XLinks and XPointers

Elliotte Rusty Harold

Software Development 2002 East

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

elharo@metalab.unc.edu

http://www.cafeconleche.org/

HTML Hypertext is Limited

The Web conquered gopher for one reason: HTML made it possible to embed hypertext links in documents.
HTML linking has limits

You can only link to one document at a time
You must link to the entire document.
Once the link is traversed the trail of where you've been is lost.

Includes are server dependent and don't work across domains
Links break

XML Hypertext

Linking in XML is divided into multiple parts:

A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) identifies a resource by name or location:
- Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) locate resources
- Uniform Resource Names (URNs) name resources
An XLink defines connections between two or more documents identified by URIs
XPath identifies particular nodes within a document
An XPointer adds an XPath to a URI
XBase defines the URI against which relative URIs are resolved
XInclude embeds a document identified by a URI inside an XML document.

XML Hypertext Example

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<story date="January 9, 2001"
       xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
       xmlns:xinclude="http://www.w3.org/1999/XML/xinclude"
       xml:base="http://www.cafeaulait.org/">

  <para>
    The W3C XML Linking Working Group has pushed the 
    <title xlink:type="simple"
      xlink:href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-xptr-20010108">
      XPointer specification
    </title> 
    back to working draft status. The specific issue that was 
    uncovered during Candidate Recommendation was some 
    <link xlink:type="simple"
      xlink:href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xptr#xpointer(//div[@class='div3'][7])">
      confusion
    </link> 
    over how to integrate XPointers, particularly those in non-XML documents, 
    with namespaces. 
   </para>

   <para>
     It's also come to light in this draft that Sun has 
     <link xlink:type="simple"
      xlink:href=
      "http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-xml-linking-comments/2000OctDec/0092.html"
      >
      claimed a patent</link> on some of the technologies needed to 
      implement XPointer. I think this is particularly offensive because Eve 
      L. Maler, a Sun employee, served as co-chair of the XML Linking 
      Working Group and a co-editor of the XPointer specification. As usual 
      Sun wants to use this as a club to lock implementers and users into a 
      licensing agreement that goes beyond what Sun and the W3C could 
      otherwise demand. The specific patent is <cite>United States Patent 
      No. 5,659,729, Method and system for implementing hypertext scroll 
      attributes</cite>, issued to Jakob Nielsen in 1997. The patent was 
      filed on February 1, 1996. It claims:
  </para>
  <quotation>
    <xinclude:include 
      href=
      "http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05659729__#xpointer(//abstract)"
      >
    </xinclude:include>
  </quotation>
  
</story>

View in Browser

XLink Stylesheet

*:link {color: blue}

para, quotation {display: block}
cite {font-style: italic}

View in Browser

Versions

This talk covers:

XLinks: June 27, 2001 Recommendation
XPointers July 10, 2002 Working Drafts:
XPath: November 16, 1999 1.0 Specification
XML Base: June 27, 2001 Recommendation

Part I: XLinks

Once you've tasted XLink's Chunky Monkey, it's hard to reconcile yourself to HTML's vanilla.

--John E. Simpson on the xsl-list mailing list

XLinks are More Powerful

Designed especially for use with XML
Multidirectional
Any element can be a link, not just <A>
Can link to arbitrary positions in the document

Application Support

No general-purpose Web browsers or other applications support arbitrary XLinks.
XLinks have a much broader base of applicability than HTML links. They can be used by any custom application that needs to establish connections between documents and parts of documents, for any reason.
Even when XLinks are fully implemented in browsers they may not always be blue underlined text that you click to jump to another page.

Linking Elements

Any element can be a link.
An xmlns:xlink attribute associates the xlink prefix with the http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink namespace.
XLink elements are identified by an xlink:type attribute with one of these six values:
- simple
- extended
- locator
- arc
- resource
- title
Linking elements are identified by an xlink:type attribute with one of these two values:
- simple
- extended
xlink:href attributes contain the URI of the resource being linked to.

For example

<FOOTNOTE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
          xlink:type="simple"
          xlink:href="footnote7.xml">7</FOOTNOTE>
<COMPOSER xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
          xlink:type="simple"
          xlink:href="http://www.beand.com/">
    Beth Anderson
</COMPOSER>
<IMAGE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
       xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="logo.gif"/>

Declaring XLink Attributes in DTDs

<!ELEMENT FOOTNOTE (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST FOOTNOTE
  xmlns:xlink CDATA #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xlink:type  CDATA #FIXED "simple"
  xlink:href  CDATA #REQUIRED
>
<!ELEMENT COMPOSER (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST COMPOSER
  xmlns:xlink CDATA #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xlink:type  CDATA #FIXED "simple"
  xlink:href  CDATA #REQUIRED
>
<!ELEMENT IMAGE EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST IMAGE
  xmlns:xlink CDATA #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xlink:type  CDATA #FIXED "simple"
  xlink:href  CDATA #REQUIRED
>

Fixed Attributes

<FOOTNOTE xlink:href="footnote7.xml">7</FOOTNOTE>
<COMPOSER xlink:href="http://www.interport.net/~beand/">
  Beth Anderson
</COMPOSER>
<IMAGE xlink:href="logo.gif"/>

Other Attributes

<!ELEMENT IMAGE EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST IMAGE
  xmlns:xlink CDATA #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xlink:type  CDATA #FIXED "simple"
  xlink:href  CDATA #REQUIRED
  ALT         CDATA #REQUIRED
  HEIGHT      CDATA #REQUIRED
  WIDTH       CDATA #REQUIRED
>

Descriptions of the Remote Resource

A link element may contain optional xlink:role and xlink:title attributes that describe the remote resource, that is, the document or other resource to which the link points
The title contains a short plain text description.

The role contains a URI pointing to a long description.

<AUTHOR 
 xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
 xlink:href="mailto:elharo@metalab.unc.edu"
 xlink:title="Send email to Elliotte Rusty Harold" 
 xlink:role="http://www.elharo.com/">
  Please drop me a line.
</AUTHOR>

As with all other attributes, the xlink:title and xlink:role attributes should be declared in the DTD for all the elements to which they belong. For example, this is a reasonable declaration for the above AUTHOR element:

<!ELEMENT AUTHOR (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST AUTHOR
  xmlns:xlink CDATA #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xlink:type  CDATA #FIXED "simple"
  xlink:href  CDATA #REQUIRED
  xlink:title CDATA #IMPLIED
  xlink:role  CDATA #IMPLIED
>

Link Behavior

Linking elements can contain two more optional attributes that suggest to applications how the remote resource is associated with the current page. These are:

xlink:show suggests where the content should be displayed when the link is activated
xlink:actuate suggests whether the link should be traversed automatically or whether a specific user request is required
These are application dependent, however, and applications are free to ignore the suggestions.

xlink:show

The xlink:show attribute has five predefined values:
- replace
- new
- embed
- other
- none

Like all attributes in valid documents, the xlink:show attribute must be declared in a <!ATTLIST> declaration for the DTD's link element. For example:

