Previous Meetings
April 19
Speaker: Dave Howard
Circle Learning
Title: Visually Rich e-Learning with XML, Flash and MySQL
Abstract
Dave Howard, president of Circle Learning, will discuss their soon to be unveiled Flash based e-learning interface called LEARN. This innovative interface provides a rich media learning environment with easy content updating using MySQL and XML. Dave will demonstrate the system at it's beta stage and discuss the value of such an application in the online learning environment. Flash and the MySQL database make extensive use of XML for the transfer of data, interface design elements and commands.
March 30
Speaker: Kurt Cagle
Cagle Communications
Title: Objectifying XML
Abstract
ECMAScript for XML(E4X) is an extensions to Javascript (and soon other languages) that makes it possible to use XML as a native data type. Mozilla Firefox and Seamonkey and Adobe Flash currently both support an implementation of E4X, and its use makes it possible to significantly simplify your use of XML in web applications. Join author and technologist Kurt Cagle as he explores this new and exciting new capability and looks at its implementation for Javascript and programming in general.
February 22nd
Speaker: Jost Klopfstein
Axos Technologies
Title: The Power of Personalized Business Communications using Open Standards
Abstract
The discussion will start with a quick overview of what XSL-FO is and how it solves many common business problems, as well as giving an overview about how to make XSL-FO work. This part of the presentation is focused on the XSL-FO standard from W3C and will demonstrate what can and cannot be done with the implementation of this language. Topics covered will include the following: inserting graphics, creating tables, managing floats, flows & alignment, inserting footnotes and pagination, creating tables of content and indices and handling large documents. Additionally, we'll provide a sneak peak into the upcoming XSL-FO 1.1 standard.
Beyond this, we'll look into two easy to use composition tools:
- FormMapper
- an easy-to-use tool based on open standards, which allows for the production of high visual fidelity form templates with variable data in minutes. There are millions of existing government, insurance, banking, order, legal, health or check forms just waiting to be included into your business applications. For more details see http://www.formMapper.com
- DocDesign
- a comprehensive, efficient, state of the art Document Design Tool to design and engineer personalized mass business documents based on open XML and XSL standards. For more details see http://www.axostech.com
January 18th
Speaker: Jim Tivy
Bluestream Media
Title: XML Content Management Systems
Abstract
Join author Jim Tivy as he presents a recent paper he co-wrote on XML Content Management Systems available at http://www.bluestream.com/xdbres/BdsDoc/devdoc/whitepaper/xdocs/XmlCmsJT/Outline.html
This talk will demonstrate some of the technology behind an XML CMS.
November 22nd
Speaker: Kurt Cagle
Cagle Communications
Title: Vectors, Browsers and Atlanta
Abstract
Join author Kurt Cagle as he discusses the state of the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) standards in browsers, including recent developments in Mozilla and Opera, and shows how the graphical web is rapidly coming to a platform near you.
Additionally, he will be providing a short review of the XML 2005 conference in Atlanta .
October 19th
Speaker: Dave Johnson
eBusiness Applications
Title: AJaX: Old Dog New Tricks
Abstract
The recently coined term AJaX has given new life to web development
and spurred on the advance of Web 2.0. This talk will take a look at
the history of AJaX techniques, today's best practices and where AJaX
might be going in the future. In particular, identification and analysis
of some of the more important AJaX techniques will be discussed. As well
as the technologies behind AJaX, the talk will also touch on both usability
and development issues facing the Web today.
September 28th
Speaker: Dave Shea
(CSS
Zen Garden Creator)
Title: Working with Cascading Stylesheets
(CSS)
Abstract
CSS-based layouts are taking the web by storm. Looking to
make the switch, but haven't quite figured them out yet? css Zen Garden creator
Dave Shea is here to guide you through the various layout techniques,
demonstrate fixes for browser compatibility quirks, and answer your questions.
June 15th, 2005
Speaker:
Mik Kersten
University of British Columbia
Title: Comparison of the leading Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) tools
Abstract
AOP buzz is continuing to increase, and more tools are becoming available. It is less clear how developers should choose which tools to evaluate, and what tradeoffs those tools will impose on their projects. This talk outlines the state of the art in AOP tools, overviews the most mature approaches, and contrasts the adoption related issues of each.
May 11th, 2005
Speaker:
Ralph Giles
Xiph.org Foundation
Title: XML for Online Multimedia
Abstract
Ever since Napster, online distribution of music and video has been
a big deal on the internet. I'll talk about some of the ways XML is being used to manage the
explosion of multimedia online, including metadata schemes like Musicbrainz and
CMML from annodex.net, and the new syndication techniques based on RSS. I'll also
talk a bit about our work on free multimedia standards at Xiph.org and give an overview of
digital media from the point of view of the World Wide Web today.
