XML and Java: Specialized XML Tools in Java

This section collects a number of unrelated Java applications for XML.

JUMBO (Peter Murray-Rust)

URL: http://www.xml-cml.org/jumbo/

JUMBO stands for Java Universal Molecular Browser for Objects. The author, Peter Murray-Rust, says, "If you are not a molecular scientist, then the 'M' stands for Markup". JUMBO was the earliest XML browser and the first significant XML application, initially available when XML was still a working draft. It can be used as a standalone Java application, or in conjunction with Netscape or Internet Explorer. JUMBO was originally created to support the Chemical Markup Language, one of the earliest XML vocabularies.

JUMBO2 is the September 1998 release of JUMBO. In his announcement to the xml-dev mailing list, Peter wrote: "JUMBO2 is an element-oriented XML-browser, in Java/Swing. Its source is freely available with the normal sort of copyright. The architecture tries to follow the specs and anticipate the possible XML-related APIs. The tension between time available and achievement is evident; there are many bits not fully finished, but I felt there was a sufficient shortage of 'browsers' that you will forgive the buglets....I had expected that JUMBO would have been overtaken by commercial client-side browsers by now, but get the sad impression that client-side XML is not being addressed as excitingly as it could.." JUMBO2 uses SAX, Swing, and supports some type of namespace and stylesheet capabilities. Since JUMBO2 includes SAX 1.0 support, you can use JUMBO with any SAX 1.0-conformant parser.

While there are other browsers that support XML to some degree, JUMBO2 is presently the most full-featured. This is likely to change when the final releases of the 5.0 browsers from Netscape and Microsoft appear.

Koala XSL Engine for Java and XslSlideMaker

URL: http://www.inria.fr/koala/XML/xslProcessor/

URL: http://www.inria.fr/koala/XML/xslProcessor/slide.0.1.html

An XSL processor written in Java, using the Simple API for XML (SAX 1.0) and the Document Object Model (DOM 1.0) API, that conforms to the first XSL Working Draft edited by the World Wide Web Consortium. As an example and tutorial of XSL, xslSlideMaker is also available. With this package, you can easily make slides and multi-level slides with XML & XSL.

Jeremy Calles' XslSlidemaker takes slide content marked up as XML, combines it with a custom XSL stylesheet (or uses the default ones provided), and produces navigational slides, rendered in HTML.

WebEasy Application Server Extensible Language (WEASEL)

URL: http://www.webeasy.com/products/weasel.htm

WebEasy Application Server Extensible Language (WEASEL) is an extensible, template based metaphor for Java application development. Features include: embedded language in HTML templates; extensible through a plugin interface; JDBC Database connectivity; and database connection management. WEASEL is written in 100% pure Java (JDK 1.1.x) and tested with a variety of JDBC drivers, web servers and operating systems.

SiRPAC, an RDF parser

URL: http://www.w3.org/RDF/Implementations/SiRPAC

SiRPAC is the Simple RDF (Resource Description Framework) Parser & Compiler from the W3C. "This program compiles RDF/XML documents into the 3-tuples of the corresponding RDF data model. The documents can reside on local file system or at a URI on the Web. Also, the parser can be configured to automatically fetch corresponding RDF schemas from the declared namespaces. This version is suitable for embedded use as well as command line use. SiRPAC builds on top of the Simple API to XML documents (SAX)."

XAF: XML Architectural Forms

URL: http://www.megginson.com/XAF/index.html

XAF is another package by David Megginson, layered upon his SAX software discussed in Part 1 of this article. "The Java XAF package allows you to process architectural forms with any Java-based, SAX-conformant XML parser. The core of the package is a SAX driver, com.megginson.xml.xaf.SAXDriver, which sits between a regular SAX parser and the client's document handler, translating the SAX events according for the specified base architecture. XAF lets an XML document masquerade as many different documents, by associating the document with one or more base architectures. For example, by specifying the right architectural forms, you can embed RDF or MathML in an XML document without actually using the RDF or MathML element type names."

LotusXSL

URL: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/formula/LotusXSL

LoutsXSL is another new (December 1998) product from IBM's alphaWorks group. "XSL provides a mechanism for formatting and transforming XML, either at the browser or on the server. It allows the developer to take the abstract data semantics of an XML instance and transform it into a presentation language such as HTML. LotusXSL implements an XSL processor in Java, and can interface to APIs that conform to the October 1 Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification. The processor can be used from the command line or from a wrapper applet, or it can be used as a submodule of other programs, and accessed via the API."

Readers may also wish to investigate a number of new XML technologies from IBM's alphaWorks group, such as Bean Markup Language, XML Productivity Kit for Java, and XML EditorMaker.

This concludes our 3-part article on "XML and Java: A Perfect Pair". Check back with WDVL on a monthly basis for new articles about XML.

XML and Java: XML Parsers in Java
XML and Java: The Perfect Pair: Part 3: Editors and Parsers