<!ELEMENT WEBSITE (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST WEBSITE 
    xmlns:xlink CDATA  #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
    xlink:type CDATA   #FIXED "simple"
    xlink:href CDATA   #REQUIRED
    xlink:show (new | replace | embed) "replace"
>

xlink:actuate

A linking element's xlink:actuate attribute has four predefined values:

onRequest
onLoad
other
none

<IMAGE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
  xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="logo.gif"
  xlink:actuate="onLoad"/>
  xlink:show="embed"

Like all attributes in valid documents, the actuate attribute must be declared in the DTD in a <!ATTLIST> declaration for the link elements in which it appears. For example:

<!ELEMENT IMAGE EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST IMAGE 
 xmlns:xlink CDATA #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xlink:type CDATA #FIXED "simple"
  xlink:href CDATA #REQUIRED
  xlink:show    (new | replace | embed) "embed"
  xlink:actuate (onRequest | onLoad)    "onLoad"
>

Parameter Entities for Link Attributes

<!ENTITY % link-attributes
   "xlink:type     CDATA  #FIXED 'simple'
    xlink:role     CDATA  #IMPLIED
    xlink:title    CDATA  #IMPLIED

    xmlns:xlink    CDATA  #FIXED 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'
    xlink:href     CDATA  #REQUIRED
    xlink:show     (new | replace | embed) 'replace'
    xlink:actuate  (onRequest | onLoad)    'onRequest'"
>

<!ELEMENT COMPOSER (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST COMPOSER 
    %link-attributes;
>
<!ELEMENT AUTHOR (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST AUTHOR
    %link-attributes;
>
<!ELEMENT WEBSITE (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST WEBSITE
    %link-attributes;
>

Extended Links

Simple links are very similar to HTML links, one-directional, one-element-to-one-document links
Extended links are multi-directional, many-to-many links
An extended link is a list of nodes and a list of the connections between them

Extended Links

An extended link is included in an XML document as an element of some arbitrary type like COMPOSER or TEAM that has an xlink:type attribute with the value extended.

<WEBSITE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
         xlink:type="extended">
 ...
</WEBSITE>

Resources

Extended links generally point to more than one target and from more than one source. Both sources and targets are called by the more generic word resource.
Resources are divided into remote resources and local resources.
A local resource is actually contained inside the extended link element. It is enclosed in element of arbitrary type that has an xlink:type attribute with the value resource.
A remote resource exists outside the extended link element, very possibly in another document. The extended link element contains locator child elements that point to the remote resource. These are elements with any name that have an xlink:type attribute with the value locator. Each locator element has an xlink:href attribute whose value is a URI locating the remote resource.

Resource Example

<WEBSITE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
         xlink:type="extended">
  <NAME xlink:type="resource">Cafe au Lait</NAME>
  <HOMESITE xlink:type="locator" 
            xlink:href="http://ibiblio.org/javafaq/"/>
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.kth.se/javafaq"/>
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/javafaq/"/>
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/javafaq/"/>
</WEBSITE>

This WEBSITE element describes an extended link with five resources:

The text "Cafe au Lait", a local resource
The document at http://ibiblio.org/javafaq/, a remote resource
The document at http://sunsite.kth.se/javafaq, a remote resource
The document at http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/javafaq/, a remote resource
The document at http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/javafaq/, a remote resource

Since one of the resources referenced by this extended link is contained in the extended link, it is called an inline link. It will be included as part of one of the documents it connects.

Resource Example Diagram

This picture shows the WEBSITE extended link element and five resources, one of which WEBSITE contains, the other four of which are referred to by URLs. However, this just describes these resources. No connections are implied between them.

Four local and one remote resource with no connections

Roles and Titles for Resources

Both the extended link element itself and the individual locator children may have descriptive attributes such as xlink:role and xlink:title.
The xlink:role and xlink:title attributes of the extended link element provide default roles and titles for each of the individual locator child elements.
Individual resource and locator elements may override these defaults with xlink:role and xlink:title attributes of their own.

<WEBSITE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
         xlink:type="extended" xlink:title="Cafe au Lait">
  <NAME xlink:type="resource" 
        xlink:role="http://ibiblio.org/javafaq/">
    Cafe au Lait
  </NAME>
  <HOMESITE xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:href="http://ibiblio.org/javafaq/"
          xlink:role="http://ibiblio.org/"/>
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
         xlink:title="Cafe au Lait Swedish Mirror"
         xlink:role="http://sunsite.kth.se/"
         xlink:href="http://sunsite.kth.se/javafaq"/>
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
         xlink:title="Cafe au Lait German Mirror"
         xlink:role="http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/"
         xlink:href=
          "http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/javafaq/"/>
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
         xlink:title="Cafe au Lait Swiss Mirror"
         xlink:role="http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/"
         xlink:href="http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/javafaq/"/>
</WEBSITE>

DTD for Extended Links

<!ELEMENT WEBSITE (NAME, HOMESITE, MIRROR*) >
<!ATTLIST WEBSITE
  xmlns:xlink  CDATA     #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xlink:type  (extended) #FIXED  "extended"
  xlink:title  CDATA     #IMPLIED
  xlink:role   CDATA     #IMPLIED
>

<!ELEMENT NAME (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST NAME
   xlink:type  (resource) #FIXED    "resource"
   xlink:role   CDATA     #IMPLIED
   xlink:title  CDATA     #IMPLIED
>

<!ELEMENT HOMESITE (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST HOMESITE
   xlink:type  (locator)  #FIXED    "locator"
   xlink:href   CDATA     #REQUIRED
   xlink:role   CDATA     #IMPLIED
   xlink:title  CDATA     #IMPLIED
>

<!ELEMENT MIRROR (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST MIRROR
   xlink:type  (locator)  #FIXED    "locator"
   xlink:href   CDATA     #REQUIRED
   xlink:role   CDATA     #IMPLIED
   xlink:title  CDATA     #IMPLIED
>

Another Shortcut for the DTD

<!ENTITY % extended.att
  "xlink:type   CDATA    #FIXED 'extended'
   xmlns:xlink  CDATA    #FIXED 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'
   xlink:role   CDATA    #IMPLIED
   xlink:title  CDATA    #IMPLIED"
>

<!ENTITY % resource.att
  "xlink:type (resource) #FIXED  'resource'
   xlink:href    CDATA   #REQUIRED
   xlink:role    CDATA   #IMPLIED
   xlink:title   CDATA   #IMPLIED"
>

<!ENTITY % locator.att
  "xlink:type (locator)  #FIXED  'locator'
   xlink:href    CDATA   #REQUIRED
   xlink:role    CDATA   #IMPLIED
   xlink:title   CDATA   #IMPLIED"
>

<!ELEMENT WEBSITE (HOMESITE, MIRROR*) >
<!ATTLIST WEBSITE
   %extended.att;
>

<!ELEMENT NAME (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST NAME
   %resource.att;
>

<!ELEMENT HOMESITE (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST HOMESITE
   %locator.att;
>

<!ELEMENT MIRROR (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST MIRROR
   %locator.att;
>

Arcs

In an extended link with three resources, A, B, and C; there are nine different possible traversals.
- A --> A
- B --> B
- C --> C
- A --> B
- B --> A
- A --> C
- C --> A
- B --> C
- C --> B
These potential traversals are called arcs
Arcs are represented in XML by elements that have an xlink:type attribute with the value arc.
Traversal rules are defined by attaching xlink:actuate and xlink:show attributes to arc elements.
An arc element has an xlink:from attribute and an xlink:to attribute.
These attributes match the xlink:label attributes of the locator element in the extended link from which traversal is initiated and to which the traversal goes.

