XML Unleashed

Chapter 12. XML Processing Basics

In This Chapter

• Processing an XML Document

• Why Parse XML?

• Why Validate an XML Document?

• Inside an XML Parser

• Comparing the Two Approaches to Parsing XML

• Parsers as Objects

A document is entitled to be called an XML document only if it adheres to the rules laid down in the XML specification. The authors of this XML spec made conformance a very high priority because they did not want the problems that had afflicted HTML to also afflict XML.

Part of the problem with HTML is that many documents are called HTML documents when they are nothing of the sort. A true HTML document will adhere to the rules laid down in one of the HTML DTDs. However, a de facto breed of HTML document has arisen, the only requirement being that ...