Microsoft XML Parser in Java

Version 1.8
Updated: September 14, 1998

Note: On August 20, 1998, Microsoft and DataChannel announced their plans to co-develop future versions of the XML parser written in the Java language. An early beta of the parser in Java for Internet Explorer 5 is now available at the DataChannel site .

This package contains the source code for the latest version of the XML Parser. This version supercedes the XML Parser that shipped with Internet Explorer 4.0.

Warning: This version includes breaking changes from the 1.0 version. See Release Notes for more information.

About the Microsoft XML Parser
New in Version 1.8
Installation
Documentation
Reusing the XML Parser Code
Technical Feedback

About the Microsoft XML Parser

The Microsoft® XML Parser is a validating XML parser written in Java. The parser checks for well-formed documents and optionally permits checking of the documents' validity. Once parsed, the XML document is exposed as a tree through a simple set of Java methods, which we are working with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to standardize. These methods support reading and/or writing XML structures, such as the Channel Definition Format (CDF) or other text formats based on XML, and thereby enable building applications using XML.

This version of the parser implements the entire W3C working draft of the XML specification dated November 17, 1997, and will be revised to reflect future W3C changes to the specifications.

New in Version 1.8

The main focus of this version was an upgrade to the latest XML specification dated November 17, 1997. The following features were also added to the parser since the previous release:

The standalone attribute is now supported, replacing the old RMD attribute.
The following tags were changed to lowercase: <?xml version="..." encoding="..." ?> <?xml:namespace as="..." href="..."?> and the attribute xml-space=(default|preserve)
Section 2.11 End-of-Line Handling. This means that all new lines are now returned to the application as the single character 0xa. Also fixed document.save for proper platform independence in writing new lines.
The new xml:lang attribute is now supported on any tag regardless of ATTLIST declaration.
Fixed inclusion of parameter entities inside entity declarations. (New table in section 4.4.0 helps a lot.)
Factored out XMLInputStream optimization so that the same code compiles on Windows and on other platforms.
Fixed other reported bugs.

See the Release Notes for a detailed list of new parser features, changes, and bug fixes.

Installation

Note: A slightly older version of the Java XML Parser was included in the final release of Internet Explorer 4.0 and in the final version of the Microsoft SDK for Java 2.0. Version 1.8 supercedes those earlier versions of the parser.

Before you install the Microsoft XML Parser for Java, you must have a Java Virtual Machine (VM) installed on your computer. You have a Java VM if you have Internet Explorer 4.0 installed. Also, to be able to compile the XML parser source code, you need a version of the Java VM that is compatible with JDK 1.1. We used the Microsoft SDK for Java 2.0 , which you can freely download from the Microsoft Web site.

Once you've installed the Java VM, you can proceed to the download page for instructions on how to install the XML Parser.

Documentation

The Microsoft XML Parser download includes a set of documents describing the classes and methods that comprise the public API for the XML Parser, and examples of how to use the API. The documents included with the download are updated versions of documents that appear in the Microsoft SDK for Java 2.0, and include the following:

XML Object Model (Package com.ms.xml.om)
XML Parser (Package com.ms.xml.parser)
XML Utilities (Package com.ms.xml.util)
XML Data Source Object (Package com.ms.xml.dso)

Reusing the XML Parser Code

If you're planning to reuse the Microsoft XML Parser code in other products, please read the Microsoft XML Parser in Java license agreement.

Technical Feedback

You can send general feedback and questions on Microsoft's support for XML to the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Online Support page .

Developers who wish to provide technical feedback on the implementation of XML can subscribe to the public xml-dev mailing list (send mail to majordomo@ic.ac.uk with the subject line "subscribe," and the text "subscribe xml-dev name@address" in the body of the message). This list is very technical, and is for XML developers only.