Arc Example

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<WEBSITE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
         xlink:type="extended" xlink:title="Cafe au Lait">
         
  <NAME xlink:type="resource" xlink:label="source">
    Cafe au Lait
  </NAME>

  <HOMESITE xlink:type="locator" 
            xlink:href="http://ibiblio.org/javafaq/"
            xlink:label="us"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:title="Cafe au Lait Swedish Mirror"
          xlink:label="se"
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.kth.se/javafaq"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:title="Cafe au Lait German Mirror"
          xlink:label="de"
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/javafaq/"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:title="Cafe au Lait Swiss Mirror"
          xlink:label="ch"
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/javafaq/"/>
  
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="source" 
              xlink:to="ch"    xlink:show="replace" 
              xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="source" 
              xlink:to="us"    xlink:show="replace" 
              xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="source" 
              xlink:to="se"    xlink:show="replace" 
              xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="source" 
              xlink:to="sk"    xlink:show="replace" 
              xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>
  
</WEBSITE>

Arc Example Diagram

Arc Example

<WEBSITE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
         xlink:type="extended" xlink:title="Cafe au Lait">
         
  <NAME xlink:type="resource" xlink:label="source">
    Cafe au Lait
  </NAME>

  <HOMESITE xlink:type="locator" 
           xlink:href="http://ibiblio.org/javafaq/"
           xlink:label="us"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
         xlink:title="Cafe au Lait Swedish Mirror"
         xlink:label="mirror"
         xlink:href="http://sunsite.kth.se/javafaq"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
         xlink:title="Cafe au Lait German Mirror"
         xlink:label="mirror"
         xlink:href="http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/javafaq/"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
         xlink:title="Cafe au Lait Swiss Mirror"
         xlink:label="mirror"
         xlink:href="http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/javafaq/"/>
  
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc"  xlink:from="source" 
              xlink:to="mirror" xlink:show="replace" 
              xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>

</WEBSITE>

Arc Example Diagram

Arc Example with omitted to attribute

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<WEBSITE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
         xlink:type="extended" xlink:title="Cafe au Lait">
         
  <NAME xlink:type="resource" xlink:label="source">
    Cafe au Lait
  </NAME>

  <HOMESITE xlink:type="locator" 
            xlink:href="http://ibiblio.org/javafaq/"
            xlink:label="us"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:title="Cafe au Lait Swedish Mirror"
          xlink:label="se"
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.kth.se/javafaq"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:title="Cafe au Lait German Mirror"
          xlink:label="sk"
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/javafaq/"/>
  
  <MIRROR xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:title="Cafe au Lait Swiss Mirror"
          xlink:label="ch"
          xlink:href="http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/javafaq/"/>
  
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="source" 
                 xlink:show="new" xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>

  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="source" 
              xlink:show="replace" xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>

</WEBSITE>

Arc Example Diagram

Arcs can return to the same resource they started from

Arc DTD Fragment

<!ELEMENT WEBSITE (HOMESITE, MIRROR*, xlink:arc*) >
<!ATTLIST WEBSITE
  xmlns:xlink  CDATA  #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  xlink:type  (extended) #FIXED  "extended"
  xlink:title  CDATA     #IMPLIED
  xlink:label  CDATA     #IMPLIED
>

<!ELEMENT HOMESITE (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST HOMESITE
   xlink:type     (locator) #FIXED  "locator"
   xlink:href      CDATA    #REQUIRED
   xlink:label     CDATA    #REQUIRED
   xlink:title     CDATA    #IMPLIED
>

<!ELEMENT MIRROR (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST MIRROR
   xlink:type     (locator) #FIXED  "locator"
   xlink:href      CDATA    #REQUIRED
   xlink:label     CDATA    #REQUIRED
   xlink:title     CDATA    #IMPLIED
>

<!ELEMENT xlink:arc EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST CONNECTION
  xlink:type     (arc)               #FIXED   "arc"
  xlink:from     CDATA               #IMPLIED
  xlink:to       CDATA               #IMPLIED
  xlink:show    (replace)            "replace"
  xlink:actuate (onRequest | onLoad) "onRequest"
>

Out-of-Line Links

Inline links, such as the familiar A element from HTML, are themselves part of the source or target of the link. The source of the link, that is the blue underlined text, is included inside the A element that defines the link. Most simple links are inline.
An out-of-line link does not contain any part of any of the resources it connects. Instead, the links are stored in a separate document called the linkbase.
Out of line links allow you to add links to and from documents that can't be modified such as a page on someone else's web site.
Out of line links allow you to add links to different parts of non-XML content.
Out of line links are not yet supported by software.

Out of line Link example

Out of line Link example

Out of line Link Example

<COURSE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
         xlink:type="extended">

  <TOC xlink:type="locator" 
          xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/" 
          xlink:label="index"/>

  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class"
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week1.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week2.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week3.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week4.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week5.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week6.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week7.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week8.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week9.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week10.xml"/> 
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week11.xml"/> 
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week12.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week13.xml"/>
  
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" from="index" to="class"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" from="class" to="index"/>
  
</COURSE>

Another Out of line Link Example

<COURSE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
         xlink:type="extended">

  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="1"
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week1.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="2" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week2.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="3"
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week3.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="4"
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week4.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="5" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week5.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="6"
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week6.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator"  xlink:label="7" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week7.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator"   xlink:label="8"
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week8.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="9"
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week9.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator"  xlink:label="10"
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week10.xml"/> 
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="11" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week11.xml"/> 
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="12" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week12.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="13" 
         xlink:href="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week13.xml"/>
  
  <!-- Previous Links --> 
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="2" xlink:to="1"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="3" xlink:to="2"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="4" xlink:to="3"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="5" xlink:to="4"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="6" xlink:to="5"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="7" xlink:to="6"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="8" xlink:to="7"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="9" xlink:to="8"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="10" xlink:to="9"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="11" xlink:to="10"/> 
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="12" xlink:to="11"/> 
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="13" xlink:to="12"/>
  
  <!-- Next Links --> 
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="1" xlink:to="2"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="2" xlink:to="3"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="3" xlink:to="4"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="4" xlink:to="5"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="5" xlink:to="6"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="6" xlink:to="7"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="7" xlink:to="8"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="8" xlink:to="9"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="9" xlink:to="10"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="10" xlink:to="11"/> 
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="11" xlink:to="12"/> 
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" xlink:from="12" xlink:to="13"/>
  
</COURSE>

Linkbases

A single XML document may contain multiple out-of-line extended links. However, the current XLink specification is relatively silent on exactly what the format of such a compound document should look like. About all it says is that such a document must be a well-formed XML document. An XLink processor would presumably read the entire document an extract any extended links that indicate connections to or from the current document.
A browser or other application that's reading the individual pages needs to be informed that there is a separate linkbase elsewhere that it should read and parse so that it can show the links to the user.
Ideally it would be handled through some external mechanism such as HTTP headers.
The only currently defined way to do this is to add an arc element inside the documents the out-of-line link connects. This arc has an xlink:arcrole attribute with the value http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink/properties/linkbase. Its xlink:to attribute points to the linkbase.