April 27th, 2005
Speaker:
Shane Caraveo
ActiveState
Title: Application Development with Firefox and Mozilla
Abstract
This talk will explore the basic concepts of developing simple extensions for Firefox, from working with XUL and JavaScript to develop custom UI, to creating
an installer for the extension. Additionally, this talk will cover some of the "in's and out's" of developing XUL applications on top of Mozilla or Firefox to help you decide if
it is an appropriate platform for your development efforts. Major topics covered will include: * XUL
and XBL; * JavaScript and UI event handling; * XPCOM; * Python bindings for XPCOM; * XPI, the Mozilla extension installer
March 30th, 2005
Speaker:
Adrian Fisher-Fleming
Brief Legal
Title: Rich-client legal market application written in Java and XML
Abstract
In this talk Adrian will be discussing the technologies utilized in the development of Brief Documents, a new document assembly and management application written for the legal market. The application is written in Java and XML. Brief Documents uses OpenOffice, Bluestream's XML native database and Web Services to automate the production of Real Estate (Conveyance) documents and forms.
March 23rd, 2005
Speaker:
Kevin Collins
Navio Systems
Title: Using XML for Rights-Based Commerce
Abstract
This talk will focus on how XML technologies were used to deliver the first Rights Based Commerce solution, and how Rights-over-IP (ROIP) will impact the deployment and use of Web services. Navio has relied heavily on XML technologies such as XPath, XSLT, XQuery and various expression languages to develop the ROIP solution-a solution that incorporates native XML databases, XML hardware processors, and a Service Oriented Architecture.
February 23rd, 2005
Speaker:
Tom Magliery
BlastRadius
Title: Extreme XML for Business: XBRL
Abstract
The Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an XML standard for financial information. It is unique among XML dialects for several reasons, including extensive use of XLink and substitution groups to provide extreme flexibility in data representation. As a result of its novelty and complexity, XBRL has suffered adoption issues from software vendors and users, but a growing number of organizations are beginning to store their financial data in XBRL, and a growing number of institutions are beginning to foster its use.
In this talk we will give an overview of XBRL, including a summary of the technical features of the language, a survey of its current applications, and examples of some of the hurdles, both past and future, faced by it on its road to adoption.
Click here to download the presentation.
January 12th, 2005
Speaker:
Kurt Cagle
The Metaphorical Web
Title: XML in the Looking Glass - The XML World in 2005
Abstract
2005 will be a banner year for a large number of XML and related technologies that are now seeing fruition after years of development. Join author and publisher Kurt Cagle for an overview of the hot standards for 2005 and 2006, including XSLT2, SVG 1.2, XUL, XAML, XQuery, XForms, COmega, AspectXML and more. Find out what will be the killer key words for job searches in 2006, where the action is for various XML technologies and get a sneak preview of the Metaphorical Web publishing line up. This session is an overview, and does not require advanced programming skills.
Click here to download the presentation.
December 16th, 2004
Speaker:
Dethe Elza
BlastRadius
Title: Creating OS X Cocoa Applications Using XML and Python
Abstract
This talk will cover the use of Renaissance and Python to develop programs for OS X, focussing on both rapid application development, and ease of maintenance. Renaissance is an XML dialect for describing Cocoa (or GNUstep) user interfaces, which can be used as an alternative to Apple's binary NIB format. It grew out of the GNUstep project and is intended for use with Objective-C, but works seamlessly from Python with the PyObjC bridge.
Click here to download the presentation.
November 24th, 2004
Speaker:
Arron Ferguson
Founder of the XUI Project
Title: Creating UIs for the Semantic Web using XML
Abstract
Purnama XUI is a XML-based implementation of a plan to offer customizable user interface capabilities which run independently of computer platform, operating system and programming language. One area where XUI can offer utility is the Semantic Web. At the present time the Semantic Web has no framework for dealing with the presentation layer. This presentation will investigate the use of XUI in RDF as well as cover binding issues which present challenges to XML-based user interfaces alike.
Click here to download the presentation.
October 21st, 2004
Speaker:
Ron DeSerranno
MOBIFORM Software Ltd.
Title: XML based Graphics with XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language)
Abstract
This talk will unveil what XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language) is and how it compares to SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). We will be looking at the capabilities of XAML, discussing misconceptions and looking at some early adoption. We will also be looking at existing tools and touch on using XAML on Windows XP today.
Click here to see the presentation.
September 29th, 2004
Speakers:
Jost Klopfstein & Gloria Klopfstein
Axos Technologies
Title: XSL-FO (Formatting Objects) and its applications
Abstract
The Web has changed the way we communicate, play, work, and do business. It has also introduced a brand new medium to display corporate information. To reach a wider audience, corporations launched state-of-the-art Web sites, enabling them to communicate ideas, concepts and product information to their customers, shareholders and business partners.
Digital age allowed enormous flexibility in the way we create, share, or store information. However, consumers of that information demand the best of both worlds: information in its portable form and its high-quality printed counterpart. The need for printed information remains as critical as ever.
To answer both demands, most corporations maintain content on the Web and in print. However, without correct single-sourcing planning, process and technology they often face significant challenges: increased costs of producing and distributing information, redundant or inaccurate content in the Web pages or the print materials, project delays and so on....
XML enables you to produce both Web and printed content from a single source and with respect to differences inherent to both media. Your Web pages will look great. Your print documents will have the desired look and feel, independent of your Web presentation.
