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XML and Web Services In The News - 15 November 2006
Provided by OASIS |
Edited by Robin Cover
This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
HEADLINES:
XML Inclusions (XInclude) Version 1.0 (Second Edition)
Jonathan Marsh, David Orchard, Daniel Veillard, W3C Recommendation
W3C's "XML Inclusions (XInclude) Version 1.0 (Second Edition)"
specification has been published as a W3C Recommendation. This document
updates and supersedes the First Edition of XInclude 1.0, published
20-December-2004. XInclude specifies a processing model and syntax for
general purpose inclusion. Many programming languages provide an
inclusion mechanism to facilitate modularity. Markup languages also
often have need of such a mechanism. This specification introduces a
generic mechanism for merging XML documents (as represented by their
information sets) for use by applications that need such a facility.
The syntax leverages existing XML constructs — elements, attributes,
and URI references. Inclusion is accomplished by merging a number of
XML information sets into a single composite infoset. Corresponding
"XML Inclusions (XInclude) Conformance Test Suites" are also available;
they provide overall test coverage of W3C XML Inclusions (XInclude)
Version 1.0 Recommendation functionality, as amended by published
errata. An "XInclude Test Suite" report, developed jointly by W3C and
NIST, provides supporting documentation for all of the tests contributed
by members of the W3C XML Core Working Group.
See also: the W3C news item
Apache Project Keeps Pace With Java Changes
Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com
The open-source Java effort Apache Harmony has graduated to a full-
fledged Apache project. Apache Harmony, started last year, is creating
an open-source version of Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE),
software for making Java programs on PCs. About two weeks ago, the
board of the Apache Software Foundation approved a change in status
from incubator to top-level project, Geir Magnusson, who is the chair
of the Harmony Project Management Committee, said Tuesday. On Monday,
Sun Microsystems announced that it has made its Java software, including
its Java SE implementation, available through the open-source General
Public License version 2. In his blog, Magnusson said Harmony will
continue to operate parallel to Sun's own open-source Java initiatives.
"Apache and Sun have different communities, with different licenses,
different conditions for contribution and different governance models,"
he wrote. "(It) doesn't change what we'll be doing. It just means even
more open-source Java choices for users and contributors — and that's
a good thing." Moving from incubator status to the top-level
designation indicates that Apache Harmony has achieved a sufficiently
diverse set of committers, which indicates long-term stability,
according to Apache.
See also: the web site
Microsoft Corporation Announces Interop Vendor Alliance
Staff, Microsoft Announcement
Microsoft has announced the formation of a global, cross-industry group
of software and hardware vendors that will work together to identify
opportunities for enhancing interoperability with Microsoft systems on
behalf of their customers. Founding members of the alliance include
Advanced Micro Devices Inc., (AMD), BEA Systems Inc., Business Objects,
CA, The Carbon Project, Centeris Corp., Citrix Systems Inc., GXS Inc.,
IP Commerce Inc., JNBridge LLC, Kernel Networks, Levi, Ray & Shoup Inc.,
Microsoft, NEC Corp. of America, Network Appliance Inc., Novell Inc.,
Q4bis, Quest Software Inc., Siemens Enterprise Communications, SOFTWARE
AG, SugarCRM Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., Symphony Services Corp.,
Xcalia, and XenSource Inc. The Interop Vendor Alliance community is
designed to support these objectives: (1) Encourage vendor
collaboration to foster interoperability; (2) Enable scenario-based
testing for interoperability; (3) Communicate vendor interoperability
solutions to customers. The alliance members will have opportunities
to work with customers to identify their top interoperability
challenges. Microsoft expects these scenarios to include systems
management, virtualization, identity management, data integration,
storage management, portal integration and interoperability of developer
tools. Microsoft plans to host testing sessions on a per-scenario basis
to validate real-life conditions for customers. Alliance members will
have the ability to post best-practice guides created as a result of
scenario-based testing to the Alliance Web site. Vendors will also have
opportunities to post descriptions, white papers and case studies about
their solutions that provide interoperability with Microsoft systems
on their own page on the Alliance Web site.
See also: http://interopvendoralliance.org/default.aspx
Review: Jabber Inc. Jabber XCP 5.1
Michael Caton, eWEEK
With support for mobile devices and integration with Web conferencing
systems, Jabber's Jabber XCP 5.1 is a good solution for companies
focused on initiating collaboration through IM. Jabber XCP provides a
rich set of tools for managing the system, although the administration
interface can be cumbersome. We liked the flexibility of Jabber's
Jabber XCP and Jabber client. The platform provides gateways to AOL
and SIP/SIMPLE IM servers, and companies that deploy Jabber can extend
the system to mobile platforms such as Windows Mobile- and Symbian
OS-based smart phones. We also appreciated the extremely high degree
of control we had over server configuration, although it does require
a certain degree of sophistication on the part of the administrator.
While the management interface is powerful, it isn't as well-organized
nor as well-documented as we would have liked. Administrators can
forgo the Web-based console entirely and configure the server via the
command line. Overall, Jabber XCP has good tools for remote client
management and for managing users either through Jabber's own
directory, through LDAP or through AD.
See also: the Jabber overview
XQuery and the Power of Learning By Example
Jon Udell, InfoWorld
If you set out to explore XQuery, the XML query language, you'll soon
encounter a collection of examples, or use-cases, that show how XQuery
can query and transform XML data. These scenarios are elaborated in a
W3C document that presents a sample data set — about books, authors,
prices, and reviews — and enumerates a set of queries against that
data. For each query, there's a description ('list names of users who
have placed multiple bids of at least $100 each'), a solution written
in XQuery code, and an expected XML output. XQuery vendors love to
demonstrate that their software can run these standard tests and
produce correct results. Such demonstrations help validate
implementations and serve as tutorials for learning the language. The
use-cases weren't just slapped onto XQuery after the fact. They actually
came first, and they guided the long and difficult process of developing
XQuery. Jonathan Robie was one of the prime movers in the development
of XQuery. When I interviewed him last year, he said that the use-cases
provided invaluable guidance, and that he'd never attempt a project of
similar scope without such guidance. Now let's contrast XQuery with
another XML-based standard of comparable heft, XBRL (Extensible Business
Reporting Language). Even if you're not an accountant, you may know that
XBRL is building momentum. There's growing recognition that financial
reporting based on a mishmash of Word, Excel, PDF, and HTML files won't
suffice. We require more speed and better transparency, and the
consensus is that XBRL can and must meet those needs. But where are
the XBRL use-cases? Nowhere in particular. If the XBRL examples arrive
late, that's better than never. But here's hoping that future projects
will heed Jonathan Robie's advice and write the use-cases first.
See also: XML and Query Languages
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