XML Basics (part 1) - Anyone For Chicken?
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Let's look at another example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<recipe>

	<name>Chicken Tikka</name>
	<author>Anonymous</author>
	<date>1 
June 1999</date>

	<ingredients>

  <item>
  	<desc>Boneless chicken 
breasts</desc>
  	<quantity>2</quantity>
  </item>

  <item>
  	<desc>Chopped 
onions</desc>
  	<quantity>2</quantity>
  </item>

  <item>
  	<desc>Ginger</desc>
  	<quantity>1 
tsp</quantity>
  </item>

  <item>
  	<desc>Garlic</desc>
  	<quantity>1 
tsp</quantity>
  </item>

  <item>
  	<desc>Red chili powder</desc>
  	<quantity>1 
tsp</quantity>
  </item>

  <item>
  	<desc>Coriander seeds</desc>
  	<quantity>1 
tsp</quantity>
  </item>

  <item>
  	<desc>Lime juice</desc>
  	<quantity>2 
tbsp</quantity>
  </item>

  <item>
  	<desc>Butter</desc>
  	<quantity>1 
tbsp</quantity>
  </item>
	</ingredients>

	<servings>
	3
	</servings>

	<process>
  <step>Cut 
chicken into cubes, wash and apply lime juice and salt</step>
  <step>Add 
ginger, garlic, chili, coriander and lime juice in a separate
bowl</step>
  <step>Mix 
well, and add chicken to marinate for 3-4 hours</step>
  <step>Place chicken 
pieces on skewers and barbeque</step>
  <step>Remove, apply butter, and 
barbeque again until meat is tender</step>
  <step>Garnish with lemon and 
chopped onions</step>
	</process>

</recipe>

Since each markup tag has a name which describes the data contained within it, it becomes possible to break up an unorganized document into structured, atomic parts. In the example above, the <author> tag identifies the data contained within it to be the name of the recipe author, while the <desc> and <quantity> tags are used to identify ingredients and their respective quantities.

The textual content which appears between the opening and closing tags is referred to as "character data"...or, as the XML specification puts it, "all text that is not markup constitutes the character data of the document." Although this character data may contain alphanumeric characters or symbols, care should be taken to escape special characters like angle brackets and ampersands by replacing them with the corresponding hexadecimal representation or the strings

<

>

&

respectively.

For example, while the following XML markup would generate an error,

to your left < is the yellow brick road

this would be absolutely fine.

to your left < is the yellow brick road

Similarly, while

Barnes & Noble

would produce an error,

Barnes & Noble

would have no trouble at all.

This article copyright Melonfire 2001. All rights reserved.

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