XML has emerged as the industry standard for content management. Likewise, eXtensible Style Language-Formatting Objects (XSL FO) emerged as the standard that maps XML content to print layout.
Using these two standards, a company can finally single source their content to produce both Web and print products. In addition, XSL FO defines the industry standard for producing high quality printed material from your XML documents, databases and legacy systems.
AXOS technologies will introduce XSL FO, and their solutions. In addition existing Formatting and Editing tools will be presented including useful real-world examples.
Click here to see the presentation (tailored for Internet Explorer 6).
July 20th, 2004
Speaker:
Ed Simon
Founder of XMLsec
Title: Reinventing the Art of Security with XML
Abstract
What is XML Security? How will it affect governments, businesses, and their customers? XML Security promises to transform the field of security just as HTML and HTTP transformed the Internet into the Web; making it easier for both developers and users. This presentation will look at how XML Security will impact applications that require security such as e-forms and web services as well as how it will ease enterprise management of security policies and practices. Specific technologies that will be discussed include XML Signature, XML Encryption, XML Key Management Specification, Web Services Security, SAML (for sharing authentication and authorization assertions across systems), and XACML (for expressing and enforcing semantically-meaningful security policies).
June 22nd, 2004
Speaker:
Sam Wilmott
Title: Text Processing in an XML-Centric World
Abstract
We often hear statements like "I use XML because there are good XML tools available, and I don't have to implement everything from scratch that way." Although there is considerable truth in this claim, available tools are better than it suggests. The claim is also to some extent self-fulfilling. XML itself, for all its great value, acts as an impediment to interest in, investigation into, and development of tools that are perceived as not being XML-specific. The lack of such non-XML tools not only hurts the development of non-XML applications, but makes XML application development more difficult.
It turns out that that the way forward to better text and structure handling tools is not to develop yet another text-oriented programming language -- another Perl or Python -- nor is it to add text-processing specific functionality to "main-stream" languages like Java or C#. The real difficulty is that most commonly used programming languages are missing important basic control structure forms and functionality, including co-routines (and uses of them such as generators), first-class functions, operator overloading and rule-based conditionals. Text processing and XML processing can be improved, not by putting this functionality directly in the hands of all users - making them develop everything from scratch -- but rather by providing it to tool and library implementers, so that they can provide their users with easier to use and more powerful functionality.
Users and tool developers need to be aware of these issues, because they are the ones who can establish a strong demand for improved basic functionality in the programming languages they use, and because they need to be aware when such functionality becomes available, and what use can be made of it. Examples of both general text processing and XML-specific processing using the Python programming language are used to illustrate the relationship between basic language features and the requirements of textual data and XML processing.
May 12th, 2004
Speaker:
Kirstan Vandersluis
Title: Mitigating Information Chaos
Abstract
Over the decades, organizations have pieced together computer systems to manage different parts of the business as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, the evolution of this information technology infrastructure has occurred without an overarching design, resulting in many stand-alone systems that perform a single function well, but fail to interact with each other. This presentation reviews the causes of "information chaos," and presents various tools and technologies available to solve the problem, finishing with the examination of the integration platform developed by XAware, Inc.
March 26th, 2004
Speaker:
Michael Rys
Title: XML and XQuery in Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Abstract
SQL Server 2005 (a.k.a. Yukon) extensively extends the XML capabilities of its predecessor. This presentation will give an introduction to the XML support in SQL Server 2005, showcasing the new native XML Datatype, the XML schema and XQuery support and the extended functionality of the FOR XML rowset aggregator.
March 10th, 2004
Speaker:
Duane Nickull
Title: Service Oriented Architectures: A State of the Union
Abstract
The presenter will delve into modern Service Oriented architectures and provide an overview of the top three - the ebXML Technical Architecture, W3C Web Services Architecture and the United Nations CEFACT eBusiness Architecture. All modern SOA's are registry centric and event driven models that offer an efficient way to facilitate ad-hoc integration as well as maintenance of existing integration work. The presenter wrote two of the three architectures and participated on the third.
Click here to see the presentation.
January 14th, 2004
Speaker:
Jim Tivy
Title: XML Schema with Examples
Abstract
The presenter will review the basics of XML Schema - of which there are many, and then show how they are used in application schemas and in an XML Database environment.
November 6th, 2003
Speaker:
Aaron Lees
Title: RELAX NG
Abstract
When communicating information with XML it is often useful to define a set of rules for how elements, attributes and content can be combined so that everyone who uses the XML knows what to expect. An XML schema language is a language for unambiguously stating these rules. There are many XML schema languages in existence; RELAX NG is one that aims to be both simple and powerful.
This talk will describe the high level design of RELAX NG, give an introduction to the available features and syntax, and compare it to W3C XML Schema.
Click here to see the presentation.
June 3, 2003
Speaker:
Jim Tivy
Title: XML and the SCORM E-Learning standard
Abstract
Jim Tivy will be introducing the SCORM standard which is supported by ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning) http://www.adlnet.org/ and includes IMS meta data http://www.imsglobal.org. He will cover the object model of SCORM and how it relates to XML with examples of SCORM packages. He will demo Bluestream's SCORM database and talk about challenges and solutions in that space.
