Apparatus and method for parsing XML document by using external XML validator

[0001] This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-36066, filed on Jun. 26, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for verifying the validity of an extensible markup language (XML) document, a well-known standard electronic document, by using a schema/document type definition (DTD) data structure describing a grammar of the XML document, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for solving the problem of a parser which cannot support the verification of the validity of an XML document using a general schema/DTD data structure in an embedded device having a relatively low-performance processor and a small memory due to restrictions regarding the specifications of the embedded device.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] In the prior art, an XML parser having a validator used to verify the validity of an XML document is written using an external entity, in an XML application using the XML document. The validator reads a schema/DTD from an external source, generates the structure of data on a grammar defined using the schema/DTD, and checks an error in the XML document using the defined grammar. However, the XML application operating in an embedded device, e.g., a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable phone, or the like, has limitations in verifying the validity of the XML document. Most embedded systems support an XML parser that does not support the verification of the validity of an XML document or an XML parser, a portion of which is extended to verify only a limited schema or grammar of a DTD, in order to reduce load due to a process of verifying the XML document using a schema or a DTD. Due to this, a special validating parser is realized to perceive only a schema/DTD necessary for each system. Thus, the special validating parser cannot be used in other systems.

[0006] Also, if a schema/DTD publisher publishing a schema/DTD used as an external entity in an XML document realizes new grammar, an XML document, which uses an existing schema/DTD and has no errors, is not validated any more. Thus, the XML document using the schema/DTD published as the external entity has to be newly constituted with changes in a schema or grammar of a DTD.

[0007] The present invention provides an apparatus and a method for verifying the validity of an XML document used for describing information on an embedded device having a relatively low-performance processor and a small memory or standards for a business document when an XML application using the XML document operates in the embedded device.

[0008] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an XML parser using an external XML validator. The XML parser includes an XML receiver, an external XML validator caller, and a DOM/SAX tree generator. The XML receiver receives an XML document from an XML application. The external XML validator caller requests the external XML validator to verify the validity of the XML document and receives an answer to the request. If the external XML validator caller receives an answer indicating that the XML document is valid, the DOM/SAX tree generator generates a DOM/SAX tree from the XML document and transmits the DOM/SAX tree to the XML application.

[0009] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided an external XML validator for verifying the validity an XML document in an XML parser. The external XML validator includes a schema/DTD receiver, an XML validator, and an XML validity result transmitter. The schema/DTD receiver is requested to verify the validity of the XML document from the XML parser and receives a schema or a DTD corresponding to the XML document from a schema/DTD database. The XML validator applies the XML document to the received schema or the DTD to verify the validity of the XML document. The XML validity result transmitter transmits the validity result of the XML document to the XML parser.

[0010] The above features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

[0011] FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the configuration of a conventional XML parser;

[0012] FIG. 2 is a view illustrating the configuration of an XML parser using an external XML validator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] FIG. 3 is a flowchart explaining a method for parsing an XML document by using the external XML validator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] FIG. 4 is a flowchart explaining a method for verifying the validity of an XML document by using the external XML validator according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0015] FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining a method for parsing an XML document by using a method for verifying the validity of an XML document employing the external XML validator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0017] FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a conventional XML parser.

[0018] Referring to FIG. 1, a device 11 includes an XML parser 111, an XML application 112, and other elements (a central processing unit (CPU), memory, and the like). A device 12 includes a schema/DTD database 121 and the other elements in the device 11. The XML parser 111 includes an XML receiver 1111, a schema/DTD receiver 1112, an XML validator 1113, and a document object model (DOM)/simple API for XML (SAX) tree generator 114. The other elements included in the device 11 and the device 12 are not necessary to illustrate principles of the present invention and thus are not shown in FIG. 1.

