Welcome to XML & DTDs
This tutorial assumes that you have been introduced to the possibilities of XML and want to learn more about the nuts and bolts of creating an XML document or DTD.
If you're unsure of what exactly XML is, we encourage you to look over the Introduction to XML tutorial.
Objectives:
This tutorial aims to show you how to create both a "well formed" XML document and a DTD that validates the XML.
Explain what "well formed" and valid mean when talking about XML and describe anatomy and structure of XML.
Take you through why you would want to create a DTD, the steps of creating a DTD, and some examples of DTDs currently used.
Note: All the example DTD and XML files used in this tutorial are available in zipped format for download.
Definitions:
When talking about XML, here are some terms that would be helpful:
- XML: eXtensible Markup Language, a standard created by the W3Group for marking up data.
- DTD: Document Type Definition, a set of rules defining relationships within a document; DTDs can be "internal" (within a document) or "external" (links to another document).
- XML Parser: Software that reads XML documents and interprets or "parse" the code according to the XML standard. A parser is needed to perform actions on XML, such as comparing an XML document to a DTD.
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Entire tutorial (with captions)
