Handling XML in Perl

Handling XML in Perl - module P668

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is an important tool in structuring data. This training module covers the two major XML engines that are supported by Perl modules, and teaches you how to program using them. We also cover handling XSLT in Perl.

This topic is presented on public course Perl for Larger Projects

Examples from our training material

camels.xml	XML sample for xslt1 demo
camels.xsl	XSLT sample for xlst1.pl demo
exp.pl	Direct use of the Expat module
gnome.pl	Parsing XML through LibXML
goblin.pl	Altering an XML document through LibXML
medireport.pl	Using XML::Parser to extract information - practical example
mediweb.pl	Parsing XML within a cgi script
medline.pm	Class of XML element handlers
stdsubs.pm	Standard cgi handler to collect form data
xml0.pl	Parsing XML - first test program
xml1.pl	Using debug mode to quickly check a document
xml2.pl	Using Subs to report on an XML source
xml3.pl	Illustration of handling a stream
xml4.pl	Converting an XML document into a tree in Perl collection variables
xml5.pl	Alternative - using handlers
xslt1.pl	Using XML and XSLT to turn data into a web page

Background information

Some modules are available for download as a sample of our material or under an Open Training Notes License for free download from http://www.training-notes.co.uk.

Topics covered in this module

What are XML, XSLT, DTD, Schema etc.?
Installation of modules and support libraries.
The Expat and Gnome libraries.
XML::Parser and XML::Parser::Expat.
Parser principles; styles and event-based handlers.
XML::LibXML.
Editing and rewriting XML.
XML Style Sheet transforms with XML::LibXSLT.
Case Study - a system to extract XML data and generate fixed field records.

Course links

The following web pages are used as references / examples in this module

[Link] XSLT namespace
(at http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform)

[Link] No Title
(at http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format)

[Link] The XML C parser and toolkit of Gnome
(at http://www.xmlsoft.org)

[Link] No Title
(at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/dtd/nlmmedline_001211.dtd)

We check these links from time to time with a spider written in PHP. Latest full check was on Saturday, 12th June 2004. Titles are extracted from the web pages listed.

Complete learning

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