W3C Issues XInclude 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation; XInclude Makes It Easier to Create Reusable Content

http://www.w3.org -- 12/20/2004 -- 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. 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/

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Janet Daly

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World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

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