An XML document is a highly structured file that contains both data and markup. Data can be anything from simple text to pictures. Markup describes the relationship between each data item.

XML is growing in acceptance within the software development industry as it offers a platform independent and highly structured way to represent data and the relationship between that data. For example, almost all of the source file formats used by Microsoft in their .NET platform are XML based documents.

What does an XML document look like?

In it’s purest and most simplistic form an XML document looks like :-

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Firstprog>
            <text>Say <quote>Hello World</quote></text>
            <context>My first XML document</context>
            <helpcontext/>
 </firstprog>

 

Well-formed Documents

XML document s are often referred to a being well-formed. A document is said to be well-formed if it obeys all aspects of the XML specification.  This means for every start-tag (<book>) there should be a corresponding end-tag (</book>).

If a file is not well formed ezParse will display an appropriate syntax error as you attempt to load the file. To continue loading the file, you’ll need to address and fix any errors in your XML documents.