[0019] The XML application 112 generally refers to a space in which a user can work on an XML document using a variety of tools. The XML receiver 1111 receives the XML document from the XML application 112. The schema/DTD receiver 1112 receives schema/DTD data from the schema/DTD database 121 of the device 12. A DTD is a specification taking the form of a document instance (DI) and defines rules of a document, i.e., the rules for writing the DI. The DI of the XML document, which is an entity of the XML document, corresponds to the text written by a user under the rules defined in the DTD. Compared with elements of a programming language, the DTD is the definition of language. Thus, the DTD has to define the structure of an XML document and the DI has to be written according to the definition of the DTD to validate the XML document. The DTD is composed of an element, an attribute list (ATTLIST), and an entity. The element defines attributes of a plurality of elements including the highest element, i.e., a plurality of attributes. The entity is very similar to a macro used in some programming languages. The entity is classified into a general entity and a parameter entity according to definition and reference type. The general entity is defined in the DTD and referred to in the DI. The parameter entity is defined and referred to in the DTD. Besides these, the DTD includes a marked section and a processing instruction. The marked section is used to process a marked portion of a document for a special purpose, and the processing instruction is processed in the document by using an external program. In order to parse the DTD having the above-described structure, grammar of the DTD has to be inspected and the rules for a DI document have to be created by using information on the structure of the document. In a case where the structure of a document created in this process is generated using a Backus-Naur Form (BNF) input to a parser generator, errors and vagueness of grammar may occur. Thus, the rules for the DI document have to be checked in the tree form in order to exclude the errors and vagueness of grammar. An XML schema generally refers to a file, which defines the structure and contents of an XML document. The DTD is a kind of schema and can have many problems. The DTD describes the structure and contents of an XML document in complicated and unfamiliar language by using extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF). However, the XML schema describes the structure and contents of an XML document using XML. Also, the XML schema can basically reuse a variety of types of data and elements the DTD cannot express. In other words, the XML schema, which is a largely extended model of a DTD, can define the types of elements the XML document can contain, relations among the elements, and a type available to each of the elements in detail.

[0020] If an XML document processed by the XML application 112 operating in the device 11 complies with the grammar defined in a schema/DTD stored in the schema/DTD database 121 of the device 12, the schema/DTD receiver 1112 receives a schema/DTD document from the device 12 via a wire or wireless communication network (generally a network) by employing a method used in an example of an XML document of the device 11 as shown below.

[0021] Example of an XML document of the device 11

<xml version1.0>
<Invoice xmlnshttp://www.invoice.org
	xmlns:xsihttp://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema-instance
	xsi:schemaLocationhttp://www.invoice.org/Invoice.xsd>
	<PaymentDue CurrencyUSD>199.00</PaymentDue>
</Invoice>

[0022] xsi:schemaLocationhttp://www.invoice.org/Invoice.xsd is information on a uniform resource locator (URL) of the device 12 including the schema/DTD database 121. In other words, the XML parser 111 in the device 11 finds information on the location of the schema/DTD database 121 using the tag <schemaLocation>.

[0023] The XML validator 1113, which validates errors in the XML document, analyses a protocol, for configuring an XML document, defined in the schema/DTD and creates a schema/DTD grammar structure. Next, the XML validator 1113 applies the XML document to the schema/DTD grammar structure to validate errors in the XML document.

[0024] If it is determined that the XML document has no errors, the DOM/SAX tree generator 1114 generates a DOM/SAX tree and transmits the DOM/SAX tree to the XML application 112. A DOM represents a model which analyzes and stores parsed data in the tree structure, and allows an access to a specific element. The DOM uses the highest element of the XML document as a root node to analyze the XML document in a hierarchical tree structure. Since the DOM expresses data in the tree structure, the DOM is free to access a specific node. Thus, the DOM is also called a random access protocol. A SAX is similar and complementary to the DOM. In the DOM, as described above, all XML documents are parsed and converted to data structures having tree structures. This method is very flexible and efficient but uses many system resources. In particular, even when a specific field value of an XML document is required, the XML document has to be totally parsed, which may be a heavy burden. The SAX appeared to solve this problem. The SAX does not upload the whole of an XML document to a memory in the tree structure. However, the SAX sequentially parses elements, transfers the parsed elements to the memory, and omits to constitute the elements in the tree structure. The DOM is called a random access protocol while the SAX is called a serial access protocol. The SAX is also named an event-driven protocol by which an XML handler registers itself in a SAX parser and the SAX parser informs the XML handler through a call-back function of newly found XML tags.

