Microsoft XML Core Services Programming and Development

Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) is a set of components that allow developers to work with XML documents in their applications. MSXML provides a robust and efficient way to parse, validate, and transform XML data.

MSXML is a key component of the Microsoft Windows operating system, and it's used by many applications, including Internet Explorer, to process XML documents. Its functionality is also used by other Microsoft products, such as Visual Studio.

The MSXML components are designed to be used in a variety of programming languages, including C++, C#, and Visual Basic. This makes it a versatile tool for developers who need to work with XML data in their applications.

MSXML provides a number of features that make it an essential tool for developers, including support for XML Schema, XPath, and XSLT.

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MSXML provides a range of services to build high-performance XML based applications that adhere to the XML 1.0 standard.

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MSXML supports the final World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XML Schema (XSD) Recommendation, starting with version 4.0.

You can use the Schema Object Model (SOM) in MSXML 4.0 and later versions to get information about the data type or logical structure of an XML schema document node.

SOM allows you to build your own custom structures from an XML Schema, making it a powerful tool for working with XML data.

MSXML also supports XML-Data Reduced (XDR), an XML schema language from Microsoft, in versions 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0, but not in version 6.0.

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MSXML APIs are exposed programmatically as Component Object Model (COM) objects. This means developers can program against MSXML objects from C++ or from scripting languages such as JScript and VBScript.

MSXML objects are programmatically instantiated by CLSID or ProgID. Each version of MSXML exposes its own set of CLSIDs and ProgIDs.

Later versions of MSXML support slightly different sets of functionality.

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MSXML supports the final World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XML Schema (XSD) Recommendation starting with version 4.0.

Before the XSD Recommendation, MSXML implemented XML-Data Reduced (XDR), an XML schema language from Microsoft, which is supported in MSXML 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0.

MSXML 6.0 does not support XDR, but it does support the XSD Recommendation.

The schema cache is available in all supported MSXML versions, and improvements have been made to its behavior in MSXML 6.0.

You can use the Schema Object Model (SOM) to work with documents that are formed according to the XSD specification in MSXML 4.0 and later versions.

XML Transformations are a crucial aspect of working with Microsoft XML Core Services. XSLT is a language definition for XML data presentation and data transformations.

Before MSXML 4.0, the old dialect of XSL was supported, but it was removed from later versions. This change was introduced in MSXML 4.0.

MSXML 3.0 and later versions support XSLT 1.0, which allows for data transformation by parsing an input XML document into a tree of nodes and converting the source tree into a result tree.

The Document Object Model (DOM) is a standard set of objects for representing HTML and XML documents, allowing programs and scripts to dynamically access and update their content, structure, and style.

MSXML DOM provides a set of classes that directly reflect the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 specification.

You can create DOM objects using two types of thread models: rental-threaded and free-threaded models.

The rental-threaded model is suitable for single-threaded applications or multithreaded applications where only one thread can access a DOM object at a time.

The free-threaded model is ideal for applications where multiple threads can access a DOM simultaneously.

Here's a brief comparison of the two thread models:

Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) provides robust support for programming and development, with features like asynchronous parsing and improved error handling.

MSXML supports a wide range of programming languages, including C++, Java, and Visual Basic.

The library also includes a variety of tools and interfaces, such as the MSXML4 SDK, which provides a set of APIs for developers to work with.

MSXML's asynchronous parsing feature allows developers to perform XML parsing operations in the background, improving application responsiveness and performance.

This feature is particularly useful for large-scale applications that require fast and efficient XML processing.

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The Simple API for XML (SAX) is a public standard for event-driven parsing of XML documents.

SAX is a good alternative to the Document Object Model (DOM) because it doesn't demand resources for an in-memory representation of the document.

Developers can use SAX to build DOM trees or traverse DOM trees and emit SAX streams.

There is a tradeoff among features, performance, and memory footprint between the DOM parser and the SAX parser.

SAX support in MSXML 4.0 and later versions includes methods for completing transformation and validation.

The programming model for MSXML is built around a set of COM objects that support the W3C standard. These objects are the backbone of MSXML and provide the functionality for parsing, manipulating, and generating XML documents.

To work with MSXML, you'll need to create instances of these COM objects. The table below lists the MSXML objects supported in current MSXML versions. Take note of the different CLSIDs for each object in each version.

In web application development, XMLHTTP and ServerXMLHTTP APIs are widely used to establish an HTTP connection between clients and servers for files or objects.

The XMLHTTP and ServerXMLHTTP objects offer similar functionality, but they're designed for different purposes. XMLHTTP relies on the WinInet control for HTTP access to remote XML documents and is designed for client applications.

ServerXMLHTTP, on the other hand, uses the WinHTTP and is designed for server applications. This makes it a more suitable choice for server-side development.

Both XMLHTTP and ServerXMLHTTP are available on all supported MSXML versions, providing a consistent and reliable way to access HTTP connections in web applications.

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Using Version-Dependent ProgIDs can be a bit tricky, but don't worry, I've got you covered.

To create an instance of the DOMDocument object using the version-dependent ProgID, you can use the syntax Msxml2.DOMDocument.5.0, which is for MSXML 5.0.

This ProgID is specific to MSXML 5.0, and for a full example of how to call and use it, check out Implementing MSXML 5.0 in Web Scripting.

To code to MSXML 2.6, you'll need to use the JScript syntax, which is a different approach.

For more information about ProgIDs, see GUID and ProgID Information, which has some useful details.

Creating the DOMDocument object can be done using a variety of methods, but using a version-dependent ProgID is a good place to start.

The ProgID Msxml2.DOMDocument.5.0 is a specific example of a version-dependent ProgID, and it's used to create an instance of the DOMDocument object.