Contents Overview 1 Lesson: Solutions That Use XML 2 Lesson: XML Web Services 17 Lesson: What Is Next? 27 Lab 10: Building a Menu System 32 Review 36 Course Evaluation 37 Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, places or events is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. 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Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, Windows NT, ActiveX, BackOffice, bCentral, BizTalk, FrontPage, MSDN, MSN, Netshow, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Visio, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual InterDev, Visual Studio, Windows Media, and Xbox are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A. and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions iii Instructor Notes This module helps participants expand their understanding of how they can use Extensible Markup Language (XML) technologies, the Microsoft ® .NET Framework, and XML Web services to create XML solutions. It should also be a module that is fun for you and fun for the participants, and it should communicate a clear sense of excitement about the many possibilities in this area. By the time participants get to this module, they have learned about a considerable number of new technologies and ideas. Some participants might feel overwhelmed. Hopefully, most are also excited by the capabilities that they have learned about. Throughout this module, you will need to be mindful of the time. Move through this module quickly. Because it is at the end of the course, use the module to review and relate the previous modules to one another. Even though this is the final module, it still contains a significant amount of new material. Be sure to prepare thoroughly for this module so that you can lead the demonstrations and the lab smoothly. You might want to do the challenge lab as a group exercise. This purpose of the lab is to help the participants see the many possibilities provided by XML and the .NET Framework. After completing this module, participants will be able to: ! List additional XML technologies that they can use in solution development. ! List possible solutions to which you can apply XML and related technologies. ! Identify the skill sets required to design XML solutions. ! Review a proposed solution and choose an appropriate mix of XML and related technologies to address design requirements. Presentation: 40 Minutes Lab: 20-30 Minutes iv Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions Materials and Preparation This section provides the materials and preparation tasks that you need to teach this module. To teach this module, you need the following materials: ! Microsoft PowerPoint ® file 2500A_10.ppt ! An Internet connection To prepare for this module: ! Read all of the materials for this module. ! Complete the lab. ! Review Web sites for .NET My Services, .NET Passport, and.NET Alerts. ! Review the most recent announcements from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). ! Review the most recent announcements for Microsoft MSDN ® .NET courses and Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) .NET server courses. ! Review the XML site on MSDN to see what additional examples and articles are available if participants want to extend their learning beyond the class. In particular, check to see if there are later versions of any of the demonstration files used in the module. Required Materials Preparation Tasks Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions v Instructor Setup for a Lab This section provides setup instructions that are required to prepare the instructor computer or classroom configuration for a lab. ! Prepare for the lab 1. Internet Information Server (IIS) must be installed and running properly. There will be no time to install IIS at this point in the course if it has not been done. 2. The file msdntocc2.exe must be available in the install_folder\Labfiles\ Lab10\Starter folder. 3. Verify that the file installs and works properly on the instructor computer. Multimedia Presentation There are no media for this module. If the course is customized and extended, use the various .NET media downloads to teach more about the relevant topics covered in this module. Lab 10: Building a Menu System vi Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions Module Strategy Use the following strategy to present this module: ! Solutions That Use XML This first lesson is designed to provide more context for XML and Microsoft .NET. To get participants enthusiastic about learning more about XML, this lesson describes types of XML solutions. This lesson is also designed to reinforce the principle that XML technologies work together to do different things, depending on the solution. Use the topics in this lesson to emphasize the ways that you can use XML and .NET. Use the examples and cross-references to help make these points. However, do not spend excessive time on any one topic. The cross-references are provided in some detail so that participants can study these topics on their own. In the Demonstration folder, you have copies of the Duwamish Online .NET sample site files (Duwamish7-CS.cab and Duwamish Online VB.cab). ! XML Web Services This lesson provides more specific examples of XML Web services. Refer participants to the extensive MSDN resources for learning about XML Web services. The recent articles on .NET methods are the most relevant, because XML Web services have changed since the early articles were written in 1999. Do not imply that Microsoft .NET is just about XML Web services. Emphasize the complexity and extent of .NET and XML technologies beyond XML Web services, but do not minimize the significance of XML Web services themselves. Stress the broader .NET context for participants to learn about across the full range of the .NET Framework. The better you understand this yourself, the easier this will be. If you have time, open the Cold Storage Web site to demonstrate it to students. ! What Is Next? This lesson is designed to help participants see where they can go beyond this course for information and skills learning. Keep the main emphasis on skills development. Do not sound like you are trying to sell other courses. If the course is effective, participants will know how they can benefit by developing their skill sets. For the Jobs and Opportunities topic, stress that many traditional jobs will be refined or redefined as a result of the .NET Framework. Even those who are new to this field have many opportunities due to this fact. Encourage participants to discuss the changing jobs and roles. If there is extra time, lead a discussion on this topic. Refer participants to other events that might help them. Finally, stress that participants must constantly be learning in this rapidly changing field about the many ways that they support this effort, and encourage participants to get their home organizations involved in courses like this to drive awareness and solutions. Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions 1 Overview ! Solutions That Use XML ! XML Web Services ! What Is Next? ***************************** ILLEGAL FOR NON - TRAINER USE ****************************** The previous modules covered a wide range of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Microsoft ® .NET issues and ideas. This final module focuses on some selected uses of XML, the use of XML in XML Web services, and ways that you can enhance your skills in the XML and .NET arena. Although the topics in this module are not exhaustive, they will help you begin to expand your understanding of XML and .NET. After completing this module, you will be able to: ! List XML technologies that you can use in solution development. ! List possible solutions to which you can apply XML and related technologies. ! Identify the skill sets required to design an XML solution. ! Review a proposed solution and choose an appropriate mix of XML and related technologies to address design requirements. Introduction Objectives 2 Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions Lesson: Solutions That Use XML ! Layered Designs ! XML-Based Menu Systems ! Data Handling ! Proprietary Systems ***************************** ILLEGAL FOR NON - TRAINER USE ****************************** There are many ways that you can use and implement XML in solutions for the handling of data, metadata, and data exchange. This lesson will briefly describe several of these. One particularly useful application of XML technologies is to use XML to manage Web site navigation and menu systems. Combined with a sound approach to layered architecture, you can use XML to manage communication within and between particular layers of your solution. Many Microsoft MSDN ® articles have addressed this topic since XML first came into focus in 1998. After completing this lesson, you will be able to: ! Identify ways in which you can use XML to build Web page menu systems. ! Identify the key concepts of layered design architecture. ! Identify places where XML data storage and handling provide efficient solutions. ! Explain how you can use XML to help integrate proprietary systems. ! Explain how you can use XML to handle documents. ! Identify items to assess when you develop applications that use XML and .NET. Introduction Lesson objectives Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions 3 Layered Design Architecture of Duwamish Online Data Access Layer Business Layer Presentation Layer Windows 2000 Task Scheduler Windows 2000 Task Scheduler Fulfillment Workflow Fulfillment Workflow Active Server Pages with XSLT Active Server Pages with XSLT Fulfillment Data Source Fulfillment Data Source Duwamish Database Duwamish Database Queued Workflow Queued Workflow Workflow Component Workflow Component Business Logic Layer Business Logic Layer Data Access Layer Data Access Layer ***************************** ILLEGAL FOR NON - TRAINER USE ****************************** One of the particularly important Web design tasks that you can undertake with XML technologies is the development of clearly defined layers in an application design sense. Using XML permits the Web designer to store all types of data in XML data and XML documents to define the application layers and the communication between them. The Web designer can create very lean and efficient code structures that use the same or similar techniques for navigation, data exchange, and configuration of metadata and data. MSDN provides special sample projects that help you learn about the best ways to implement XML. The Duwamish Online sample application is available on the Internet at http://duwamishonline.com. You can find its various versions, from its early implementations through the Microsoft Visual Studio ® .NET version, in the MSDN Library. To read about the architecture of Duwamish version 5.0, go to Duwamish Online Application Architecture at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/ default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnduwon/html/d5ntierarch.asp?frame=true. To download the C# version of Duwamish version 7.0, go to Duwamish7 (C#) at http://msdn.microsoft.com/code/default.asp?URL=/code/ sample.asp?url=/MSDN-FILES/026/002/071/msdncompositedoc.xml. To download the Microsoft Visual Basic ® .NET version of Duwamish 7.0, go to Duwamish7 (Visual Basic) at http://msdn.microsoft.com/code/ default.asp?url=/code/sample.asp?url=/msdn-files/026/002/073/ MsdnCompositeDoc.xml&frame=true. Introduction Note 4 Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions When implementing layered design, the Web design team clearly separates the various application functions from each other. This results in much easier development routines, because each layer is maintained independently of each other layer. You can manage code for each layer without impinging on any other layer. Maintenance of the interaction between layers can be managed in many different ways, including through XML data and XML documents. The number of layers that you use depends on your conceptual framework and the detail that you want to associate with each layer. Layers are thought of as either top-down or bottom-up. Conventionally, the layers are as follows (using a bottom-up listing). Layer Purpose Data access To provide access to data Business logic To store business rules and logic processes Presentation Actual display of information to the client This does not provide the details about layers that are required in practical Web design. The following table more specifically identifies layers and what they do. Layer Purpose Data layer To provide the actual data storage (for example, SQL Server) Data access To provide access to data Business logic To store business rules and logic processes Business façade To manage workflow and abstraction of business actions Presentation Actual display of information to the client For the management of data, logic, workflow, and presentation between each layer, data can be stored in Microsoft SQL Server ™ 2000 and retrieved by using SQL XML. This technique can be used in combination with various forms of stored procedures (with and without XML) and provide highly effective and efficient data, workflow, and content management for the Web site. Not all things can be done equally well by XML, so it is important to use the most appropriate technology for each task. This depends in part on the mixture of logical and physical architecture chosen by the development team. The Duwamish Books example Web site uses SQL XML, C++, Component Object Model (COM), Active Server Pages (ASP), and XSLT. In Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual C# ™ .NET, the newer .NET Framework techniques are invoked. If time permits, read the Visual Basic .NET or Visual C# .NET sample Duwamish sites. The sample files are located in the install_folder\ Practices\Mod10 folder. What is layered design? XML and la yered design Optional practice [...]... Server 2000 and in XML data documents 7 8 Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions You can use XML to store the data for the menu items and for the navigation The following is an example of this code The code creates the general menu bar and then allows for the dynamic rendering of a specific menu within it < ?xml version="1.0"?> . en-us/dnexxml/html /xml0 9182000.asp. Introduction Note 6 Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions The basic XML data on the Microsoft.com site. this to drive awareness and solutions. Module 10: The Challenge of Designing XML Solutions 1 Overview ! Solutions That Use XML ! XML Web Services ! What Is