Tony Patton

Over the past few years Lotus has transformed its Lotus Notes product line from a proprietary groupware package to a powerful Web development platform. The company has enthusiastically embraced both existing and emerging Internet standards. XML and XSLT are no exception. Both Domino and XML have similar frameworks; they clearly separate data and presentation. XML is a universal language for describing data. Other technologies such as XSLT can be used to make the data presentable. On the other hand, Domino uses forms to accept and display data, but stores its data separately. In addition, Domino offers a number of connectivity options to popular relational database management systems - a standard feature. Let's take the comparison a step further. Both Domino and XML use a document as the essential element in their architectures. Domino uses fields on forms while XML ... (more)

XML Servers: An Overview

XML has evolved into the standard data interchange format for the next generation of business-to-business communications. These communications may involve sales orders, purchase orders, reports, forecasts, and so forth. The hype and promise associated with XML continues to swell, and thankfully XML-based products have materialized. While organizations are grasping XML, a common platform is necessary to maintain the momentum. This is where XML servers enter the picture. XML Documents XML documents fall into two categories: data-centric and document-centric. XML is used as the data... (more)

XML Schemas In Action

XML Schemas have truly entered the picture with the Internet standards organization, W3C, advancing it to Candidate Recommendation status in late October 2000. You may ask, Who cares? Well, developers with any interest in XML. This means XML Schemas are here to stay, so start learning the ins and outs of them. A great aspect of the XML Schema specification is the syntax. It utilizes standard XML, so all XML knowledge is transferable. The days of learning the grimy details of document type definitions (DTDs) are ending. The major drawback of a DTD is its arcane syntax, which is d... (more)