Extensible Markup Language. A flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the World Wide Web, intranets, and elsewhere. XML is a formal recommendation from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) similar to the language of today's Web pages, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
XML Interviews are getting tough these days as the technology grows faster. To get through the XML interview one needs to update him/herself in a regular manner. Having said that, just before the interview, it is very important to have a quick glance of the reputed XML questions and answers to make yourself comfortable during the interview process. This is where DoAnswers.com helps you in renewing yourself on XML and various other technologies interview preparation.
21. How can I put additional information into an XML file?
Alien attributes, i.e. attributes not defined in the OpenOffice.org DTD, will be preserved if they are attached to elements in style definitions. All other alien content will be discarded by the OpenOffice.org import filters. Since you can attach styles to arbitrary text ranges, you can use this mechanism to attach your information to arbitrary text ranges, too. Note: The above mechanism seems to only work in Writer. The issue is under investigation. It is planned that you can also put additional files with your own content into the packages. However, this doesn't work yet.
22. How do you parse/validate the XML document?
The only way to validate an XML file is to parse the XML document using the DOM parser or the SAX parser.
23. How does XML fit with the DOM?
The Document Object Model (DOM) (http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-DOM-Level-1) provides an abstract API for constructing, accessing, and manipulating XML and HTML documents. A binding of the DOM to a particular programming language provides a concrete API. Microsoft and other vendors provide APIs which let you use the DOM to query and manipulate XML documents in memory. The public Working Draft for the DOM Level 3 XPath is at http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-DOM-Level-3-XPath-20010618/.
24. How does XML handle metadata?
Because XML lets you define your own markup language, you can make full use of the extended hypertext features (see the question on Links) of XML to store or link to metadata in any format (eg ISO 11179, Dublin Core, Warwick Framework, Resource Description Framework (RDF), and Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS)). There are no predefined elements in XML, because it is an architecture, not an application, so it is not part of XML's job to specify how or if authors should or should not implement metadata. You are therefore free to use any suitable method from simple attributes to the embedding of entire Dublin Core/Warwick Framework metadata records. Browser makers may also have their own architectural recommendations or methods to propose.
25. How would you build a search engine for large volumes of XML data?
The way candidates answer this question may provide insight into their view of XML data. For those who view XML primarily as a way to denote structure for text files, a common answer is to build a full-text search and handle the data similarly to the way Internet portals handle HTML pages. Others consider XML as a standard way of transferring structured data between disparate systems. These candidates often describe some scheme of importing XML into a relational or object database and relying on the database's engine for searching. Lastly, candidates that have worked with vendors specializing in this area often say that the best way the handle this situation is to use a third party software package optimized for XML data
26. Is it necessary to validate XML file against a DTD?
Although XML does not require data to be validated against a DTD, many of the benefits of using the technology are derived from being able to
validate XML documents against business or technical architecture rules.
27. Is it possible to write the contents of org.w3c.dom.Document object into an .xml file?
Yes its possible. One to achieve this is by using Xerces. Xerces is an XML parser. You would use the following code
org.apache.xml.serialize.OutputFormat format = new org.apache.xml.serialize.OutputFormat(myDocument);
org.apache.xml.serialize.XMLSerializer output = new org.apache.xml.serialize.XMLSerializer(new FileOutputStream(new File("test.xml")), format);
output.serialize(myDocument);
28. Using XSLT, how would you extract a specific attribute from an element in an XML document?
Successful candidates should recognize this as one of the most basic applications of XSLT. If they are not able to construct a reply similar to the example below, they should at least be able to identify the components necessary for this operation: xsl:template to match the appropriate XML element, xsl:value-of to select the attribute value, and the optional xsl:apply-templates to continue processing the document. Extract Attributes from XML Data Example 1. Attribute Value:
29. What are the default file extensions for XML-based documents? Writer sxw
Calc sxc Draw sxd Impress sxi Math sxm Writer global document sxg XML is also used in other OpenOffice.org files (e.g. configuration) which are not covered in the xmloff project.
30. What is a DTD and a Schema?
The XML Document Type Declaration contains or points to markup declarations that provide a grammar for a class of documents. This grammar is known as a
document type definition or DTD.
The DTD can point to an external subset containing markup declarations, or can contain the markup declarations directly in an internal subset, or can
even do both.
A Schema is:
XML Schemas express shared vocabularies and allow machines to carry out rules made by people. They provide a means for defining the structure, content
and semantics of XML documents.
Schemas are a richer and more powerful of describing information than what is possible with DTDs.