Development of an XML application

XML technology is fastest growing technology for online applications. It’s widely adopted by the all leading technology companies including Microsoft, IBM etc., for the software development as well as Online Application development.

XML helps developers in creating web pages, online application, intranet application but its usefulness goes well beyond that. XML, in combination with other standards, makes it possible to define the content of a document separately from its formatting, making it easy to reuse that content in other applications or for other presentation environments. Most importantly, XML provides a basic syntax that can be used to share information between different kinds of computers, different applications, and different organizations without needing to pass through many layers of conversion

• XML can be used to describe and identify information accurately and unambiguously, in a way that computers can be programmed to ‘understand’ your information.
• XML allows documents which are all the same type to be created and handled consistently and without structural errors, because it provides a standardised way of describing, controlling, or allowing/disallowing particular types of document structure.
• XML provides a robust and durable format for information storage and transmission. Robust because it is based on a proven standard, and can thus be tested and verified; durable (persistent) because it uses plain-text file formats which will outlast proprietary binary ones.
• XML provides a common syntax for messaging systems for the exchange of information between applications. Previously, each messaging system had its own format and all were different, which made inter-system messaging unnecessarily messy, complex, and expensive. If everyone uses the same syntax it makes writing these systems much faster and more reliable.
• XML information can be manipulated programmatically, so XML documents can be pieced together from disparate sources, or taken apart and re-used in different ways. They can be converted into any other format with no loss of information.

• XML lets you separate form (appearance) from content. Your XML file contains your document information (text, data) and identifies its structure: your formatting and other processing needs are identified separately in a style sheet or processing system. The two are combined at output time to apply the required formatting to the text or data identified by its structure (location, position, rank, order, or whatever).

XML can be used in different area and purposes

• Data transfer
• Data distribution
• Publication of data
• data synchronization offline/online
• Enable independent platform for electronic publishing
• XML provides platform-independent protocol for the sharing of data, especially the data of electronic commerce
• Deliver information to user agents in a form that allows automatic processing after receipt
• Make it easier to develop software to handle specialized information distributed over the Web
• XML is easy for people to process data using inexpensive software