Cover Pages: XML Daily Newslink: Tuesday, 23 September 2008

A Cover Pages Publication http://xml.coverpages.org/
Provided by OASIS and Sponsor Members
Edited by Robin Cover

This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by:
Oracle Corporation http://www.oracle.com

Headlines

W3C Last Call Review: Widgets 1.0 Requirements
Navigationless Database XML: Hierarchical Data Processing
Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse Supports SOA Component Development and FastSwap Feature
Last Call for Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0

Cover Pages

OASIS Identity Metasystem Interoperability TC Advances Information Card Use

W3C Last Call Review: Widgets 1.0 Requirements
Marcos Caceres (ed), W3C Technical Report

Members of the W3C Web Applications Working Group have published the Last Call Working Draft for "Widgets 1.0: Requirements." A Widget is an interactive single purpose application for displaying and/or updating local data or data on the Web, packaged in a way to allow a single download and installation on a user's machine or mobile device. Typical examples of widgets include clocks, CPU gauges, sticky notes, battery-life indicators, games, and widgets that make use of Web services, like weather forecasters, news readers, e-mail checkers, photo albums and currency converters. This document lists the design goals and requirements that specifications would need to address in order to standardize various aspects of widgets. The Last Call version reflects over two years of gathering and refining requirements for the Widgets 1.0 family of specifications. The requirements were gathered by extensive consultation with W3C members and the public, via the Working Group's mailing lists (WAF archive, WebApps archive). The purpose of this Last Call is to give external interested parties a final opportunity to publicly comment on the list of requirements. The Working Group's goal is to make sure that vendor's requirements for Widgets are complete and have been effectively captured. Comments on this WD are welcome through 13-October-2008.

Navigationless Database XML: Hierarchical Data Processing
Michael M. David, DevX.com

XML data in standard database processing is not being used fully or correctly in business applications today. Current XML hierarchical database query processing is basically limited to single path linear hierarchical processing. This limitation could be the influence of relational join processing or might occur because the navigation of multiple hierarchical paths is too difficult and error prone to be practical with XML's manual navigation. XQuery has the same limitation; it also requires XML's manual navigation. Eliminating manual navigation from database XML processing removes these XML limitations, allowing navigationless structure processing to be unrestricted and performed automatically. This article describes how business applications can take advantage of powerful new capabilities stemming from properly processed database XML data, using advanced hierarchical processing. It also delves into the underlying hierarchical structure principles and processing. While this level of hierarchical processing is not generally available today, it was very common three decades ago -- before the advent of relational databases. However, hierarchical XML data is ubiquitous; therefore, it's time to apply the full power of such semantically rich structures. Full hierarchical processing in databases is based on principles that have been proven to produce correct hierarchical processing data results, and can be used to replace the lack of any W3C specification or best-practices reference for performing correct hierarchical processing... There are two basic types of hierarchical data processing structures: single node types and multiple node types. Both XML and hierarchical databases require multiple node types. Single node type hierarchical structures are fairly simple one-dimensional structures. They are used, for example, in organizational charts where each node represents a person. Usually, these node types can only contain a single data occurrence. Additional data occurrences are handled in single node type structures by creating another of the same node type to contain the child data... The article argues that structured XML processing in databases today is lacking, because it requires different processing than the default markup processing currently used. Such capabilities already exist, and were thoroughly vetted over three decades ago in hierarchical databases. Using a combination of nonprocedural navigationless processing, dynamic data modeling, dynamic XML-formatted output, and unlimited query capability, the door is open for unlimited new hierarchical processing capabilities that take full advantage of the capabilities inherent in hierarchical structures.

Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse Supports SOA Component Development and FastSwap Feature
Srini Penchikala, InfoQueue

Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse plugin suite supports SOA component development and FastSwap feature to help in development and deployment of Java applications on Oracle WebLogic Server 10g R3 version using Eclipse 3.4 IDE. Oracle recently announced the availability of Oracle Enterprise Pack Version 1.0 as a new component of its Fusion Middleware product. The Enterprise Pack is a set of Eclipse plug-ins that can be used for Database, Java, Java EE application development and deployment on Oracle WebLogic Server. With Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse, Java developers can develop, debug and deploy applications to Oracle WebLogic Server 10g R3, in addition to earlier versions, either locally or remotely. The tool also includes features to enable the development, assembly, build, deployment, debugging, and testing of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based applications. Oracle Enterprise Pack will support development with technologies including JEE, Java SE, JavaServer Faces (JSF), Web Services, XML, Spring Framework, Struts, Database Development, and CSS & Javascript. It will be the basis for Oracle's Eclipse support, combining Java EE development features of Oracle Workshop for WebLogic which extends Eclipse Web Tools Platform for development of Web Services, Object Relational Mapping (ORM), Apache Beehive, and Web Applications.

Last Call for Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0
John Schneider and Takuki Kamiya (eds), W3C Technical Report

Members of W3C's Efficient XML Interchange Working Group have published the Last Call Working Draft for "Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0." Comments are welcome through 07-November-2008. EXI is a very compact representation for the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Information Set that is intended to simultaneously optimize performance and the utilization of computational resources. The EXI format uses a hybrid approach drawn from the information and formal language theories, plus practical techniques verified by measurements, for entropy encoding XML information. Using a relatively simple algorithm, which is amenable to fast and compact implementation, and a small set of data types, it reliably produces efficient encodings of XML event streams. The event production system and format definition of EXI are presented. The Working Group intends to advance this specification to W3C Recommendation status. In addition, the group has produced two draft notes, publications of which are part of the criteria for this specification to enter Last Call status. Those notes each analyze the impacts of the new format on existing XML technologies, and the evaluation of performance gains of the format based on the criteria defined by the XBC Working Group. The features and algorithms described in this document are considered stable at the time of this writing. However, the mechanism described in section 7.3.3 Partitions Optimized for Frequent use of String Literals may be subject to change. This mechanism caps the amount of memory used for value partitions in string tables. It should be considered a feature at risk and may later be altered or replaced if (and only if) the Working Group identifies another mechanism that provides even better efficiency. [Note: Erik Wilde commented on this specification.]

See also: the W3C news item

Selected from the Cover Pages, by Robin Cover

OASIS Identity Metasystem Interoperability TC Advances Information Card Use

OASIS has announced the formation of a new Identity Metasystem Interoperability (IMI) Technical Committee, chartered to increase the quality and number of interoperable implementations of Information Cards and associated identity system components to enable the Identity Metasystem. The goal of IMI is to provide the interoperability support that will enable Information Card use to become ubiquitous. The first meeting of the TC will be held as a F2F on September 29 2008 at Ditton Manor, UK, co-located with the OASIS Standards Forum 2008, "Security Challenges for the Information Society." The IMI TC will be affiliated with the IDTrust Member Section and will operate under the OASIS 'RF (Royalty Free) on RAND Terms' IPR mode. Initial TC members include representatives from A-SIT Zentrum für sichere Informationstechnologie Austria, CA, Cordance, IBM, Internet2, Microsoft, Mitre, Novell, Polka Networks, and WSO2. According to one of the key Microsoft specifications to be contributed as input to the IMI TC, "the Information Card Model refers to the use of Information Cards containing metadata for obtaining Digital Identity claims from Identity Providers and then conveying them to relying parties under user control. The Information Cards provide visual representations of Digital Identities for the end user. This profile constrains the schema elements/extensions used by the Information Card Model, and behaviors for conforming relying parties, Identity Providers, and Identity Selectors." In the Identity Metasystem, identities are represented to users as Information Cards which enable users to manage their digital identities from different identity providers and employ them in various contexts to access online services. Information Cards have a number of characteristics that help to improve user privacy and security when accessing online services. Broad interoperability across platforms and services is needed so that Information Card support is ubiquitous to realize the goals of the Identity Metasystem." Specifications, schemas, and interoperability guides produced by the IMI Technical Committee are expected to be valuable for several audiences, including: (1) vendors offering Web services products; (2) Telecom providers with identity enabled communication enabled telecom services; (3) other specification authors that need identity capabilities for Web services; (4) software architects and programmers, who design, write or integrate applications for Web services; (5) end users implementing Web services-based solutions that require identity based mechanisms.


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