COSC 479/592 Assignment 4: An Exercise in Document Design using XML

In this assignment, you will

• Design an XML document type.
• Develop a DTD for it.
• Create some documents of your document type and validate them using the rxp XML validator.
• Write a XSLT stylesheet for transforming documents of your document type to valid XHTML 1.1.
• Incorporate some JavaScript in the XHTML versions.
• Write a CGI to display your documents on the web, using the the xsltproc program to apply your stylesheet.

For the document type, there are plenty of examples of XML on the web. Look around. A good approach would be to find something that interests you and make some modifications to it. Of course, you're not allowed to use any examples presented in class.

The document type you choose needn't be complex, but it shouldn't be too simple either. Here are some constraints on the DTD to guarantee that it's not too simple:

1. The document tree must have at least two levels. That is, it must be possible for at least one child element of the root element to have child elements.
2. At least one element must be optional (i.e. labeled with a '?' in the DTD.
3. At least one element must be capable of indefinite repetition ('*' or '+').
4. At least one element must allow mixed text and child elements.
5. Some of the elements must be allowed or required to have attributes.

The stylesheet should preserve and make visible all text (#PCDATA) element content. (If there's text that shouldn't be directly visible, put it in an attribute rather than an element.)

Attribute values should affect the appearance of the webpage.

The JavaScript that you use should incorporate onClick or onMouseOver events in a useful way.

The final result should be a sensible rendering in XHTML of a useful document type. In other words, don't just throw things in to satisfy the above requirements.