By Jennifer Kyrnin
One of the most common questions about using XML is "What browser can I use to
read my XML pages?" This question presupposes a number of things:
- XML documents are meant to be like Web pages, and viewed in a browser
- There are "browsers" or other tools that are meant to be used with XML
- XML creates "pages" similar to HTML
XML Documents Like Web Pages
This belief comes from the education of many XML developers. When you learn XML
after having learned HTML, it is easy to assume that the way that XML would be
viewed would be in a Web browser, on the Web. While it can be viewed on the Web
using certain Web browsers, XML is not required to be viewed on the Web, or
even across the Internet. In fact, you could build an XML application that
includes a parser that has nothing to do with the Web, such as if you are
accessing a database with an XML application.
XML "Browsers"
Actually, XML browsers are called parsers because they are parsing the XML
information into data and markup so that the computer can assign meaning to the
information. When you create a well-formed XML
document, you are writing a document that can be read by an XML parser.
XML "Pages"
This is another impression that comes from the World Wide Web. XML does not
necessarily create pages, but rather documents. XML applications then use a
parser to process the XML document. They may display these documents as a Web
page, or put them in some other form.
XML Parsers
-
Internet Explorer 5 XML Parser
Internet Explorer 4 was the first Web browser to include a parser, and IE5
includes a good XML parser.
- Expat
Expat is an XML 1.0 parser that is free for private and commercial use.
- Lark
Lark is a non-validating XML parser written in Java.
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