SAX—The Simple API for XML

SAX is one of very few XML-related standards mentioned in this chapter that did not originate from a committee in the W3C. SAX arose as the result of discussions on the XML-DEV mailing list.

David Megginson was instrumental in the creation of SAX, and his Web site at http://www.megginson.com is where the SAX standard, now at version 2.0, is maintained.

How does SAX work? When an XML parser works through an XML document, SAX associates an event with each tag (opening or closing) or block of text that it meets. Notification of that event can be passed to your application. Your application can then appropriately handle each event in accordance with the purpose of your application. In other words, you can write event handlers ...

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