Before you start

In this section, you'll find out what to expect from this tutorial and how to get the most out of it.

About this series

This series of five tutorials helps you prepare to take the IBM certification Test 142, XML and Related Technologies, to attain the IBM Certified Solution Developer - XML and Related Technologies certification. This certification identifies an intermediate-level developer who designs and implements applications that make use of XML and related technologies such as XML Schema, Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT), and XPath. This developer has a strong understanding of XML fundamentals; has knowledge of XML concepts and related technologies; understands how data relates to XML, in particular with issues associated with information modeling, XML processing, XML rendering, and Web services; has a thorough knowledge of core XML-related World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendations; and is familiar with well-known, best practices.

Anyone working in software development for the last few years is aware that XML provides cross-platform capabilities for data, just as the Java® programming language does for application logic. This series of tutorials is for anyone who wants to go beyond the basics of using XML technologies.

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About this tutorial

This tutorial is the third in the "XML and Related Technologies certification prep" series that takes you through the key aspects of effectively using XML technologies on Java projects. This third tutorial focuses on XML processing -- that is, how to parse and validate XML documents. It lays the groundwork for Part 4, which focuses on transformation, including the use of XSLT, XPath, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

This tutorial is written for Java programmers who have a basic understanding of XML and whose skills and experience are at a beginning to intermediate level. You should have a general familiarity with defining, validating, and reading XML documents, as well as a working knowledge of the Java language.

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Objectives

After completing this tutorial, you will know how to:

• Parse XML documents using the Simple API for XML 2 (SAX2) and Document Object Model 2 (DOM2) parsers
• Validate XML documents against Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and XML Schemas
• Access XML content from databases using XQuery

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Prerequisites

This tutorial is written for developers who have a background in programming and scripting and who have an understanding of basic computer-science models and data structures. You should be familiar with the following XML-related, computer-science concepts: tree traversal, recursion, and reuse of data. You should be familiar with Internet standards and concepts, such as Web browser, client-server, documenting, formatting, e-commerce, and Web applications. Experience designing and implementing Java-based computer applications and working with relational databases is also recommended.

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System requirements

To run the examples in this tutorial, you need a Linux® or Microsoft® Windows® box with at least 50MB of free disk space and administrative access to install software. The tutorial uses, but does not require, the following software:

• Java software development kit (JDK) 1.4.2 or later
• Eclipse 3.1 or later
• XMLBuddy 2.0 or later (Note: Some portions of the series use capabilities of XMLBuddy Pro, which is not free.)

See Resources for links to download the above software

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Table of contents

• Before you start
• Parsing XML documents
• Validating XML documents
• Using XQuery
• Conclusion
• Download
• Resources
• About the author

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