Click here
to see the presentation.
April 24, 2003
Speaker: Randal Bartsch
Title: Secure Identity Management with Novell's DirXML
Abstract
Novell's DirXML is a bi-directional data sharing service that leverages Novell eDirectory to distribute new and updated information across directories, databases and critical applications on the network and across firewalls to partner systems. DirXML eliminates the manual and repetitive tasks of creating and modifying user identities in all the different systems and applications within your enterprise and partner systems.
We'll begin with an overview of how DirXML works and what it's used for. We'll then examine a system where user account information is synchronised between Lotus Notes, PeopleSoft, eDirectory and an Oracle database. Finally, we'll look into the use of XML stylesheets to configure the rules within DirXML.
Click here
to see the presentation.
March 26, 2003
Speaker: Gerald Bauer
Title: The Future of the Web: Rich Clients, Rich Browsers, Rich Portals: A Look at XUL, XForms, XWT, Curl and other emerging technologies
Abstract
A new gold rush is underway fueled by the Web Services revolution that demands rich clients that go beyond HTML 4.0/XHML 1.0 avoiding excessive server-roundtrips, offering offline-usage, supporting drag and drop, rich graphics and widget sets and much more.
Gerald will survey the state of rich cross plattform UI toolkits such as Gtk+, Qt, Swing and others and their XML usage before making the case why a XUL+XForms+SVG+XHTML+CSS combo is the future and why alternative "HTML killer" technologies such as Curl, Rebol, XWT or Flash fall short and won't take off.
Click here
to see the presentation.
February 20, 2003
Speaker: Denise Draper
Title: XQuery From an XSL Perspective
Abstract
XSL, a W3C standard, is widely used to manipulate and transform XML today. XQuery is a new language, also being created by the W3C, and also used to manipulate XML. From a theoretical standpoint, the two languages have similar capabilities, so the question arises: why two languages, and how will you know which one to use? In this talk, we'll try to answer that question. We'll start by introducing XQuery through some examples and illustration of the key features of the language, and then we will compare XQuery and XSL, considering feature differences of the languages and the design considerations that motivated them. Finally, we will try to speculate how and where XQuery and XSL will co-exist in the future.
Click here
to see the presentation.
January 09, 2003
Speaker: Philip
Mansfield
Title: How to Make a File Format Translator Using XML
Abstract
The era of the personal computer brought with it a proliferation of proprietary binary file formats. With the rise of the Internet, there has been a need to break down the barriers between machines and between applications, resulting in the current trend toward open, Web-accessible publication formats including XML grammars. Therefore there is a pervasive need for software to convert binary file formats to XML.
Just as XML is at the root of this conversion problem, so is it a basis for a solution. By taking advantage of the XML meta-language at every stage of the data conversion process, one can maximize code re-use.
The author will present research aimed at facilitating and partially automating the process of creating binary-to-XML file format translators. The process consists of the following stages: (i) file format analysis, (ii) creation of a parser, (iii) mapping analysis, (iv) creation of a mapper, (v) serialization of the target format. Here is how XML processing software is leveraged throughout:
First, we define an XML grammar for binary file format schema. Then we write special-purpose parser-generator software that reads in binary file format schema instances. Next, we write a rapid file format analysis tool that allows the user to discover file format schema in an iterative process: at each step a single schema modification is suggested by the user, a new parser is generated, a series of test files are parsed, and the results are dumped as XML for inspection.
The outcome of applying the rapid file format analysis tool to any particular binary format is a parser that handles that format. The outcome of applying this parser to any particular test file is an in-memory tree representation of that file, serializable as XML. Therefore the mapping stage reduces to an XML to XML transformation. In simple cases this mapping can be done efficiently enough with XSLT; in more realistic cases the XSLT needs to be cross-compiled with more traditional languages (e.g. with Java, using XSLTC).
Because the source and target of the mapping are of a common meta-language, it is possible to create a rapid mapping analysis tool that generates the mapper software. Again, the tool is used in an iterative process that culminates in the final mapping software.
As long as the target format is an open standard, one can take advantage of existing software to style, view, search, augment, edit or otherwise process that format. An important special case is the use of SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) as a target. By translating from a binary format to SVG, one effectively has a viewer for that binary format without having to write any rendering software. The rendering stage is accomplished by standard browser or browser plug-in functionality. With the help of CSS, the view can be customized for user, purpose or device. With the help of SMIL Animation, the view can be dynamic. With the help of JavaScript and the DOM, the view can be interactive, with rich navigation, search or redlining functionality.
Click
here to see the presentation.
November 21, 2002
Speaker: Alison Meynert
Title: Generating interactive maps
Abstract
- Problem: Produce easily viewable, portable, customizable, interactive maps from GIS data stored as GML .
- Solution: Use XSLT to transform GML to SVG, and add ECMAScript for interactivity.
The Cleopatra demo project was a proof of concept for generating interactive maps from GML. This presentation will look at each part of the demonstration and discuss some of the technical issues encountered during development.