<METADATA xlink:type="xlink:extended"
          xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <LINKBASE xlink:type="arc"
            xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
            xlink:arcrole="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink/properties/linkbase"
            xlink:to="courselinks"/>
  <RESOURCE xlink:type="locator" href="courselinks.xml" 
            xlink:label="courselinks"/>
</METADATA>

XLink Summary

XLinks can do everything HTML links can do and quite a bit more, but they aren't supported by current applications.
XLink elements of all types are placed in the http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink namespace, normally with the xlink prefix.
Simple links behave much like HTML links, but they are not restricted to a single <A> tag.
Linking elements are identified by xlink:type attributes.
Simple link elements are identified by xlink:type attributes with the value simple.
Linking elements can describe the resource they're linking to with xlink:title and xlink:role attributes.
Linking elements can use the xlink:show attribute to tell the application how the content should be displayed when the link is activated, for example, by opening a new window.
Linking elements can use the xlink:actuate attribute to tell the application whether the link should be traversed without a specific user request.
Extended link elements are identified by xlink:type attributes with the value extended.
Extended links can contain multiple locators, resources, and arcs. Currently, it's left to the application to decide how to choose between different alternatives.
A resource element represents a local, inline resource. It is identified by an xlink:type attributes with the value resource.
A locator element represents a remote, out-of-line resource. It is identified by an xlink:type attribute with the value locator.
Both locator and resource elements can be labeled by xlink:label attributes. These labels are used to define arcs between resources.
A locator element has an xlink:href attribute whose value is the URI of the resource it locates.
Arc elements are identified by xlink:type attributes with the value arc.
Arc elements have xlink:from and xlink:to attributes of IDREF type that identify the resources they connect by their labels.
Arc elements may have xlink:show and xlink:actuate attributes to determine when and how traversal of the link occurs.
An out-of-line link is a link that does not contain any local resources.
A linkbase is a document containing multiple out-of-line, extended link elements.
A linkbase is found when a document with an extended link with the role xlink:external-linkset is read.

To Learn More

This presentation: http://www.cafeconleche.org/slides/sd2002east/xlinks/
XLink Specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/xlink/
Chapter 19 of the XML Bible, 2nd Edition: http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/bible2/chapters/ch19.html
Chapter 10 of XML in a Nutshell, 2nd edition

Part II: XPointers

The many advantages of descriptive pointing are crucial for a scalable, generic pointing system. Descriptive pointing is crucial for all the same reasons that descriptive markup is crucial to documents, and that making links first-class objects is crucial to linking. It is also clearly feasible, as shown by multiple implementations of the prior WDs from the XML WG, and of TEI extended pointers.

--XML Linking Working Group, XML XPointer Requirements

XPointers

Why Use XPointers?
XPointer Examples
A Concrete Example
Location Paths, Steps, and Sets
Axes
Node Tests
Predicates
Functions that Return Node Sets
Points
Ranges
Child Sequences

What are XPointers?

XPointer, the XML Pointer Language, defines an addressing scheme for individual parts of an XML document.
XLinks point to a URI (in practice, a URL) that specifies a particular resource.
The URI may include an XPointer part that more specifically identifies the desired part or element of the targeted resource or document.
XPointers use the same XPath syntax you're familiar with from XSL transformations to identify the parts of the document they point to, along with a few additional pieces.

Why Use XPointers?

The element with a given ID
All elements that possess a certain attribute
The first element of a certain type
The last element whose class attribute has the value pending.
The seventh element of a given type
The first child of the seventh element
and many more including combinations of these addresses...

XPointer Examples

xpointer(id("ebnf"))
xpointer(descendant::language[position()=2])
ebnf
xpointer(/child::spec/child::body/child::*/child::language[position()=2])
element(/1/14/2)
xpointer(id("ebnf"))xpointer(id("EBNF"))

XPointers in URIs

The XPointer does not specify the document. A URI does.
XPointers can be used as fragment identifiers in a URI after a #
For example,
http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210.xml#xpointer(id("ebnf")) http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210.xml#xpointer(descendant::language[position()=2]) http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210.xml#ebnf http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210.xml#xpointer(/child::spec/child::body/child::*/child::language[position()=2]) http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210.xml#element(/1/14/2) http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210.xml#xpointer(id("ebnf"))xpointer(id("EBNF"))

XPointers in XLinks

<SPECIFICATION xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210.xml#xpointer(id('ebnf'))" xlink:actuate="onRequest" xlink:show="replace"> Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 </SPECIFICATION>

A Concrete Example

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE FAMILYTREE [

  <!ELEMENT FAMILYTREE (PERSON | FAMILY)*>

  <!-- PERSON elements --> 
  <!ELEMENT PERSON (NAME*, BORN*, DIED*, SPOUSE*)>
  <!ATTLIST PERSON 
    ID      ID     #REQUIRED
    FATHER  CDATA  #IMPLIED
    MOTHER  CDATA  #IMPLIED
  >
  <!ELEMENT NAME (#PCDATA)>
  <!ELEMENT BORN (#PCDATA)>
  <!ELEMENT DIED  (#PCDATA)>
  <!ELEMENT SPOUSE EMPTY>
  <!ATTLIST SPOUSE IDREF IDREF #REQUIRED>
  
  <!--FAMILY--> 
  <!ELEMENT FAMILY (HUSBAND?, WIFE?, CHILD*) >
  <!ATTLIST FAMILY ID ID #REQUIRED>
  
  <!ELEMENT HUSBAND EMPTY>
  <!ATTLIST HUSBAND IDREF IDREF #REQUIRED>
  <!ELEMENT WIFE EMPTY>
  <!ATTLIST WIFE IDREF IDREF #REQUIRED>
  <!ELEMENT CHILD EMPTY>
  <!ATTLIST CHILD IDREF IDREF #REQUIRED>

