Online XML

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Other Opportunities

Since XML data is so much more accessible than data stored in proprietary formats, entirely new application functions are possible. For example:

• XML data repositories. Information publishers can produce information in XML format. XML documents can be stored for later access by a variety of applications, not just by the applications that generated the information. Ideally, traditional reports will no longer exist, but will be replaced by XML documents. These documents will be presented to (and manipulated by) end users with XML-capable viewers. These viewers will provide many more analytical capabilities than are available with simple text searching of an ASCII file.

• Information transfers that have not been cost effective until now. Custom-built or EDI-based information transfer systems have traditionally been used for high-value or high-volume requirements. Other information transfers have not been addressed, although organizations would clearly benefit from the ability to transfer information between a wide variety of business partners.

  A classic example of information transfer is catalog content management. Buyers would like access to the most current catalog information, but the cost and complexity of accepting and processing catalog information from a variety of suppliers is generally too high. XML-based catalogs are a mechanism by which a supplier can publish a catalog, confident that buyers will be able to process it.

• Intelligent searching. XML-based searching guarantees better results. Not only can content be searched (as is the case today), but content can be cross-checked with meaning (structure). An XML search for 'mark price' will not return lists of preprinted pricing labels when what you want is information about Mark Price, the basketball player. Not only can data and meaning be searched together, it is possible to search based on meaning only. An XML-enabled Web site can effectively publish which documents (or Web pages) contain information about certain data types.

• Intelligent agents. Applications can be built that will browse an environment (the Internet, your local systems, or perhaps just the hard drive on your PC) and detect items of interest. If you are interested in eventually buying at auction a 500-MHz PC when the price drops below $500, an agent can scan an auction site's XML-based auction status catalog for this information and create an e-mail for you when a system meets your target price.

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