Click here
to get the presentation.
October 24, 2002
Speaker: Paul Prescod
Title: The Emperor's New Tags: Hard Questions about Web Services
Abstract
Do you have the sneaking suspicion that Web services technologies are both too complex and not powerful enough at the same time? Have you migrated a working system to SOAP for no reason whatsoever? Do you get a nervous twitch when confronted with WSDL specifications? You are in danger of recognizing that the Emperor's new tags are not merely transparent but actually omitted.
Away from the prying eyes of venture capitalists, a noted Web Services skeptic will explore some of the potential pitfalls in the current web services technologies and suggest directions for future development.
Click here
to get the presentation.
September 19, 2002
Speaker: Tim Bray
Title: XML and the World Wide Web
Abstract
The presenter is a member of the Web Consortium's Technical Architecture group and is thus required to spend several hours a week worrying about the basic architecture of the Web and how to keep it working smoothly. These considerations almost always involve XML, since basically everything currently being built on the Web involves XML.
This speech will show how basic pieces of the low-level architecture of the Web can move with frightening speed from abstract philosophy to seriously broken software, and highlight those pieces of the architecture that a practitioner of real-world XML needs to think about seriously.
July 11th, 2002
Speaker: Gerald Bauer
Title: Luxor: The "Linux Kernel" for Desktop Apps
Abstract
Gerald gives you a no-fluff, fast-paced, example-packed XUL (XML User Interface Language) tour and dispells some XUL myths (XUL needs Javascript or Mozilla; XUL is an arachic XForms predecessor) on the way. Gerald explains the Five Freedoms of the XUL charter and how all the pieces fit together. After praising Mozilla XUL Gerald trashes some XUL-like wannabees and explains how and why Luxor XUL dares to differ from Mozilla XUL. . Experience the future and get a taste of the Free World.
June 13th, 2002
Speaker: href="speakers.htm#Sidda">Ajay Sidda
Title: Web Services Flow Languages and Visual modeling of Web service interactions
Abstract
Component technology has evolved over the years from simple functions to COM/EJB/CORBA to Web services. The major advantage of Web services, of course is the interoperability. A more subtle advantage is that their use cleanly separates data from presentation, moving us into a data-centric world. This opens doors for visual modeling to help automate software development and testing. Several manufacturers have already stepped in and created visual modeling tools to orchestrate and in particular impact of the various emerging Web Service Flow Languages (WSFL, WSFL, XLANG) on development of these tools.This presentation will discuss the current trends in the industry and the various ways we can use visual modeling to help automate web services software development. We will demonstrate the Web services integration tool "ObjectView", and will discuss how Web service interactions can be better represented using functional modeling (i.e., data-flows) instead of state diagrams.
Click here
to see the presentation online.
May 22nd, 2002
Speaker: Jim Tivy
Title: XQuery and its use in a native XML database
Abstract
Taking each of the features of XQuery in turn, we discussed how these features are, or would be, implemented in a native XML database. The XQuery features discussed were:
- the XQuery data model. http://www.w3.org/TR/query-datamodel/
- Selected XQuery Syntax
- brief overview of the XQuery formal semantics document.
- brief overview of the XQuery Functions and operators document.
- static and dynamic type checking strategies.
Jim also reflected on what it took to make XQuery workable in a native XML database.
Click here
to download the presentation in a zip file.
April 25th, 2002
Speaker: Dr. Michael Levy
Title: XMLLite - how we used ideas from Prolog to build the world's fastest XML parser
Abstract
The speaker will explain how his group implemented a super-efficient XML parser using ideas from the WAM (Warren's Abstract Machine: the gold standard for effecient Prolog implementations). The actual implementation of the parser is in C.
Click here
to download the presentation in a zip file.
Click here to access an internet copy of
Warren's Abstract Machine: A Tutorial Reconstruction book by Hassan Ait-Kaci
March 14th, 2002
Speaker:Alexander Vaschillo
Title: XML Support for Microsoft SQL Server
Abstract
The session gives an overview of XML support for databases at Microsoft. Mr.Vaschillo talked about the features shipped in Microsoft SQL Server 2000, the features shipped in the SQLXML Web Releases since then, the SQL Server Web Services Toolkit Microsoft released in February 2002, and the future directions they are currently thinking about. Mr. Vaschillo showed the XQuery running against relational tables and the new SOAP feature allowing you to turn SQL Server into a Web Service.
Click here
to download the presentation in a zip file.
February 21st, 2002
Speaker:Kurt Cagle
Title: Interactive SVG
Abstract
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) are beginning to be used in web page development to create rich, interactive, animated sites. This session examines the capabilities of SVG to both generate various types of animation through SMIL and to interface via the SVG DOM with other programming environments.
Click here
to download the presentation in a zip file.
January 22nd, 2002
Speaker:Yuri Khramov
Title: Extracting XML with semantics from PDF
Abstract
PDF is now the digital format of choice for the publishing industry. Unfortunately, it does not preserve the semantics of the publication content. The conversion of PDF documents to an XML format that preserves presentation information and exposes semantics (in our case , a slightly extended XMLNews-Story or NITF namespaces) is a solution much awaited by the industry.