]>
<FAMILYTREE>

  <PERSON ID="p1">
    <NAME>Domeniquette Celeste Baudean</NAME>
    <BORN>21 Apr 1836</BORN>
    <DIED>Unknown</DIED>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p2"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p2">
    <NAME>Jean Francois Bellau</NAME>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p1"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p3" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
    <NAME>Elodie Bellau</NAME>
    <BORN>11 Feb 1858</BORN>
    <DIED>12 Apr 1898</DIED>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p4"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p4" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
    <NAME>John P. Muller</NAME>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p3"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p7">
    <NAME>Adolf Eno</NAME>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p6"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p6" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
    <NAME>Maria Bellau</NAME>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p7"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p5" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
    <NAME>Eugene Bellau</NAME>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p8" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
    <NAME>Louise Pauline Bellau</NAME>
    <BORN>29 Oct 1868</BORN>
    <DIED>3 May 1938</DIED>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p9"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p9">
    <NAME>Charles Walter Harold</NAME>
    <BORN>about 1861</BORN>
    <DIED>about 1938</DIED>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p8"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p10" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
    <NAME>Victor Joseph Bellau</NAME>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p11"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p11">
    <NAME>Ellen Gilmore</NAME>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p10"/>
  </PERSON>

  <PERSON ID="p12" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
    <NAME>Honore Bellau</NAME>
  </PERSON>

  <FAMILY ID="f1">
    <HUSBAND IDREF="p2"/>
    <WIFE IDREF="p1"/>
    <CHILD IDREF="p3"/>
    <CHILD IDREF="p5"/>
    <CHILD IDREF="p6"/>
    <CHILD IDREF="p8"/>
    <CHILD IDREF="p10"/>
    <CHILD IDREF="p12"/>
  </FAMILY>

  <FAMILY ID="f2">
    <HUSBAND IDREF="p7"/>
    <WIFE IDREF="p6"/>
  </FAMILY>

</FAMILYTREE>

Location Paths, Steps, and Sets

Many (though not all) XPointers are location paths. These are the same location paths used by XSLT.
Location paths are built from location steps.
Each location step specifies a point in the targeted document, generally relative to some other well-known point such as the start of the document or another location step. This well-known point is called the context node.

Location Steps

A location step has three parts:
- The axis
- The node test
- An optional predicate
axis::node-test[predicate]
child::PERSON[position()=2]
The axis tells you in what direction to search from the context node.
The node test tells you which nodes to consider along the axis.
The predicate is a boolean expression that tests each node in that set. If that expression returns false, then the node is removed from the set.

Location Paths

xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::PERSON[position()=3])
The location path of this XPointer is /child::FAMILYTREE/child::PERSON[position()=3].
It is built from two location steps:
- /child::FAMILYTREE
- child::PERSON[position()=3]

It identifies the single node:

  <PERSON ID="p3" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
    <NAME>Elodie Bellau</NAME>
    <BORN>11 Feb 1858</BORN>
    <DIED>12 Apr 1898</DIED>
    <SPOUSE IDREF="p4"/>
  </PERSON>

Location Paths that Identify Multiple Nodes

xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::PERSON[position()>3])
Identifies all PERSON element nodes after Elodie Bellau

Axes

XPath defines twelve axes along which an XPointer may search for nodes
These depend on context to determine exactly what they point to.
For instance, consider this location path:
id("p6")/child::NAME
It begins with the id() function that returns a node set containing the element with the ID type attribute whose value is p6. This provides a context node for the following location step along the relative child axis.
Other axes include
- ancestor
- descendant
- self
- ancestor-or-self
- descendant-or-self
- attribute
Each selects nodes from a particular subset of the nodes in the document. For instance, the following axis selects from nodes that come after the context node. The preceding axis selects from nodes that come before the context node.

Location Step Axes

Axis	Selects From
`ancestor`	the parent of the context node, the parent of the parent of the context node, the parent of the parent of the parent of the context node, and so forth back to the root node
`ancestor-or-self`	the ancestors of the context node and the context node itself
`attribute`	the attributes of the context node
`child`	the immediate children of the context node
`descendant`	the children of the context node, the children of the children of the context node, and so forth
`descendant-or-self`	the context node itself and its descendants
`following`	all nodes that start after the end of the context node, excluding attribute and namespace nodes
`following-sibling`	all nodes that start after the end of the context node and have the same parent as the context node
`parent`	the unique parent node of the context node
`preceding`	all nodes that end before the beginning of the context node, excluding attribute and namespace nodes
`preceding-sibling`	all nodes that start before the beginning of the context node and have the same parent as the context node
`self`	the context node

Node Tests

There are ten node tests in XPointer, eight from XPath and two new ones:
- name
- *
- prefix:*
- @name
- node()
- text()
- comment()
- processing-instruction()
- point()
- range()
A node test is attached to an axis to specify which nodes along the axis are chosen.
For example:
/descendant::body/child::*/attribute::xlink:*

Predicates

Each location step can contain zero or more predicates that further restrict which nodes an XPointer points to. In most non-trivial cases a predicate is necessary to pick the one node from a node set that you want.
Each predicate contains a boolean expression in square brackets ([]) that further winnows the node set.
This allows an XPointer to select nodes according to many different criteria. For example, you can select:
- All elements that have a specified attribute
- All elements that have a specified attribute with a specified value
- The first element that contains a specified child element
- An element whose text content includes a specified string
- All elements that are not the first or last children of their parents
- All elements whose value is a number
- All elements whose value is a number greater than 100
These are just a small sampling of the selections that predicates make possible.

Boolean Conversion

XPath predicate expressions are ultimately converted to a boolean after all calculations are finished. Non-boolean results are converted as follows:
- A number is true if it's equal to the position of the context node, false otherwise.
- An empty node set is false; all other node sets are true.
- A zero length string is false; all other strings are true (including the string "false")
The predicate expression is evaluated for each node in the context node list. Each node for which the expression ultimately evaluates to false is removed from the list. Thus only those nodes that satisfy the predicate remain.

The position() function

Probably the function most frequently used in XPointer predicates is position(). This returns the index of the node in the context node list. This allows you to find the first, second, third, or other indexed node.