[0025] FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an XML parser using an external XML validator according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, a device 21 includes an XML parser 211 using the external XML validator, an XML application 212, and other elements (a CPU, memory, and so forth). A device 22 includes a schema/DTD database 221 and the other elements included in the device 21. A device 23, which the external XML validator, includes a schema/DTD receiver 233, an XML validator 232, and an XML validity result transmitter 231. The XML parser 211 includes an XML receiver 2111, an external XML validator caller 2112, and a DOM/SAX tree generator 2113.

[0026] The XML receiver 2111 receives an XML document from the XML application 212.

[0027] The external XML validator caller 2112 requests the XML validator 23 to verify the validity of the XML document and receives an answer to the request. Here, the external XML validator caller 2112 finds the location of the external XML validator 23 from the received XML document. In other words, the external XML validator caller 2112 calls the external XML validator 23 via a wire or wireless network by employing a method used in an example of an XML document of the device 21 as shown below.

[0028] Example of an XML document of the device 21

<xml version1.0>
<Invoice xmlnshttp://www.invoice.org
	xmlns:xsihttp://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema-instance
	xsi:schemaLocationhttp://www.invoice.org/Invoice.xsd
xsi:validatorLocationhttp://www.samsung.com/DeviceAnalyzer>
	<PaymentDue CurrencyUSD>199.00</PaymentDue>
</Invoice>

[0029] xsi:validatorLocationhttp://www.samsung.com/DeviceAnalyzer is information on an URL of the external XML validator 23. In other words, the XML parser 211 in the device 21 finds the location of the external XML validator 23 using the tag <validatorLocation>.

[0030] When the external XML validator caller 2112 requests the external XML validator 23 to verify the validity of the XML document, the external XML validator caller 2112 transmits a version of the operating system (OS) of the device 21 having the XML parser 211 and the XML document to the external XML validator 23 in the URL thereof via the wire or wireless network.

[0031] If the external XML validator caller 2112 receives from the external XML validator 23 an answer indicating that the XML document is valid, the DOM/SAX tree generator 2113 generates a DOM/SAX tree from the XML document and transmits the DOM/SAX tree to the XML application 212. If the external XML validator caller 2112 receives from the external XML validator 23 an answer indicating that the XML document is not valid, the external XML validator caller 2112 transmits an error message to the XML application 212.

[0032] If the schema/DTD receiver 233 receives a request for the verification of the validity of the XML document from the XML parser 211, the schema/DTD receiver 233 receives a schema/DTD corresponding to the XML document from the schema/DTD database 221 via the wire or wireless network. In other words, after the schema/DTD receiver 233 receives the version of the OS of the device 21 having the XML parser 211 and the XML document and then the request for the verification of the validity of the XML document from the XML parser 211, when the OS requires the external XML validator 23, the schema/DTD receiver 233 receives the schema/DTD corresponding to the XML document from the schema/DTD database 221. However, if the device 21 having the XML parser 211 is not an embedded device (e.g., a PDA, a portable phone, or the like) having a relatively low-performance processor and a small memory, since the device 21 includes an apparatus for verifying the validity of the XML document, the device 21 does not require the external XML validator 23. In order to receive the schema/DTD corresponding to the XML document from the schema/DTD database 221, the schema/DTD receiver 233 should find the location of the schema/DTD database 221, i.e., the URL of the schema/DTD database 221, from the XML document. This is as follows: the schema/DTD receiver 233 receives the schema/DTD from the schema/DTD database 221 in the URL xsi:schemaLocationhttp://www.invoice.org/Invoice.xsd descried in the example of the XML document of the device 21. In other words, the external XML validator 23 receives the XML document from the device 21, receives a corresponding schema/DTD in the tag <schemaLocation>, and verifies the validity of the XML document.