First, basic text and picture objects are extracted from PDF. We have to go beyond most of the PDF libraries to reconstruct as much of words and phrases as possible. Then, the recognition procedure begins.
The main idea of the recognition algorithm is to split the procedure into several steps or layers from the recognition of basic ?primitives? to the recognition of high-level semantic structures. The recognition is iterative: findings from higher layers could be fed back to lower layers and so on. The whole process is regarded as a number of consecutive steps that narrow the range of possible final answers.
Click here
to download the presentation in a zip file.
December 13th, 2001
Title: XML Web Services in Java
Speaker: Dennis Sosnoski
From the beginning, Java was designed to support applications constructed from distributed components. As it progressed many features were added to further this support, beginning with Java RMI for remote access to Java objects and CORBA for interoperability with components written in other languages. With the addition of Enterprise JavaBeans and the J2EE infrastructure Java grew into the platform of choice for distributed enterprise applications.
Java has also had a natural affinity with XML from the days of the earliest draft recommendations. Many of the first XML parsers and processing tools were written in Java to take advantage of its benefits in the forms of rapid development and platform independence. The selection of tools has continued to expand as XML has become ever more widely used.
XML web services in Java are a natural extension of these two trends. Java software components can be automatically published as standalone SOAP web services using any of several available tools. Application server vendors are also integrating SOAP interfaces into their systems so that EJBs, already structured as distributed service components, can be accessed directly as XML web services. Either standalone or in a EJB/J2EE environment, Java is a great choice for implementing web services.
This presentation includes both discussion of Java as a platform for web services and demonstrations of some of the tools and techniques used to enable XML web services in Java. We'll also cover some of the direction being taken by Sun to promote Java-based web services in the future (including new standard extensions to the Java platform).
Click here
to download the presentation in a zip file.
November 8th, 2001
Speaker: Philip Mansfield
Title: Graphical Stylesheets - Using XSLT to Generate SVG
(#GraphicalStylesheets)
Traditional stylesheets encode information about the appearance of text and the layout of content, thus enabling the separation of structure from presentation in the case of text-centric publications. Images are treated as single elements of content in such an approach, with very little flexibility for a stylesheet to vary their appearance. However, those images often arise as visualizations of structured data, such as graphs, maps or schematic diagrams of data. Hence the need for Graphical Stylesheets that encode how to draw specific visualizations of structured data.
The structured data may start as XML or be returned from a database as XML. Graphical Stylesheets are then naturally encoded as XSLT with SVG as its target. This encoding takes advantage of widely-supported standards and therefore serves as a practical implementation. The use of SVG enables hyperlinked, animated, interactive vector graphics that can be further styled with CSS for purposes of accessibility or other adaptations.
Graphical Stylesheets are applicable to such diverse areas as Business Graphics, Flowcharting, Project Plans, Engineering Blueprints, CAD, GIS, AM/FM, Meteorology, Statistical/Scientific Visualization, Environmental Engineering diagrams, Metadata Relationship diagrams, and Presentation/Courseware. The talk will explore Graphical Stylesheet use-cases within a number of these application areas, and demonstrate solutions encoded as XSLT with SVG as its target. The advantages of being able to vary the graphical styling separately from the data will be made explicit. For example, Graphical Stylesheets make it possible to generate visualizations on demand from changing or user-selected data. On the other hand, by varying the Graphical Stylesheet that you apply to your data, you can elicit or emphasize entirely different aspects of that data.
Techniques will be presented for encoding a Graphical Stylesheet as XSLT, and for computing the geometry needed in its SVG output. Automatic generation of Graphical Stylesheets will then be discussed, and a software application that generates Graphical Stylesheets will be demonstrated.
Click here
to download the presentation in a zip file.
Click here to view the presentation.
October 11th, 2001
Speaker: David Green
Title: Automating Web Services development using XSLT and XPath
Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) and XML Path Language (XPath) are currently used throughout the industry for transforming structured information, e.g., XML to XML, XML to HTML, XML to WML.
A commonly overlooked yet ideal application of this technology is to transform XML to Java source code.
Using XSLT, XPath and XML Schema, we demonstrate a unique methodology that allows developers to rapidly build Enterprise-class web services applications over any application server.
This presentation provides a step-by-step overview of how Make Technologies is using XSLT and XPath for transforming instances of XML into java applications today.
Download the presentation here.
September 18th, 2001
Speaker: Ron Lake
Title: Geography Markup Language and the Geo-semantic Web
(#GML)
Geography Markup Language (GML) is emerging as the world standard for the encoding of geo-spatial information This has significant implications for the development of a geo-spatial world wide web and for the creation o a geo-semantic web. GML Application Schemas can be created in vertical application domains such as forestry transportation, tourism, and utilities, and these application schemas can be readily shared on the Internet. Furthermore such application schemas provide a primitive, or some might say practical, ontology model for application domains. GML can provide a very useful typology or typing framework. When combined with WSDL (with GML providing the typology), we can begin to define not only kinds of geo-spatial entities in an application domain, but also geo-spatial web-based services. This talk will introduce you to GML and provide insights into the exciting world of web-based geo-spatial services.
