CS639 Notes on project pa1b building and testing and schemas

 

Schemas needed for pa1b: similar to book.xml’s DTD and schema. JavaSource.dtd and javaSource.xsd.

 

Validation feature for JavaToXML:  add flag “-v” so running from the command line (Windows case):

 

java -cp build\classes;input\classes cs639.presentation.JavaToXML -v examples.sort.SortEx

                      ^ replace with : for UNIX/Mac/Linux

 

This should validate against JavaSource.dtd, itself in base dir.

 

Here Counter.java is now cs639.validation.Counter: just change its package.

We know we can use Counter as a program:

java sax.Counter –v Grid.xml      assuming Grid.xml has DOCTYPE (make this happen)

This means calling Counter’s main with String[] containing “-v” and “Grid.xml”

 

So your own program can call Counter’s main with String[] loaded properly.

 

 

Of course we can use a new ant target to do the above execution, as required by the delivery instructions. Here is the needed addition for target test3v:

 

      <target name="test3v" depends="build">

          <echo message="JavaToXML for Grid and validate with DTD:"/>

            <java fork="yes" classname="cs639.presentation.JavaToXML" failonerror="true" dir="${basedir}">

                  <classpath refid="execution.classpath" />

                  <arg value="Grid" />

                  <arg value="-v" />   ß second arg to program

            </java>

      </target>

 

 

Debugging XML and schemas

 

First check that your XML Schema and your .xml files are well-formed XML (use a browser or eclipse)

 

Next check Grid.xml, say, vs. javaSource.xsd.  For this, you can use the convenient –schema flag to Counter:

 

java sax.Counter -s -v -schema javaSource.xsd Grid.xml

This will accept a "plain" XML file Grid.xml, or one with a DOCTYPE, and validate it using JavaSource.xsd.

 

If you get an error, note the numbers, say 8:14 at the beginning.  That means line 8, column 14 is the place in the XML that the error occurred. Also read the error message of course.

 

Find certain line number: use eclipse Navigate>Go to Line…

 

You can even test your schema against the schema of schemas:

 

java sax.Counter –v –s –schema http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema.xsd javaSource.xsd

This would help locate misspelled schema element names, for example.

 

DTD validation: you need a DOCTYPE in your .xml file for this.  Then use

 

java sax.Counter –v Grid.xml

 

Since schema validation by Counter works with a DOCTYPE, here is a way to streamline the validation in pa1b:

Thus if you standardize on writing your .xml files with a DOCTYPE but no linkage to .xsd internally, you can use Counter two ways on that file to check validation:

java sax.Counter -v Grid.xml for DTD validation (DOCTYPE says the dtd to use)
java sax.Counter -s -v -schema javaSource.xsd Grid.xml  for XML Schema validation

Note that the assignment is to use Counter as a Java class, not as a separate program.  Just set up an array of strings and call main. You shouldn’t need to edit Counter.java.  Just change its package as specified.