim
