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STEP 0: Introduction

$Id: step0.sdoc 1.10 2000/08/06 08:45:41 murata Exp $

STEP 0 gives a brief overview of RELAX and shows how to read this tutorial.

RELAX, brief overview

RELAX is a specification for describing XML-based languages. XHTML 1.0, for example, can be described in RELAX. A description written in RELAX is called a RELAX grammar.

Comparison with DTD

Compared with a traditional DTD (Document Type Definition), RELAX has new features as below:

The RELAX processor

The RELAX processorverifies XML documents against RELAX grammars. The input to the RELAX processors is an XML document and a RELAX grammar. To be precise, the RELAX processor does not directly handle XML documents and RELAX grammars, but rather receives the output of the XML processor which handles them.

The RELAX processor reports if the XML document is legitimate against the RELAX grammar. It may also report some other messages. The RELAX processor has no other outputs.

The organization of RELAX

RELAX consists of RELAX Core and RELAX Namespace. RELAX Core handles elements in a single namespace and their attributes. RELAX Core borrows datatypes from XML Schema Part 2. RELAX Namespace combines multiple modules so as to handle multiple namespaces. At present, this tutorial covers RELAX Core only.

About this tutorial

This tutorial is intended to be very easy to understand. All STEPs except this one use plenty of examples and provide concrete explanations.

STEPs 1 thru 10 are concerned with RELAX Core. You may stop at the end of any step and still have a reasonable understanding of RELAX. You can start to use RELAX immediately after reading STEP 1. If you read through STEP 6, you will know all the features shared by RELAX and XML DTDs. All RELAX processors are required to support these features. STEPs 7 thru 10 explain new features of RELAX. RELAX processors are not required to support these new features.

A little inaccuracy saves tons of explanation. STEPs 1 and 2 are sometimes inaccurate. Accurate explanations are provided by STEPs 7 and 8.

Summary

RELAX is very simple. If you are familiar with DTDs, you can be fluent in RELAX almost immediately. Even if you are not, you can easily master RELAX. Enjoy and RELAX!