You can compare positions using the various relational operators like <, >, =, !=, >=, and <=.

xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=1])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=2])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=3])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=4])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=5])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=6])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=7])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=8])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=9])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=10])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=11])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=12])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=13])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[position()=14])

Identifying an element by its position

xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[1])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[2])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[3])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[4])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[5])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[6])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[7])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[8])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[9])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[10])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[11])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[12])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[13])
xpointer(/child::FAMILYTREE/child::*[14])

Functions that Return Node Sets


        id()
        here()
        origin()

The last two, here() and origin() are XPointer extensions to XPath that are not available in XSLT.

id()

The id() function selects the element in the document that has an ID type attribute with a specified value.
For example, consider the URI http://www.theharolds.com/genealogy.xml#xpointer(id("p12")). If you look back at Listing 17-1, you find this element:
```
<PERSON ID="p12" FATHER="p2" MOTHER="p1">
  <NAME>Honore Bellau</NAME>
</PERSON>
```
Since ID pointers are so common and so useful, there's also a shortcut for this. If all you want to do is point to a particular element with a particular ID, you can skip all the xpointer(id("")) fru-fru and just use the bare ID after the # like this:
http://www.theharolds.com/genealogy.xml#p12

here()

Consider a simple slide show. In this example, here()/following::SLIDE[1] refers to the next slide in the show. here()/preceding::SLIDE[1] refers to the previous slide in the show. Presumably this would be used in conjunction with a style sheet that showed one slide at a time.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SLIDESHOW xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <SLIDE>
    <H1>Welcome to the slide show!</H1>
    <BUTTON xlink:type="simple"
            xlink:href="here()/following::SLIDE[1]">
      Next
    </BUTTON>
  </SLIDE>
  <SLIDE>
    <H1>This is the second slide</H1>
    <BUTTON xlink:type="simple" 
            xlink:href="here()/preceding::SLIDE[1]">
      Previous
    </BUTTON>
    <BUTTON xlink:type="simple" 
            xlink:href="here()/following::SLIDE[1]">
      Next
    </BUTTON>
  </SLIDE>
  <SLIDE>
    <H1>This is the second slide</H1>
    <BUTTON xlink:type="simple" 
            xlink:href="here()/preceding::SLIDE[1]">
      Previous
    </BUTTON>
    <BUTTON xlink:type="simple" 
           xlink:href="here()/following::SLIDE[1]">
      Next
    </BUTTON>
  </SLIDE>
  <SLIDE>
    <H1>This is the third slide</H1>
    <BUTTON xlink:type="simple" 
            xlink:href="here()/preceding::SLIDE[1]">
      Previous
    </BUTTON>
    <BUTTON xlink:type="simple" 
            xlink:href="here()/following::SLIDE[1]">
      Next
    </BUTTON>
  </SLIDE>
  ...
  <SLIDE>
    <H1>This is the last slide</H1>
    <BUTTON xlink:type="simple"
            xlink:href="here()/preceding::SLIDE[1]">
      Previous
    </BUTTON>
  </SLIDE>

</SLIDESHOW>

Generally, the here() location term is only used in relative URIs in XLinks. If any URI part is included, it must be the same as the URI of the current document.

here() is very close to self::node()|@* with the single exception that if the current node is a text node, then here() returns the element containing the text node rather than the text node itself.

origin()

The origin() function is related to here(). It refers to the source of a link. However, origin() is used in out-of-line links where the link is not actually present in the source document. It points to the element in the source document from which the user activated the link. This enables you to implement "back" links.

Points

Every point is either between two nodes or between two characters in the parsed character data of a document. To make sense of this you have to remember that parsed character data is part of a text node. For instance, consider this very simple but well-formed XML document:

<GREETING>
  Hello
</GREETING>

Tree Structure

There are exactly three nodes and 13 distinct points in this document. In order the points are:

The point before the root node
The point before the GREETING element node
The point before the text node containing the text "Hello" (as well as assorted white space)
The point before the white space between <GREETING> and Hello.
The point before the first H in Hello
The point between the H and the e in Hello
The point between the e and the l in Hello
The point between the l and the l in Hello
The point between the l and the o in Hello
The point after the o in Hello
The point after the white space between Hello and </GREETING>.
The point after the GREETING element.
The point after the root node.

The exact details of the white space in the document are not considered here. XPointer collapses all runs of white space to a single space.

Ranges

In some applications it may be important to specify a range across a document rather than a particular point in the document. For instance, the selection a user makes with a mouse is not necessarily going to match up with any one element or node. It may start in the middle of one paragraph, extend across a heading and a picture and then into the middle of another paragraph two pages down. Any such contiguous area of a document can be described with a range.

A range begins at one point and continues until another point.
The start- and end-points of the range are identified by location paths.
The first point in the location set the start path identifies is the start-point.
The last point in the location set the end path identifies is the end-point of the range.

Range Expressions

To specify a range, you append /range-to(end-point) to a location path specifying the start-point of the range.
The parentheses contain a location path specifying the end-point of the range.
For example, suppose you want to select everything between the first PERSON element and the last PERSON element
xpointer(/child::PERSON[position() = 1]/range-to(/child::PERSON[position() = last()]))

Range Functions

range(location-set): returns returns a location set containing one range for each location in the argument.
The range is the minimum range necessary to cover the entire location.
range-inside(location-set): Returns a location set containing the interiors of each of the locations in the input.
start-point(location-set): Returns a location set that contains one point representing the first point of each location in the input location set. For example, start-point(//PERSON[1]) Returns the point immediately before the first PERSON element. start-point(//PERSON) returns the set of points immediately before each PERSON element.
end-point(location-set): The same as start-point() except that it returns the points immediately after each location in its input.

String Ranges

string-range(node-set,substring,index,length)

A string range points to an occurrence of a specified string, or a substring of a given string in the text (not markup) of the document.
string-range() takes as arguments a node set to search and a substring to search for.
string-range() returns a node set containing one range for each non-overlapping match to the string.
By default, the range returned starts before the first matched character and encompasses all the matched characters.
You can also provide optional index and length arguments indicating how many characters after the match the range should start and how many characters after the start the range should continue.
For example, this XPointer finds all occurrences of the string "Harold":
xpointer(string-range(/,"Harold"))
You can change the first argument to specify what nodes you want to look in. For example, this XPointer finds all occurrences of the string "Harold" in NAME elements:
xpointer(string-range(//NAME,"Harold"))
String ranges may have node tests. Thus this XPointer finds only the first occurrence of the string "Harold" in the document:
xpointer(string-range(/,"Harold")[position()=1])

This targets the position immediately preceding the word Harold in Charles Walter Harold's NAME element. This is not the same as pointing at the entire NAME element as an element-based selector would do.
A third numeric argument targets a particular position in the string. For example, this targets the point immediately following the first occurrence of the string "Harold" because Harold has six letters:
xpointer(string-range(/,"Harold",6)[position()=1])
An optional fourth argument specifies the number of characters to select. For example, this URI selects the "old" from the first occurrence of the entire string "Harold":
xpointer(string-range(/,"Harold",4,3)[position()=1])
When matching strings, case is considered. All white space is condensed to a single space. Markup characters are ignored.

Point Expressions

Normally, the only way to get a point location is by getting a range first and using the start-point() or end-point() functions
For example, to select the point immediately before the D in Domeniquette Celeste Baudean's NAME element,
start-point(range-inside(/child::FAMILYTREE/descendant::*[position()=1]/child::NAME/))

XPointers and Namespaces

XPointers may appear in non-XML documents where namespace prefixes are not defined.
You use an xmlns() scheme to map a prefix to a URI. For example,
xmlns(svg=http://www.w3.org/2000/svg) xpointer(//svg:polygon[3])

Child Sequences

A child sequence is a shortcut for XPointers that consist of nothing but a series of child relative location steps counting down from the root node, each of which selects a particular child by position only.
The shortcut is an element part containing element positions separated from each other by slashes, like this:
http://www.theharolds.com/genealogy.xml#element(/1/4)
/1/4 is a child sequence that says to select the fourth child element of the first child element of the root.
Element parts sequences may include an initial ID. In that case the counting begins from the element with that ID rather than from the root. For example, John P. Muller's PERSON element has an ID attribute with the value p4. Consequently the XPointer element(p4/1) points to his NAME element and element(p4/2) points to his SPOUSE element.
Each child sequence always points to a single element. You cannot use child sequences with any other relative location steps. You cannot use them to select elements of a particular type. You cannot use them to select attribute or strings. You can only use them to select a single element by its relative location in the tree.

