Automate XML file updates, Part 1: XML process introduction and conversion stylesheet creation

Level: Intermediate

Tom Coppedge (tcoppedg@us.ibm.com), developerWorks Software Engineer, IBM　

17 Aug 2006

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This is the first part of a tutorial series that describes a method for automating updates to a library of XML files so that they all conform to an updated XML schema. In Part 1, you learn the steps in the entire process and then create an XSLT stylesheet to update the XML files. In Part 2, you learn how to install, configure, and run Apache Ant and Java SE to iteratively transform each of your XML files based on the updates specified in your XSLT stylesheet.

In this tutorial

This is the first part of a tutorial series that describes a method for automating updates to a library of XML files so that they all conform to an updated XML schema. Here, in Part 1, you learn the steps in the entire process and then create an XSLT stylesheet to update the XML files.

Prerequisites

To get the most from this tutorial, you should be able to create XML schemas (or document type definitions, also known as DTDs) and XSLT stylesheets.

System requirements

You will need JavaScript enabled in your browser.

To process the sample code supplied with this tutorial, install the following software on your computer:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 or later.
• A Web browser.
• A validating XML editor for editing XML schemas, XML instance documents, and XSLT stylesheets.
• The Apache Software Foundation's Ant software.
• J2SE™ or J2EE™ (Runtime Environment or Development Kit) 1.2 or higher is required by Ant. Version 1.4 is recommended because it comes with an XSL transformer; therefore, you won't have to download and install Xalan-Java separately, for example. Note: Ant does not support the Microsoft JVM/JDK.

Duration

1 hour

Formats

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