Editorial Reviews:
- Covers all the features of the number one XML development tool-currently used by over 500,000 developers worldwide
- Written by one of Altova's top XML "spies," this book will be an indispensable study guide for XML Spy Certification
- Addresses topics that will appeal to XML newbies and veterans who are looking to build XML applications, documents, and Web services more quickly and easily
- Shows how to work with XML views, create and manage XML Spy projects, XML fundamentals, DTDs, and schemas
- CD-ROM includes a sixty day trial version of XML Spy
Say you know only a little bit about Extensible Markup Language (XML). You know what it is, generally, and some of the roles it plays in software. You don't, however, feel ready to do real work with it. The Official XMLSPY Handbook fits your requirements brilliantly by simultaneously introducing you to XML and XMLSPY, which is one of the most popular tools for generating, editing, and analyzing XML documents. Certain aspects of theory that you'd get from a standards-based XML book (XML in a Nutshell is one of the best) fail to appear in this practical guide for programmers, but then it's rare to win a contract because you know the standards documents exclusively.Practical from page one, author Larry Kim begins with a quick introduction to the mechanics of XMLSPY 5 (which appears in 90-day full-featured demo form on the companion CD-ROM), then explores the software's features--which happen to coincide with XML's handiest capabilities--one by one. Though the graphics are sometimes small and grainy, Kim does an admirable job of explaining how XML and its related technologies work, and especially how XMLSPY fits into the practical picture. The reader is left wanting only one significant feature: information on how to design XML into applications, not just implement it. That's a big subject, though, and one that might best be left for Kim's next book. --David Wall Topics covered: Extensible Markup Language (XML), Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), XSL Transformations (XSLT), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Definition Language (WSDL), and how all of these interact with Altova's XMLSPY development environment. You'll learn how to manipulate XML and its variations in XMLSPY, and get a bit of background on how each works.
Customer Reviews:
Displaying 1 to 5 of 15 total reviews (Page 1 of 4):
 Useful but not a great book
I just finished this book cover to cover.
One should keep in mind while reviewing any literature on xmlspy, that there is a wealth of things one can do with this tool. And that it takes huge volumes to cover all those details.
Considering that this 326 page book has done a good job.
The book will definitely get you started.
Only the first 250 pages are useful. The chapters on WSDL, SOAP are too abstract to be of any use.
Also in the first 250 pages, the 2 chapters on XSTL are not done well. I was surprised to see a lot of dead code in the snippets printed.
I also came across a lot of printing errors.
Oh yeah the CD provided is for some dummies series XML book. The software was unusable.
So you are actually buying a book with around 150 pages. But I will still spend that money if I am given the opportunity to decide once again.Hopefully there will be a revised 2nd edition.  Interested in learning XML? I'd recommend this book.
This book shines light on the pillars of XML: XML, XSL, and XSD (schemas) with simple procedures to create and manipulate XML documents. The book is organized with each major technology in its own chapter, or basic and advanced features in 2 chapters (great for learning/mastering a particular aspect of XML, such as XSL stylesheets).Respectfully, the flame comments about the wrong CD coming with the book seem irrelevant now -- the book now comes with all the exercises and an incredible 90-day trial version of XMLSPY (the normal download trial is for 30 days). The information builds logically, walking you through simple examples to introduce the XML terminology, then adding nitty-gritty fine-level details demonstrating, in context, what would otherwise be abstract and complex terminology. I enjoyed the casual, friendly writing style. There are asides about some features defined in the XML standard, but not used in the real world. Other times the author points out the way he generally does something. There are several quick procedures using the XMLSPY editor that would otherwise require repetitive or manual actions. There's a chapter on WSDL. I haven't read it yet (loaned the book to a friend learning XML), but a local MSDN director raves about being able to edit and examine WSDL visually with XMLSPY. THE BEST FEATURE of the book may well be the 90 day trial version of XMLSPY Enterprise Edition. The 3 months use of a $400/$500 program the CD gives you for the cost of this excellent instructional book! NOTE: If you can read and write schemas by hand, you probably won't need all the info on XML terminology and simple examples, though you'd probably still benefit from how to do things with XMLSPY and the full 90 days to explore it.  Unacceptable resolution
Shipping a new CD is not an acceptable resolution. Why is there not an errata page on the Wiley web site along with downloads for the examples in the book? Why does the book not have its own URL? Why does it take at least three redirects and more than two minutes for the Wiley.com/compbooks web site to load?The back of the book proclaims, "This is it - the only XMLSPY reference book authorized by Altova, Inc." which is not true, there is also the "XMLSPY 5 User & Reference Manual." The content of the book is acceptable, if limited, but I am not happy with the quality of this book or the service given by the publisher. But if you are committed to use XMLSPY, which is a pretty good way to develop XML applications, this book and Wiley may be your only choice. The Tutorial in the software is very shallow. Unacceptable resolution
Shipping a new CD is not an acceptable resolution. Why is there not an errata page on the Wiley web site along with downloads for the examples in the book? Why does the book not have its own URL? Why does it take at least three redirects and more than two minutes for the Wiley.com/compbooks web site to load?The back of the book proclaims, "This is it - the only XMLSPY reference book authorized by Altova, Inc." which is not true, there is also the "XMLSPY 5 User & Reference Manual." The content of the book is acceptable, if limited, but I am not happy with the quality of this book or the service given by the publisher. But if you are committed to use XMLSPY, which is a pretty good way to develop XML applications, this book and Wiley may be your only choice. The Tutorial in the software is very shallow. Unacceptable resolution
Shipping a new CD is not an acceptable resolution. Why is there not an errata page on the Wiley web site along with downloads for the examples in the book? Why does the book not have its own URL? Why does it take at least three redirects and more than two minutes for the Wiley.com/compbooks web site to load?The back of the book proclaims, "This is it - the only XMLSPY reference book authorized by Altova, Inc." which is not true, there is also the "XMLSPY 5 User & Reference Manual." The content of the book is acceptable, if limited, but I am not happy with the quality of this book or the service given by the publisher. But if you are committed to use XMLSPY, which is a pretty good way to develop XML applications, this book and Wiley may be your only choice. The Tutorial in the software is very shallow. More Customer Reviews:
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(15 reviews)