XPointer Summary

XPointers refer to particular parts of or locations in XML documents.
The syntax of an XPointer is the keyword xpointer, followed by parentheses containing an XPath expression that returns a node set.
The id() function points to an element with a specified value for an ID type attribute.
Location steps can be chained to make more sophisticated location paths.
Each location step contains an axis, a node test, and zero or more predicates.
Relative location steps select nodes in a document based on their relationship to a context node.
The self axis points to the context node. It can be abbreviated as a period (.).
The parent axis points to the node that contains the context node. It can be abbreviated as a double period (..).
The child axis points to immediate children of the context node. It can be abbreviated simply by a node test.
The descendant axis points to all elements contained in the context node. It can be abbreviated as a double slash (//).
The descendant-or-self axis points to all elements contained in the context node as well as the context node itself.
The ancestor axis points to an element that contains the context node.
The ancestor-or-self axis points to all elements that contain the context node as well as the context node itself.
The preceding axis points to any element that comes before the context node.
The following axis points to any element following the context node.
The preceding-sibling axis selects from sibling elements that precede the context node.
The following-sibling axis selects from sibling elements that follow the context node.
The attribute axis points to an attribute of the context node. It can be abbreviated as a @ sign.
The node test of a relative location step is normally an element name, but may also be * to select all elements, @* to select all attributes, @name to select all attributes with the given name, prefix:* to select all elements in the specified namespace, or one of the keywords comment(), text(), processing-instruction(), node(), point() or range().
The optional predicate of a relative location step is an XPath boolean expression enclosed in square brackets that further narrows down the node set the XPointer refers to.
A point indicates a position preceding or following a node or a character.
A range identifies the parsed character data between two points.
The string-range() function points to a specified block of text.
A child sequence in an element() part points to an element by counting children from the root.

To Learn More

This presentation: http://www.cafeconleche.org/slides/sd2002east/xlinks/
XPointer specifications:
- XPointer Framework: http://www.w3.org/TR/xptr-framework/
- XPointer xmlns() Scheme:http://www.w3.org/TR/xptr-xmlns/
- XPointer element() Scheme: http://www.w3.org/TR/xptr-element/
Chapter 20 of the XML Bible, 2nd edition: http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/bible2/chapters/ch20.html
Chapter 10 of XML in a Nutshell

Part III: XML Base

What is XML Base?

An inband means of specifying the proper URI for a document that can succeed even if out-of-band mechanisms aren't available.
A means of specifying the proper base URI which relative URLs are relative to, even if the document itself is copied to a different location.
An XML replacement for the HTML BASE element
W3C Recommendation, June 27, 2001

The xml:base attribute

<slide xml:base="http://www.cafeconleche.org/slides/sd2002east/xlinks/">
  <title>The xml:base attribute</title>
  ...
  <previous xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="What_Is_XBase.xml"/>
  <next xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="xbaseexample.xml"/>
</slide>

May be attached to any element to set the base URI for that element and its descendants
The xml prefix is automatically bound to the http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace URI
The value should be an absolute URI

XML Base Example

<COURSE xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
         xml:base="http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/"
         xlink:type="extended">

  <TOC xlink:type="locator" xlink:href="index.html" xlink:label="index"/>

  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class"
         xlink:href="week1.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week2.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week3.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week4.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week5.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week6.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week7.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week8.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week9.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week10.xml"/> 
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week11.xml"/> 
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week12.xml"/>
  <CLASS xlink:type="locator" xlink:label="class" 
         xlink:href="week13.xml"/>
  
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" from="index" to="class"/>
  <CONNECTION xlink:type="arc" from="class" to="index"/>
  
</COURSE>

"index.html" now resolves to the URI "http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/index.html"
"week1.xml" resolves to the URI "http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week1.xml"
"week2.xml" resolves to the URI "http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week2.xml"
"week3.xml" resolves to the URI "http://www.cafeaulait.org/course/week3.xml"
etc.

Open Issues

How does it interact with XHTML? in particular, the XHTML base element?
Browser and other application support?

To Learn More

XML Base Specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlbase
XML Bible, Gold edition
- Elliotte Rusty Harold
- Hungry Minds, 2001
- ISBN 0-7645-3597-8
- XLinks: http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/bible2/chapters/ch19.html

Part IV: RDDL, a sample application that uses XLinks

What Goes at the end of a Namespace URI?

The flaw is the conflation of name, location and identity but that flaw is the basic feature by which the WWW runs so we are stuck there. All the handwaving about URN/URI/URL doesn't avoid the simple fact that if one puts http:// anywhere in browser display space, the system colors it blue and puts up a finger.

The monkey expects a resource and when it doesn't get one, it shocks the monkey. Monkeys don't read specs to find out why they should be shocked. They turn red and put up a finger.

- -Claude L Bullard on the xml-dev mailing list

The Resource Description Discovery Language (RDDL)

An XML application for pages at the end of a namespace URI.
Invented by Jonathan Borden, Tim Bray, and others on the xml-dev mailing list
A Resource Directory provides a text description of some class of resources and of other resources related to that class. It also contains a directory of links to these related resources.
An XML Namespace is one possible kind of resource. Related resources might include schemas, stylesheets, Java content handlers, browser plug-ins, and more.
The RDDL 1.0 DTD is an extension of XHTML Basic 1.0 using XHTML Modularization.
RDDL 1.0 DTD adds one new element to XHTML Basic 1.0: resource.

The resource Element

The resource element is in the http://www.rddl.org/ namespace.
The rddl prefix is customary.
The rddl:resource element is a simple XLink; that is, it has an xlink:type="simple" attrobite
The rddl:resource element can be placed anywhere in HTML where a p element may appear.
The rddl:resource can contain may of the XHTML Basic elements (headings, paragraphs, lists, hyperlinks, forms, tables, images, meeta information ) that the body element may contain.
The content of the rddl:resource element should describe the associated resource.
Resource elements can contain other resource elements.

