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<head>
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2014-10-19 17:29:07 +00:00
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<title>Mini-XML Programmers Manual, Version 2.9</title>
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2014-01-05 03:12:18 +00:00
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<meta name="copyright" content="Copyright 2003-2014">
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2010-09-19 08:50:54 +00:00
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<meta name="author" content="Michael R. Sweet">
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<meta name="keywords" content="XML, C, C++, library">
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1 align="right"><a name="INTRO"><img src="0.gif" align="right"
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hspace="10" width="100" height="100" alt="0"></a>Introduction</h1>
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2014-10-19 17:29:07 +00:00
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<p>This programmers manual describes Mini-XML version 2.9, a small
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XML parsing library that you can use to read and write XML data
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files in your C and C++ applications.</p>
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<p>Mini-XML was initially developed for the <a
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href="http://gutenprint.sf.net/">Gutenprint</a> project to replace
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the rather large and unwieldy <tt>libxml2</tt> library with
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something substantially smaller and easier-to-use. It all began one
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morning in June of 2003 when Robert posted the following sentence to
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the developer's list:</p>
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<blockquote><em>It's bad enough that we require libxml2, but rolling
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our own XML parser is a bit more than we can handle.</em></blockquote>
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<p>I then replied with:</p>
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2007-04-26 22:21:37 +00:00
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<blockquote><em>Given the limited scope of what you use in XML, it
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should be trivial to code a mini-XML API in a few hundred lines of
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code.</em></blockquote>
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<p>I took my own challenge and coded furiously for two days to
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produced the initial public release of Mini-XML, total lines of
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code: 696. Robert promptly integrated Mini-XML into Gutenprint
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and removed libxml2.</p>
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<p>Thanks to lots of feedback and support from various
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developers, Mini-XML has evolved since then to provide a more
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complete XML implementation and now stands at a whopping 3,792
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lines of code, compared to 140,410 lines of code for libxml2
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version 2.9.1.</p>
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<p>Aside from Gutenprint, Mini-XML is used for the
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following projects/software applications:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="https://www.cups.org/">CUPS</a></li>
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<li><a
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href="http://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.net">ZynAddSubFX</a></li>
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</ul>
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<p>Please file a bug on msweet.org if you would like your project added or
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removed from this list, or if you have any comments/quotes you would like me to
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publish about your experiences with Mini-XML.</p>
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<!-- NEED 1in -->
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<h2>Organization of This Document</h2>
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<p>This manual is organized into the following chapters and
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appendices:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Chapter 1, "<a href="#INSTALL">Building,
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Installing, and Packaging Mini-XML</a>", provides
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compilation, installation, and packaging instructions for
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Mini-XML.</li>
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<li>Chapter 2, "<a href="#BASICS">Getting
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Started with Mini-XML</a>", shows how to use the
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Mini-XML library in your programs.</li>
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<li>Chapter 3, "<a href="#ADVANCED">More
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Mini-XML Programming Techniques</a>", shows additional
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ways to use the Mini-XML library.</li>
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<li>Chapter 4, "<a href="#MXMLDOC">Using the
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mxmldoc Utility</a>", describes how to use the
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<tt>mxmldoc(1)</tt> program to generate software
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documentation.</li>
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<li>Appendix A, "<a href="#LICENSE">Mini-XML License</a>",
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provides the terms and conditions for using and distributing
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Mini-XML.</li>
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<li>Appendix B, "<a href="#RELNOTES">Release Notes</a>",
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lists the changes in each release of Mini-XML.</li>
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<li>Appendix C, "<a href="#REFERENCE">Library
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Reference</a>", contains a complete reference for
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Mini-XML, generated by <tt>mxmldoc</tt>.</li>
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<li>Appendix D, "<a href="#SCHEMA">XML Schema</a>", shows
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the XML schema used for the XML files produced by
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<tt>mxmldoc</tt>.</li>
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</ul>
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<!-- NEED 10 -->
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<h2>Notation Conventions</h2>
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<p>Various font and syntax conventions are used in this guide.
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Examples and their meanings and uses are explained below:</p>
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<dl>
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<dt><code>mxmldoc</code><br>
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<code>mxmldoc(1)</code></dt>
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<dd>The names of commands; the first mention of a command
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or function in a chapter is followed by a manual page
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section number.<br><br></dd>
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<dt><var>/var</var><br>
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<var>/etc/hosts</var></dt>
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<dd>File and directory names.<br><br></dd>
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<dt><tt>Request ID is Printer-123</tt></dt>
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<dd>Screen output.<br><br></dd>
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<dt><kbd>lp -d printer filename ENTER</kbd></dt>
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<dd>Literal user input; special keys like
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<kbd>ENTER</kbd> are in ALL CAPS.<br><br></dd>
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<dt>12.3</dt>
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<dd>Numbers in the text are written using the period (.)
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to indicate the decimal point.<br><br></dd>
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</dl>
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<!-- NEED 10 -->
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<h2>Abbreviations</h2>
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<p>The following abbreviations are used throughout this
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manual:</p>
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<dl>
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<dt>Gb</dt>
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<dd>Gigabytes, or 1073741824 bytes<br><br></dd>
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<dt>kb</dt>
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<dd>Kilobytes, or 1024 bytes<br><br></dd>
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<dt>Mb</dt>
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<dd>Megabytes, or 1048576 bytes<br><br></dd>
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<dt>UTF-8, UTF-16</dt>
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<dd>Unicode Transformation Format, 8-bit or 16-bit<br><br></dd>
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<dt>W3C</dt>
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<dd>World Wide Web Consortium<br><br></dd>
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<dt>XML</dt>
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<dd>Extensible Markup Language<br><br></dd>
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</dl>
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<!-- NEED 12 -->
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<h2>Other References</h2>
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<dl>
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<dt>The Unicode Standard, Version 4.0, Addison-Wesley,
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ISBN 0-321-18578-1</dt>
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<dd>The definition of the Unicode character set which is
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used for XML.<br><br></dd>
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<dt><a
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href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-20040204/">Extensible
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Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Third Edition)</a></dt>
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<dd>The XML specification from the World Wide Web
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Consortium (W3C)<br><br></dd>
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</dl>
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<!-- NEED 6 -->
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<h2>Legal Stuff</h2>
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2014-01-05 03:12:18 +00:00
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<p>The Mini-XML library is copyright 2003-2014 by Michael R Sweet. License terms
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are described in <a href="#LICENSE">Appendix A - Mini-XML License</a>.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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