CS155a E Commerce Lecture 14 October 25 2001 Introduction to XML Acknowledgement R Glushko and A Gregory Some Acronyms Used In This Lecture HTML Hyper Text Markup Language XML Extensible Markup Language EDI Electronic Data Interchange ERP Enterprise Resource Planning MRP Materials Requirement Planning The XML Revolution The Web was created to publish information for people Eyes only was dominant design perspective Hard to search Hard to automate processing The Web is using XML to become a platform for information exchange between computers and people Overcomes HTML s inherent limitations Enables the new business models of the network economy Extensible Markup Language Instead of a fixed set of format oriented tags like HTML XML allows you to create whatever set of tags are needed for your type of information This makes any XML instance selfdescribing and easily understood by computers and people XML encoded information is smart enough to support new classes of Web and e commerce applications Why XML Sample Catalog Entry in HTML TITLE Laptop Computer TITLE BODY UL LI IBM Thinkpad 600E LI 400 MHz LI 64 Mb LI 8 Gb LI 4 1 pounds LI 3200 UL BODY XML s Big Idea Document Types Customer Profiles Vendor Profiles Catalogs Datasheets Price Lists Purchase Orders Invoices Inventory Reports Bill of Materials Payments Deposits Credit Reports Schedules Directories whatever you need In XML the formal definition of permitted elements attributes and the rules by which they combine is called a Document Type Definition or DTD or Catalog Entry in XML COMPUTER TYPE Laptop MANUFACTURER IBM MANUFACTURER LINE ThinkPad LINE MODEL 600E MODEL SPECIFICAIONS SPEED UNIT MHz 400 SPEED MEMORY UNIT MB 64 MEMORY DISK UNIT GB 8 DISK WEIGHT UNIT POUND 4 1 WEIGHT PRICE CURRENCY USD 3200 PRICE SPECIFICATIONS COMPUTER Smart Processing with XML and SPECIFICATIONS provide logical containers for extracting and manipulating product information as a unit COMPUTER Sort by MANUFACTURER SPEED WEIGHT PRICE etc Explicit identification of each part enables its automated processing Convert PRICE from USD to Euro Yen etc Traditional Business Models and Integration Requirements Traditional models for electronic business are based on long term point to point and tightly coupled relationships EDI is used here because high integration costs can be recovered over time Partners are more willing to invest in compatible IT infrastructure at each end or in middleware that creates a distributed application Making Money in B2B Licenses and support Traditional model works for technology providers to B2B marketplaces Equity But only if the B2B company can IPO XML has little to say about this Making Money in B2B Transaction fees What counts as a transaction Who pays the fees buyers or suppliers Market efficiency Driving costs out of supply chain for all participants Exploit refine existing business relationships experience XML is crucial to these concerns Content structure based text objects XML SGML databases Formatted electronic test HTML EDI word processing files Unstructured electronic text ASCII Printed text Easier to translate to More processability reusability XML and Information IQ DTDs Parsers and Validation From any DTD an XML parser can be generated that reads a document instance the XML data stream identifies the markup in it and creates a processable form of some kind that is used by an application The parser can also test the XML document for conformance with the rules of the DTD A document instance that follows the rules of the DTD is valid DTDs And Validation XML Purchase Order Instance Purchase Order DTD XML Parser Some Processable Form XML Schemas in Electronic Commerce Essential to treat dates monetary amounts etc as datatypes to enable validation Schema inheritance and extension mechanisms allow custom versions of same document to co exist Software can distinguish extensions from standard document and decide whether or not extensions can be safely ignored Trading partners can customize messages for specialized needs while standard message maintains backward compatibility Connecting with HTML by eye Company 1 Web Browser Problem Company 1 has no integration with order management manual and error prone data entry Internet Company 2 eCommerce Server ERP Accounting Systems HTML s Limitations for Integration The Web was created as a publishing medium not as an e commerce platform HTML the Web s language for encoding information is format oriented and meant to be understood by eye Simple structures headings lists links Browsers are hard wired to render HTML as web pages No content based encoding means that HTML can t be effectively searched or processed by business applications XML as InternetFriendly Integration Technology exchange data in an application and vendor neutral format XML WEB Document based EDI CORBA COM API based Connecting using XML Company 1 Company 2 eCommerce Server eCommerce Server Internet ERP Accounting Systems Benefit XML can be processed automatically with huge cost savings ERP Accounting Systems Problem Company 1 and Company 2 have to agree on document format Business Processes are XML Document Exchanges If you send me a request for a catalog I will send you a catalog If you send me a purchase order and I can fill it I will send you a purchase order response Significance of XML Document Exchange Architecture Document exchange is a natural way to think about doing business Easy to provide open marketplace with 3rd party buying and selling apps Easy to add and maintain services Document exchange between marketplaces is fundamentally the same as within a marketplace Services can be reused across marketplaces Functions of Market Makers in a Document Exchange Architecture Specifying document standards Routing documents between participants Providing standard interfaces for sharing services registration logistics taxation payment etc XML is Part of the Solution XML has the potential to enable a standards conforming open and extensible architecture for electronic commerce XML standards could enable ubiquitous connectivity and interoperability and create the network effects of describe once sell buy anywhere and reusable marketplace services
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