Example RDDL resource Elements

For the http://www.cafeconleche.org/baseball/ namespace:

<rddl:resource xlink:href="baseball.css" 
    xlink:role="http://www.rddl.org/arcrole.htm#CSS">
  <div id="CSS" class="resource">
    <h3>CSS Stylesheet</h3>
    <p>A <a href="baseball.css">CSS stylesheet</a> 
    for baseball statistics documents.</p> 
  </div>
</rddl:resource>

<rddl:resource xlink:href="baseball.dtd"
    xlink:role="http://www.rddl.org/arcrole.htm#DTD">
  <div id="DTD" class="resource">
    <h3>DTD</h3>
    <p>A <a href="baseball.dtd">DTD</a> for , 
    baseball statistics</p>
  </div>
</rddl:resource>

An Example RDDL Document

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//XML-DEV//DTD XHTML RDDL 1.0//EN" 
                      "http://www.openhealth.org/RDDL/rddl-xhtml.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" 
      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
      xmlns:rddl="http://www.rddl.org/">
<head>
<title>RDDL Resources for Baseball Statistics</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>RDDL Resources for Baseball Statistics</h1>

<p>This is a sample RDDL document 
used in Elliotte Rusty Harold's seminars
including</p>

<ul>
  <li>XLinks and XPointers</li>
  <li>Namespaces in XML</li>
</ul>

<p>It describes resources related to
the baseball statistics DTD developed in the XML
Bible and located at the namespace 
<code>http://www.cafeconleche.org/baseball/</code>.</p>

<p>
<img src="../images/smallbiblecover.jpg" width="127" height='156'
  alt="Cover of the XML Bible"/>
</p>

<rddl:resource xlink:href="baseball.css" 
    xlink:role="http://www.rddl.org/arcrole.htm#CSS">
  <div id="CSS" class="resource">
    <h3>CSS Stylesheet</h3>
    <p>A <a href="baseball.css">CSS stylesheet</a> 
    for baseball statistics documents.</p> 
  </div>
</rddl:resource>

<rddl:resource xlink:href="baseball.dtd"
    xlink:role="http://www.rddl.org/arcrole.htm#DTD">
  <div id="DTD" class="resource">
    <h3>DTD</h3>
    <p>A <a href="baseball.dtd">DTD</a> for , 
    baseball statistics</p>
  </div>
</rddl:resource>

<p>
Copyright 2001, 2002 <a href="http://www.macfaq.com/personal.html">Elliotte Rusty Harold</a><br class="empty"/>
<a href="mailto:elharo@metalab.unc.edu">elharo@metalab.unc.edu</a><br class="empty"/>
Last Modified Sunday, February 7, 2002
</p>

</body>
</html>

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The xlink:href attribute

Contains a URI, possibly relative, pointing to the related resource

The xlink:role attribute

Identifies the type of the related resource with an absolute URI
Can be the namespace URI of the root element:

http://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema

XML Schema

http://www.ascc.net/xml/schematron

Schematron

http://www.xml.gr.jp/xmlns/relaxCore

RELAX schema

http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#

RDF Schema
Can be a MIME type URI at http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types/

http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types/text/css

Cascading Style Sheet

http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/media-types/application/pdf

Acrobat PDF version of the document
Can be a spec-defined URI:

http://www.rddl.org/arcrole.htm#SOCAT

OASIS Open Catalog

http://www.rddl.org/arcrole.htm#DTD

DTD

The xlink:arcrole attribute

For situations where the nature/role alone isn't enough, this offers an additional URI defining the purpose of the link.
Well-known purposes include:

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#validation
This resource should be used for classic XML or SGML DTD validation before the document is parsed.

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#schema-validation
This resource should be used for validation via some sort of schema after the document is parsed.; the The type of schema would normally be identified by the nature.

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#module
A file which that is only part of a complete DTD; and that is typically used in modularized DTDs like such as XHTML 1.1 and SMIL 2.0

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#schema-module
A module used in a schema

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#entities
A DTD fragment containing only entity definitions such as xhtml-special.ent in modular XHTML

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#notations
A DTD fragment containing only notation declarations such as xhtml-notations-1.mod in modular XHTML

http://www.rddl.org/purposes/software#xslt-extension
Software implementing an extension function or element for XSLT

http://www.rddl.org/purposes/software#software-package
A grouping of software resources

http://www.rddl.org/purposes/software#software-project
A collection of resources related to a software package

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#JAR

A zip file with the extension .jar containing Java classes

http://www.rddl.org/purposes/software#reference
Documentation for the resource

http://www.rddl.org/purposes/software#normative-reference
the definitive specification of the resource's syntax and semantics

http://www.rddl.org/purposes/software#non-normative-reference
A useful but non-authoritative description of the resource's syntax and semantics

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#prior-version
Documentation for a previous version of the resource's vocabulary; for example, the XHTML 1.0 specification relative to XHTML 1.1

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#definition
The definition of a term

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#icon
An image that represents the resource

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#directory
Another RDDL document whose resources should be merged with this document's resources

http://www.rddl.org/purposes#alternate
An alternative for a resource with the same nature as this one

The xlink:title attribute

May contain a short, human readable description of the resource as plain, unmarked text.
Should not be used as a substitute for a more complete, HTML-marked-up description of the related resource in the contents of the rddl:resource element.

The xlink:show and xlink:actuate attributes

These two attributes are not used on rddl:resource. They must have the value none.

Declarations for rddl:resource

<!ELEMENT rddl:resource (#PCDATA | %Flow.mix;)*>
<!ATTLIST rddl:resource
          id            ID       #IMPLIED
          xlink:type    (simple) #FIXED "simple"
          xmlns:rddl    CDATA    #FIXED 'http://www.rddl.org/'
          xml:lang      NMTOKEN  #IMPLIED
          xlink:arcrole CDATA    #IMPLIED
          xlink:href    CDATA    #IMPLIED
          xlink:role    CDATA    'http://www.rddl.org/#resource'
          xlink:title   CDATA    #IMPLIED
          xlink:embed   (none)   #FIXED "none"
          xlink:actuate (none)   #FIXED "none"
>

RDDL for Non-Namespace Resources

RDDL is expressive enough for document-specific (as opposed ot namespace-specific) meta-data but how to locate the right RDDL document?

To Learn More

The RDDL Specification: http://www.rddl.org/ (Written in RDDL)
RDDL Me This: http://xml.oreilly.com/news/xmlnut2_0201.html
XML Bible, Gold edition
- Elliotte Rusty Harold
- Hungry Minds, 2001
- ISBN 0-7645-3597-8
- XLinks: http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/bible2/chapters/ch19.html

To Learn More

This presentation: http://www.cafeconleche.org/slides/sd2002east/xlinks
XML Base Specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlbase
XPath Specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath
XML in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition
- Elliotte Rusty Harold and W. Scott Means
- O'Reilly & Associates, 2002
- ISBN 0-596-00292-0
- XPath: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/xmlnut/chapter/ch09.html
XML Bible, Gold edition
- Elliotte Rusty Harold
- Hungry Minds, 2001
- ISBN 0-7645-3597-8
- XLinks: http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/bible2/chapters/ch19.html
- Chapter 20 of the XML Bible, 2nd edition: http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/bible2/chapters/ch20.html
Who's Jon Johansen? http://www.eff.org/IP/DeCSS_prosecutions/Johansen_DeCSS_case/

Index | Cafe con Leche