Download the presentation here.
August 14, 2001
Speaker: David Orchard
Title: Web Services: Lessons Learned
(#WebServices)
Web Service integration realities: lessons learned. The hype about integrating web services is reaching feverish pitch, exemplified by a mythical headline, "swarms of re-usable self-healing components will fulfill users' every need". The reality is much different and this talk will explore where and how web services will be used, what the barriers to commerce are, and some key pre-requisites for web services marketplaces. This talk draws on Jamcracker's experience building a web services ecosystem, where users and companies are securely provisioned and billed for services, and is an expansion of the talk we gave at the W3C Web Services workshop.
July 3, 2001
Speaker: Paul Prescod
Title: ActiveState's XSLT tools
(#XSLTTools)
XSLT is a relatively new language but many organizations already deploy major systems based upon it. Maintaining these systems can be problematic because the tools most people have available have no support for easily creating or debugging XSLT. ActiveState has two products that address this need.
Visual XSLT is an XSLT development environment based on Visual Studio.NET. It brings all of the convenience and familiarity of Visual Studio to XSLT programmers. We will demonstrate multi-engine XSLT debugging, XSLT-intellisense and graphical XPath building.
Komodo is a generalized, multi-platform development environment for scripting languages. We have extended Komodo to have full support for XSLT just as with Visual XSLT. We will show how XSLT features behave similarly in Komodo and Visual XSLT.
Komodo also uses XML significantly in its implementation. All Komodo user interfaces are defined in an XML-based User-interface Language called XUL. The talk will describe XUL and demonstrate its usage in Komodo.
Click here
to download the PowerPoint presentation
May 10, 2001
Speaker: Howard Katz
Title: The XML family of query languages: XQL, XPath, and XQuery
(#QueryLanguages)
Several de facto query language standards have emerged over the past several years to provide a query capability for XML documents. The two most popular candidates to date have been XQL and XPath, the latter probably best known for its use in XSLT. XQuery, a SQL-like superset of XPath, is the most recent of the three languages, having just been released in working-draft format from the W3C in mid-February.
This talk looks at all three languages, their capabilities, and the relationship between them. We'll focus in particular on XQuery, since it's the newest of the three and appears poised (the author contends) to become both the de jure and the de facto standard in this area.
Click here for more information.
Apr 10, 2001
Speaker: Yuri Khramov
Title: RDF and Other Metadata Initiatives on the Web
(#Metadata)
Metadata, or data about data, has long been considered a key for (even more) successful information management on the Web.
The presentation begins with a discussion of several metadata or, as W3C now calls it, Semantic Web initiatives. Then we concentrate on the best-known one: Resource Description Framework (RDF). We will look at RDF in detail and investigate its use in the Semantic Web context and beyond. We will look into several aspects of constructing and using the Semantic Web: automated creation of the RDF description, better dictionaries, search techniques and query builders. Special attention will be paid to the combined usage of RDF and XSLT.
Click here
to download the PowerPoint presentation.
March 8, 2001
Speaker: Robert Houben
Title: BizDOM: A Dynamic Classes API for XML DOM
(#BizDOM)
BizDOM is a DOM extension that makes programming access to XML easy and intuitive from Windows-based scripting languages like Visual Basic, and other high-level programming languages. It uses dynamic class generation based on the content of a loaded XML document, and employs a syntax construct called Nodepath for DOM tree navigation and node addressing.
BizDOM's Nodepath notation often reduces several lines of code to a single statement. With the existing DOM tools, programmers must operate with generic terms and methods. For example, to get the element that represent the fifth <line> inside the <details> section of the <invoice> document, the programmer has to write several lines of code using "getChildList" "get_Name" methods, iterators, etc. With BizDOM dynamic classes and Nodepath notation, an application programmer is able to write clear and intuitive code like: Invoice.Details.Lines(5).
BizDOM can be downloaded from www.tryBizDOM.com.
Click here
to download the PowerPoint presentation.
February 12, 2001
Speaker: Michael Rys
Title: Bringing the Internet to your Database: Using SQLServer 2000 and XML to build loosely-coupled systems
(#SQLXML)
Loosely-coupled, distributed system architectures need to be flexible enough to allow individual components to join or leave thw heterogeneous conglomerate of services and components and to change their internal design and data models without jeopardizing the whole architecture. A well-established approach is to use XML as the lingua franca for the integration layer that hides the heterogeneity among the components and provides the glue that allows the individual components to take part in the loosely integrated system. This presentation focuses on how to provide the basic technology to enable relational databases to become a component in such loosely-coupled systems and it will provide a overview of the features that are needed to provide access via HTTP and XML by presenting SQLServer 2000's XML and Internet support.
Click here
to download the PowerPoint presentation.
