16.1. What is XML

XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. It is similar to HTML, but unlike HTML, which uses tags to display data, XML uses tags to describe data. In HTML, all the tags are predefined, such as <HTML>,<HEAD> and <TABLE>. XML allows you to define your own tags and your own document structure. Here is a simple example:

Example 16-1. A phonebook entry in XML
<phonebook>
<contact>
<lastname>Doe</lastname>
<firstname>John</firstname>
<address>1 Medical Street, Boston, MA, 02110</address>
<telephone>1-555-123-4567</telephone>
</contact>
</phonebook>

There are some important differences between HTML and XML. These differences are listed in Table 16-1. For XML, these are also known as rules.

Table 16-1. Major differences between ...

Get Domino Designer 6: A Developer’s Handbook now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial