developers whose applications accept XML documents must understand how
best to extract information from these XML documents and use that information in
their business processing. They must also know how to assemble XML documents
from the results of the business processing.
This chapter provides an extensive coverage of XML document handling. To
make it more manageable, you may want to concentrate on the sections of particular
interest to you. These sections are as follows:
• “XML Overview” on page 172—Provides an overview of basic XML concepts.
If you are not familiar with XML, this section provides a concise summary
of key XML concepts and technologies. Even if you do know XML well,
you may want to skim this part since it highlights issues important for designing
XML-based applications.
• “Outline for Handling XML Documents” on page 178—Describes how applications
typically handle XML documents.
• “Designing XML-Based Applications” on page 181—Covers such design topics
as receiving and sending XML documents, validating XML documents,
mapping XML documents to data objects, processing documents or objects,
and keeping business processing logic separate from XML processing logic.
This discussion also includes recommendations that help determine how to
best design an XML-based application. Architects and application designers
should find this section of particular interest.