[0033] The XML validator 232 applies the XML document to the received schema/DTD to verify the validity of the XML document. In other words, the XML validator 232 analyses a protocol, for configuring an XML document, defined in the schema/DTD and generates a schema/DTD grammar structure. Next, the XML validator 232 applies the XML document to the schema/DTD grammar structure to validate errors in the XML document. Here, all possible XML documents can be validated by changing or modifying the version of the schema/DTD.

[0034] The XML validity result transmitter 231 transmits the validity result of the XML document to the XML parser 211 via the wire or wireless network. According to the validity result can, three cases appear. In the first case, the device 21 is not an embedded device having the relatively low-performance processor and small memory, and a NONE message is created and transmitted. In the second case, the XML document has no errors, and an OK message is created and transmitted. In the third case, the XML has errors, and a message containing Errorline numberreason is created and transmitted. In the case where the OK message is created and transmitted to the device 21, a DOM/SAX tree is created and transmitted to the XML application 212. In the case where the NONE message or the message Errorline numberreason is created and transmitted to the device 21, the NONE message or the message Errorline numberreason is itself transmitted to the XML application 212 via the wire or wireless network.

[0035] FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a method for parsing an XML document by using an external XML validator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0036] In step 31, an XML document is received from an XML application. In step 32, the external XML validator receives a request for verifying the validity of the XML document and responds to the request. If in step 33, it is determined that the XML document is valid, a DOM/SAX tree is generated from the XML document and transmitted to the XML application via a wire or wireless network in step 34. If in step 33, it is determined that the XML document is not valid, in step 35, an error message is transmitted to the XML application via the wire or wireless network. For the request for the verification of the validity of the XML document, the location of the external XML validator should be found from the received XML document and then requested to verify the validity of the XML document. Also, when requesting to verify the validity of the XML document, a version of the OS of a device for performing the XML parsing method and the XML document are transmitted to the external XML validator.

[0037] FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a method for verifying the validity of an XML document by using an external XML validator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0038] In step 41, if a request for verifying the validity of an XML document is received from an XML parser using the external XML validator, a schema/DTD corresponding to the XML document is received from a schema/DTD database via a wire or wireless network. In step 42, the XML document is applied to the schema/DTD and the validity of the XML document is verified. In step 43, the validity of the XML document result is transmitted to the XML parser using the external XML validator via the wire or wireless network. Here, after a version of the OS of a device for performing the XML parsing method and the XML document, and the request for verifying the validity of the XML document are received, only when the OS requires the external XML validator is the schema/DTD corresponding to the XML document received from the schema/DTD database. If the request for verifying the validity of the XML document is received, the location of the schema/DTD database should be found from the XML document to receive the schema/DTD corresponding to the XML document from the schema/DTD database.

[0039] FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a method for verifying the validity of an XML document and a method for parsing an XML document by using the validity method.

[0040] In step 51, an XML document is received and the verification of the validity of the XML document is requested. In step 52, a schema/DTD corresponding to the XML document is received, the XML document is applied to the schema/DTD to verify the validity of the XML document, and the validity result of the XML document is transmitted. If in step 53, it is determined that the XML document is valid, a DOM/SAX tree is created from the XML document and transmitted in step 54. If in step 53, it is determined that the XML document is not valid, an error message is transmitted in step 55.

[0041] As described above, according to the present invention, the use of resources of an embedded device (e.g., a PDA, a portable phone, a hand-held device or the like) having a relatively low-performance and a small memory can be minimized when calling an external XML validator. Thus, am external XML validator can be called to transmit an accurate XML document to an XML application without extending an existing parser. Also, the external XML validator can validate a pre-set schema/DTD and an after-established schema/DTD at the same time to correct errors (errors in an XML document due to changes in an external schema/DTD) in the XML document due to the version of the schema/DTD. As a result, errors in an existing validated XML document can be prevented.

[0042] The above-described embodiments of the present invention can be written as a program which can be executed in a computer or data-processor, and can be realized in a general-purpose digital computer by using a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes magnetic storage media (e.g., ROMs, floppy discs, hard discs, etc.), optical readers (e.g., CD-ROMs, DVDs, and the like), control cards, firmware, circuit boards, hardware and carrier wave (e.g., the transmission over the Internet).

[0043] While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.