January 11, 2001
Speaker: Jim Tivy
Title: Using XML with Native XML databases
(#XStreamDB)
With the entry of the "native XML database" as a new category of database, how is the XML presented, accessed and manipulated by the client code. This talk will look at Bluestream's XStreamDB native XML database with some reference to:
- W3C XML Query data model
- W3C XML query language requirements
- XPath
- Proposed Quilt language
Click here
to download the presentation in a zip file.
December 12, 2000
Speakers:
Philip Mansfield and
Darryl Fuller
Title: Graphical Stylesheets and Programmatic XSLT Generation
(#Catwalk)
We will demonstrate "Catwalk", a prototype XSLT code-generator application with an intuitive interface. This applicaton allows non-programmers to create complex XML transformation or styling software quickly and automatically. The software architecture and functionality will be explained, along with many examples to demonstrate its wide range of applicability. Use cases range from B2B e-commerce transaction generation to XML format conversion to styling and presentation of XML data.
In particular, we will focus on the use of this technology to generate Graphical Stylesheets which are XSLT files that in turn generate SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) on the fly from changing XM source data. In a Web publishing context, this makes possible user-selectable, graphical views of data such as geographic maps, technical diagrams, business charts, architectural plans, etc. These views are SVG so they allow for zooming, panning, animation, and interactivity. While the role of stylesheets in presenting text is well-understood, Graphical Stylesheets take presentation to another level, and provide many unique challenges. We will discuss our research in this area and the solutions that we have arrived at.
Click here
for instructions on how to view the presentation.
Click here to download the presentation (SVG slides).
November 9, 2000
Speaker: Paul Prescod
Title: Comparing and Contrasting Schema Languages
(#SchemaLanguages)
XML has spawned a variety of schema languages. Schema languages allow us to restrict XML to predictable structures that can be reliably processed and to share definitions of XML vocabularies. A number of schema languages have arisen from various user communities and organizations. Each has different technical and political strengths and weaknesses. This talk will summarize the languages and their features. The speaker will also invite audience participation from those who have implemented or used the various languages.
Click here
to view the presentation (Powerpoint slides).
October 10, 2000
Speaker: Bruce Sharpe
Title: XML for e-publishing, knowledge management and e-commerce
XML plays a central role in content management for Web publishing and knowledge management. For e-commerce, it is used for messaging, application integration, data transmission and content formatting in e-commerce. This presentation will be about those applications and the XML technology that makes them work. SoftQuad Software has two XML product lines. XMetaL is a platform for creating front ends for XML applications; MarketAgility is a family of products to provide an XML infrastructure to enable suppliers to participate in B2B marketplaces and procurement systems. In this presentation, I will talk about those applications of XML, demo our products, and speculate on where things might be going in the world of XML technology.
September 12, 2000
Speaker: Duane Nickull
Title: ebXML Technical Architecture
This presentation focuses on the fundamental differences between Standards, Vocabularies and Infrastructures within emerging eBusiness initiatives built with XML technology. ebXML is the latest infrastructure which has a mandate of creating a single global electronic marketplace. The methodologies employed within EbXML will be reusable within other data exchange verticals. EbXML is a joint United Nations (UN/CEFACT) and OASIS initiative.
Click here
to view the presentation (Powerpoint slides).
August 10, 2000
Speaker: Chris Lilley
Title: SVG as an extended integration of Web technologies
This talk will approach SVG as an extended case study of the use and integration of W3C (and other) technologies. The ways in which they have been used and the particular constraints and requirements that a graphical rather than textual scope of application have imposed will be discussed. The features of SVG will be examined in terms of modern graphical design requirements. The talk will be illustrated by demonstrations of a variety of SVG implementations.
Speaker: David Dodds
Title: Metadata and SVG
This talk explains two particular kinds of metadata representation, RDF and XTM ("Topic Maps"). Examples of these metadata representations used in an SVG context are given along with a number of code examples (for the curious). An example is an SVG-based circuit diagram, which not only provides a (meaningful) picture to the human eye, but also (because of the metadata in the SVG structure) is "live" in the sense that one can use the mouse to "inject" signals into the circuit and see what the "circuit's response" to that would be.
Click here
to view the SVG example (text document).
July 11, 2000
Speaker: Tim Bray
Title: Report from XML's Front Lines
For our second meeting, Tim Bray of Antarcti.ca Systems Inc. gave a presentation on current developments in XML. It was an overview of current developments in the XML space, including the business, technology, and standards-building perspectives. Designed to be amusing as well as informative, based on the principle that in dealing with Internet reality, you either laugh at it or go insane.
Click here
to view the presentation (Powerpoint slides).
June 14, 2000
Speaker: Howard Katz
Title: XML Query Engine
For our introductory meeting, Howard Katz of Fatdog Software talked about his new product, XML Query Engine, and did several demos. XML Query Engine is a full-text indexing engine that builds a traditional inverted index of your XML files and then lets you query them using XQL, a de facto standard query language that's very similar to XPath.
The engine is Java-based and uses SAX. Highlights of the presentation were that the product is a very fast indexer, and you can get your results back in one of several available formats. Howard showed some of the API used to hook up the engine to sample front-end code and talked about several use cases.
The product is currently pre-beta and is available for free evaluation at www.fatdog.com.
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