Beginning XML with DOM and Ajax: From Novice to Professional...

The introduction on XML is succint and concise.

— Phu Ly, If ..Else

Dont waste time on 1,000-page tomes full of syntax; this book is all you need to get ahead in XML development. Renowned web developer Sas Jacobs presents an essential guide to XML. Beginning XML with DOM and Ajax is practical and comprehensive. It includes everything you need to know to get up to speed with XML development quickly and painlessly.

Jacobs begins by presenting an overview of XMLits syntax, rules, vocabularies, and the hows and whys of validity. She also covers the current state of XML support in todays web browsers. Next, Jacobs covers all of the basic essential uses of XML. Youll learn how to display XML data using CSS, and transform XML data using XSLT. Youll even learn about dynamic XML scripting using the XML DOM.

The last part of the book covers advanced server-side XML uses in real-world applications, including displaying XML data in Flash, and XML-driven PHP and ASP.NET applications. And last but not least, Jacobs provides a perfect introduction to Ajax development.

About The Author
Sas is a Web developer who loves working with Flash. She set up her business Anything Is Possible in 1994, working in the areas of web development, IT training and technical writing. The business works with large and small clients building web applications with ASP.NET, Flash, XML and databases.
Sas has also spoken at conferences such as Flash Forward, MXDU and FlashKit on topics relating to XML and dynamic content in Flash. In her spare time, Sas is passionate about travelling, photography and enjoying life. One of her most fervent wishes is that Flash will take over the Web!

Reader Reviews
The book is an excellent introduction into XML, what in today's world of distributed, multi-platform applications development, is an unavoidable and critical technology. An essential amount of foundation is provided on the basics of XML and XHTML (DTDs schema, structuring rules, web vocabularies, etc.), it also delves into CSS, DOM scripting, remoting via XMLHTTP for AJAX interfaces, server-side XML in ASP.NET 2.0 and PHP, and using XML in Flash applications. Each chapter has a good amount of web-based resources to check out. Even experienced developers will find something useful in this book. Author Sas Jacobs features a great discussion about using some of the lesser-known niche features of CSS with XML, and provides healthy, practical examples you can replicate or download and instantly implement in your own web projects. My favorite chapter, and the one I've broke the spine on for my own copy, is Chapter 7 - "Advanced Client-Side XSLT Techniques". There you'll find the necessary information for building sophisticated (if not universally supported by all browsers) web UIs through integrated transformations. This includes demonstrating how to use extension functions/objects, generating JavaScript through XSLT, and dynamic client-side sorting. Most of these are MSIE-dependent, but the chapter also takes into consideration proper testing for graceful degradation in Firefox, Mozilla, Safari, etc. For similar reasons, I likewise got a lot out of the "DOM Scripting" discussion. In criticism, I would have liked the chapter on XSLT - in my opinion the section most people reading this book will need the most - to be longer. It's rather rudimentary even and doesn't cover some of the more time-saving features of XSLT. Also, I found the "Web Vocabularies" to be extraneous; interesting but not warranting an entire chapter in today's WWW. The book would also benefit from an appendix of the resources mentioned for various tools, URLs and technologies available to speed XML-related development. But beyond these minor concerns, which I'm sure will be modified in forthcoming revised versions, the book remains a must-have resource for introductory programming, and a useful tool for more intermediate developers. Comment | | (Report this)