Due to the presence of a clear standard, flexibility, extensibility, simplicity, and support for a variety of software tools, libraries and platforms, today XML is one of the most popular formats for presenting, storing and transferring data. As a rule, the user does not need to delve into the structure of XML documents generated and processed by end applications. But sometimes, for various purposes, you need to create an xml document yourself.
Necessary
- - text editor;
- - possibly a browser and internet connection.
Instructions
Step 1
Decide what type of XML document you want to create. Whether it is a well-formed or valid document. The choice of the type of document directly depends on its content and purpose of use. If the document is necessary to store arbitrary data and does not imply further publication or standardization of the structure, you can create a well-formed document. Such documents must adhere to all XML syntax rules. A valid XML document must be well-formed and, in addition, adhere to the rules defined by a specific Document Type Definition (DTD) schema. Therefore, if you need to clearly capture the structure and possible relationships between elements, you should create a valid (valid) XML document.
Step 2
Find or design a Document Type Definition (DTD). For common tasks, you can use one of the existing XML applications whose specifications are published on the W3C site at w3.org, or on third-party sites. So, it is convenient to describe mathematical formulas in the MathML format, vector drawings in SVG, and e-books in FictionBook. The advantage of this approach is that documents that already meet the approved specifications can be processed by existing software. If you decide to develop your own DTD, consult the W3C regulatory documents. If the document you are creating will not conform to any DTD, consider and document its rough structure for future reference.
Step 3
Select the encoding for the XML document. Various encodings can be used in XML. However, when choosing, it is worth considering the capabilities of the text editor used, as well as the requirements for the character set of the document data. Due to ASCII compatibility, variable character length, and full support for the entire UNICODE set, it makes sense to use UTF-8 in most cases.
Step 4
Create an XML document. Start a text editor. Open a new document window. On the first line, enter an XML declaration of the form:
where the value of the version attribute is the version of the language specification to be applied, and the value of the encoding attribute indicates the encoding of the document. If using a document type definition, enter the DTD text or resource link with a valid DTD. Next, create the document data structure starting at the root element. Save the document to a file on your hard drive.
Step 5
Check the correctness of the generated XML document. If the document is in one of the common formats, there may be a validator program for it. Check out the list of document verification tools at https://www.w3.org/QA/Tools/. Check it out.
