XML Programming Bible

As a follow-up to the XML 1.1 Bible review, I took a look at the XML Programming Bible by Brian Benz with John Durant (Wiley). For those who want to use XML within their application development (as opposed to just web pages), this is the perfect follow-on book to have.The chapter breakout...Part 1 - Introducing XML - XML Concepts; XML Documents; XML Data Format and Validation; XML Parsing Concepts; Parsing XML with DOM; Parsing XML with SAX; XSLT Concepts; XSL Transformations; XSL Formatting ObjectsPart 2 - Microsoft Office and XML - Microsoft XML Core Services; Working with the MSXML DOM; Generating XML from MS Access Data; Creating an Excel Spreadsheet from an XML Data SourcePart 3 - XML Web Applications Using J2EE - XML Tools for J2EE: IBM, Apache, Sun, and Others; Xerces; Xalan; XML APIs from SunPart 4 - Relational Data and XML - Accessing and Formatting XML from SQL Server Data; Accessing and Formatting XML from Oracle Data; Accessing and Formatting XML from DB2; Building XML-Based Web Applications with JDBC; Transforming Relational XML Output into Other FormatsPart 5 - Introducing Web Services - Web Services Concepts; SOAP; WSDL; UDDI; Microsoft Web Services; J2EE Web ServicesPart 6 - Microsoft .Net and Web Services - Creating and Deploying .Net Web Services; Accessing .Net Web Services; Building a .Net Web Services ClientPart 7 - Web Services and J2EE - Web Service Tools for J2EE: IBM, Apache, Sun, and Others; Web Services with the Sun Java Web Services Developer Pack; Apache Axis; Access Web Services from Java ApplicationsPart 8 - Advanced Web Services - Accessing Relational Data via Web Services; Authentication and Security for Web Services; IndexI think I got finger cramps just typing all that! :-)Seriously, there's really good material here. The assumption is made that you already understand basic XML technology. Benz doesn't spend an inordinate amount of time covering introductory material. Part 1 does do a bit of that, but only enough to establish the basic direction for the rest of the book. There is much more attention paid to XML concepts that come into play for programmers, such as the document object model of XML and how the two types of parsers (DOM and SAX) work. The rest of the book is highly practical, with examples of how to generate or access XML data using a variety of platforms, such as Microsoft Office, .Net, J2EE, Oracle, etc.For me personally, I appreciate the emphasis on code and working examples. I have always learned more by taking something that works, tearing it apart, and using it as the basis for my own efforts. Benz has provided many examples that provide just that opportunity. Being that he doesn't restrict his writing to a single platform (like .Net or J2EE), this is one of few books that have a cross-over appeal to many technology platforms. If you happen to work in a shop that uses both Microsoft and Java technologies, you'll be able to get a single book that will assist you on both sides of the

Brian covers the topic areas complete, with examples and walkthroughs. Anyone who will touch more than 1 or 2 implementations of XML should have this book in their library.

As a graduate student who had "heard of" XML and was given a brief (as in a half of a powerpoint slide) introduction, I found myself in need of a XML reference book for the new job I had taken. My first choice was unavailable at the local Barnes & Noble so I picked up a few book and browsed the pages that were related to what I was going to be doing (updating parser and API code). Not only was able to find what I was looking for in this book, but in the twenty second glance that I gave it I noticed that the physical layout of the book was easy on the eyes. The books pages seemed to be made of the same material most for-pleasure reading books are composed of instead of the college textbook type material. While that may seem trivial to some, what good is a book if the pages within it evoke memories of long, don't-want-to-read-five-more-chapters-but-I-have-to-study-for-test-in-six-hours days? Its still a reference book but every little bit helps. Like the original, this bible uses examples to help illustrate the various topics covered in the book. The examples are to the point and pretty easy to understand, and where necessary, some screen shots are provided to help as well. The book also has a very comprehensive listing of methods, their parameters, details of their usage, and what APIs/languages/libraries support them. The contents are well laid out, most of the time you can simply just start skimming and quickly find what your looking for without even visiting the index.In all honesty, if you have never programmed anything more than a VCR in your life, this book is probably not something that you should start with. However, if you are going to be doing anything XML related then this a very good book to have within arms reach.

Because I do a lot of XML and XSLT my shelves are littered with XML and XSLT books. Although the information I am looking for is somewhere on the shelf, I sometimes have a hard time finding it. The first part of the XML Programming Bible largely fixes this problem. It provides the core information in an easy to find manner. For example, the XML Schema (XSD) elements are alphabetically listed as a group instead of broken out on the basis of there task. It also includes the type of minutiae I occasionally can't avoid - like the long list of the current DOM working drafts. This part of the book hit the right slot for me between a primer and deeper reference texts that sometimes obscure basic information with more details than I want to accomplish a given task. The second and third sections offer an overview of using XML in Office and J2EE respectively. The fourth section is an overview of interacting with relational data. This part is a light reference into technologies like SQLXML but it should be enough to get you started, such as interacting directly with SQL Sever with FOR XML and updategrams. The book ends with four sections on Web Services. The nice thing about the WebServices sections is that it covers a bunch of technologies used on both .NET and Java/Unix platforms. The coverage of individual technologies isn't deep, but it's enough to understand the basic approach and capabilities of each tool. I don't need this type of information often, but nothing previously on my shelf covered this range of technologies.This isn't a book for rank XML beginners. It doesn't spend waste explaining well-known fundamentals or the grisly history of schemas. Nor is it an in depth reference on any of the topics it covers. But it captures the depth I need when I'm trying to remember some specific piece of information, need a quick review, or need to dive into something I haven't done before - like working with XML from Excel.