Learning XML

P

PCDATA

PCDATA or parsed-character data is an element content type consisting of parsed characters (i.e., entity references) but no elements. Entity references included in this data will be resolved. See also CDATA, parsed-character data.

parsed-character data

Any character data that should be checked by the XML processor for entity references. These references are resolved and their replacement text parsed recursively to replace all entity references. See also PCDATA.

parser

A software program that reads XML, validates it, and passes it on for further processing. If a document is not well-formed (i.e., there's an error in the markup), the parser catches it and reports the problem. See also markup, XML processor.

physical structure

The physical organization of data in a file, as opposed to its document or logical structure. An object-oriented database, for example, is a physical structure that doesn't align with its logical structure. See also document, logical structure.

presentation

The appearance of a document that has been formatted for human consumption. See also stylesheet.

processing instruction

A markup object that conveys information to a specific XML processor. It has the form:

<?name
						data?>

where name is a keyword to alert a particular processor, and data is a text string containing the special information. Any processor that doesn't recognize the processing instruction ignores it.

properties declaration

The part of a stylesheet rule that sets the formatting ...