XML Technologies

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a standard, simple, self-describing way of encoding both text and data so that content can be processed with relatively little human intervention and exchanged across diverse hardware, operating systems and applications. A tag-based language derived from Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), as is HTML, XML differs from HTML mainly in three aspects:

• XML is extensible - its tags are defined by individuals, organizations or standards bodies to be used for specific applications.
  
  
• XML keeps form and content separate - while HTML tags carry instructions on how the data is to be presented, XML tags usually decribe the data that they contain. An additional stylesheet is used to provide presentation information.
  
  
• Strict enforcement of rules - web browsers tend to be very large, complex applications that are highly tolerant of errors, accepting HTML markup that may not be syntactically correct. In contrast, XML parsers usually rigidly follow syntax rules. XML parsers tend to have a small footprint since they often have to be included in small devices such as cellphones, where memory and processor resources are at a premium.

XML finds application in a wide variety of applications, especially due to its ability to provide descriptions and instructions along with the information being conveyed, and due to its platform independence, which makes it ideal for uses involving inter-application communication, data transmission, storage searching, retrieval and presentation.

Some of the applications of XML include:

• Web Services - XML-based web services provide a standard, comprehensive way for applications to communicate, even though they may be deployed on different devices and platforms.
  
  
• Supply Chain Management - organizations can integrate their procurement systems with their suppliers using a mutually agreed-upon set of rules for data sent in XML.
  
  
• Presenting common content for multiple devices - information, such as news feeds, can be sent in XML, while at the user's device, a stylesheet can be used to convert it into the appropriate format. Thus the same information could be correctly displayed on PCs, cellphones, etc. They could even be displayed in a choice of file types, such as RTF or Adobe PDF.
  
  
• XML databases - for applications working with XML data, native XML databases allow storage and manipulation of XML data in a much more powerful way than relational databases.

At Genie Interactive, we have made considerable use of XML in our projects, innovatively applying the technology to unlock its potential in such applications as portals, content management systems and intranets.

Please write to us for more information.