W3C Issues XInclude 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation

XInclude Makes it Easier to Create Reusable Content

Testimonials

 

http://www.w3.org/ -- 20 December 2004 -- Strengthening the XML family, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published XML Inclusions (XInclude) Version 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation. XInclude 1.0 provides a method for merging multiple XML documents into a single composite document.

XInclude Brings Standard Program Functionality to XML

Many programming languages provide an inclusion mechanism to support the use of modular content. Once an inclusion mechanism is established, programmers can then write applications that are more powerful. Markup languages, of course, often have need of such a mechanism.

XInclude 1.0 is a generic mechanism for merging XML documents. This function is important for software applications that need to easily combine XML documents.

XInclude Contributes to Better, More Efficient Content Management

"For most users, XInclude makes it easier to author content that supports information reuse. Reusing information contributes directly to the bottom line issues: cheaper, more timely, and more accurate results," says Paul Grosso, co-Chair of the XML Core Working Group which produced XInclude.

XInclude 1.0 can be used in environments without DTD (Document Type Definition) support, more common since the adoption of XML schemas. Unlike the mechanism used in DTDs, i.e. XML external entities, XInclude gives the content author a fallback mechanism in cases where the external document cannot be retrieved, for whatever reason. XInclude allows an application to leverage the syntax in existing XML constructs — elements, attributes, and URI references. XInclude allows an author to choose how to include another XML document in new composite content — either as markup or text. In addition, no XML entity declarations, which were required in the older method when using DTDs, are required for XInclude.

XInclude Works in XML 1.0 and XML 1.1

XInclude 1.0 takes advantage of the XML Information Set (Infoset), and merges XML information sets. Therefore, it can be used with any version of XML, as well as other existing XML-related specifications, such as the XML-family components XML Schema and XSLT, as well as with XML applications such as the popular Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and VoiceXML 2.0 specifications. XInclude 1.0 also takes advantage of the XPointer Framework and can be used to include sub-resources, such as fragments of XML documents, that are identified by a separate xpointer attribute.

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology. More than 350 organizations are Members of W3C. To learn more, see http://www.w3.org/

 

Contact Americas and Australia --

Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884

Contact Europe, Africa and Middle East --

Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94

Contact Asia --

Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

Testimonials for W3C's XML Inclusions (XInclude), Version 1.0

Arbortext | Sun Microsystems | University of Edinburgh

Arbortext

XInclude simplifies creating and managing information components, making it easier for authors and organizations to reuse information in multiple documents and document types. Enabling more frequent reuse of information helps authors work more effectively while increasing the accuracy of information that they deliver. Arbortext enthusiastically contributed to the development of this Recommendation, and earlier this year we delivered support for XInclude in the Arbortext 5 release of our Enterprise Publishing software.

-- Paul Grosso, Vice President of Research and Co-founder, Arbortext

Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems is pleased to see XInclude published as a W3C Recommendation, which provides a critical piece of infrastructure for compound document authoring not generally available in the post-DTD world. As evidence of our commitment to XInclude and open standards, Java 5.0 ships with support for XInclude today.

-- Ed Julson, Engineering Director of Web Technologies, Sun Microsystems

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh welcomes the publication of Xinclude as a W3C Recommendation. The W3C's support of XML and related technologies is fundamental to work in many areas of University, particularly speech and language technology work in the School of Informatics.

XInclude addresses a key aspect of this work, namely the representation in XML of linguistic annotation which is not strictly hierarchical. XInclude will allow us to make our existing widely-used approach to this problem, know as Stand-off Markup , into full compliance with W3C Recommendations.

-- Henry S. Thompson, Reader in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, University of Edinburgh