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216 lines
5.9 KiB
HTML
216 lines
5.9 KiB
HTML
<html>
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<head>
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<title>Mini-XML Programmers Manual, Version 2.3</title>
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<meta name='copyright' content='Copyright 2003-2007'>
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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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<p>This programmers manual describes Mini-XML version 2.3, 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
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handle.</em></blockquote>
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<p>I then replied with:</p>
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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 3,441
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lines of code, compared to 103,893 lines of code for libxml2
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version 2.6.9.</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='http://www.cups.org/'>Common UNIX Printing
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System</a></li>
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<li><a href='http://www.cups.org/ddk/'>CUPS Driver
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Development Kit</a></li>
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<li><a href='http://www.easysw.com/printpro/'>ESP Print
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Pro</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 email me (mxml @ easysw . com) if you would like your
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project added or removed from this list, or if you have any
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comments/quotes you would like me to publish about your
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experiences with Mini-XML.</p>
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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>lpstat</code><br>
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<code>lpstat(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>/usr/share/cups/data/testprint.ps</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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<p>The Mini-XML library is copyright 2003-2007 by Michael
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Sweet.</p>
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<p>This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
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modify it under the terms of the <a
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href='#LICENSE'>GNU Library General Public
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License</a> as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
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version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
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version.</p>
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<p>This library is distributed in the hope that it will be
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useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
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warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
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PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General Public License for
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more details.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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