Why a Solution Book?

This book teaches you how to solve common problems in development, how to impress your boss (or your customer if you're a freelancer), and how to use XML in your projects.

Through my experience lecturing and consulting, I know that the main problem for developers trying to leverage XML in their applications is not a lack of information but too much of it! There is an almost endless flow of announcements from standardization bodies and vendors and no shortage of conferences, books, and magazines.

All this information is useful ”it can solve real problems for some people ”but it is not always easy for the developer to decide whether the information applies to him or his problem.

I meet many developers, like you, who have learned the basics of XML (elements, tags, attributes, DTDs, and more) and the most popular XML vocabularies (RSS, WML, SOAP, XSL, and so on). But what these developers are missing is information on how it all works in real projects.

When I started discussing this book with my editor, we worked hard to develop a book that would address your concerns as a developer. We deliberately decided not to try to cover every XML vocabulary or every technology but to concentrate on the few tools every programmer needs to know to succeed in his or her project.

Furthermore, the feedback we received on my tutorial book, XML by Example, convinced us that a practical book ”a book that teaches by using carefully chosen examples and a lot of code ”would be useful. In that respect, Applied XML Solutions grew out of the readers'feedback, out of your feedback.

We selected eight projects that are representative of real applications of XML. The eight projects became nine chapters, with each chapter demonstrating how to build one project with XML (one project required two chapters).

The eight projects we selected are as follows :

• Linking an object data structure with XML. Most applications have an internal data structure that might be close, but is seldom identical, to the XML format. A few simple patterns can help bridge the differences.

• Preparing advanced configuration files. Many applications benefit from a solid configuration file format, and XML is a great solution for this. XML offers enormous flexibility. It also can be used as a true scripting solution.

• Using electronic forms and XML editors. A good XML editor is a powerful addition to any programmer's toolbox because it makes it easy to create an efficient user interface on XML applications.

• Using multi-format publishing. With the advent of mobile phones, PDAs, and other devices, the PC might not remain the dominant platform for Internet browsing. Web sites will need increased flexibility to work with these multiple formats.

• Integrating with legacy format. Even the most fanatic XML developer must recognize that many non-XML formats exist. Few applications leave in isolation, therefore it is crucial to integrate with legacy formats.

• Conducting business-to-business e-commerce. XML profiles itself as the HTML of business-to-business e-commerce. This is an important topic that deserved a project of its own.

• Using XML to organize the work of a team. Web development requires many talents, and organizing them is not always easy. Furthermore, Web sites increasingly need to be multi-lingual . This project addresses these two issues.

• Integrating with an ERP. As organizations strive to streamline their operations, they will increasingly need to place information from their ERPs online. SOAP is an interesting approach in that arena.

As you can see, this is not a list of technologies but of solutions to problems. However, in building these solutions, we will explore many useful technologies, such as SAX2 parsing, patterns, DOM and JavaScript, CSS, XSLT, non-XML formatters, non-XML parsers, XSLT extensions, automatic posting, servlets, SOAP, and more.