Major retailers are under tremendous pressure to go green and reduce their carbon footprint. To achieve this, they first turned to initiatives close at hand, including the reduction of energy consumption at the store level, product packaging resizing and the more efficient construction of new stores.

The oasis of quick fixes though that lie close to hand are beginning to dry up and under pressure to go further, retailers are now placing their global supply chains under the microscope.

An example of this is the pressure suppliers are being put under to to deliver on-time, with full loads that aren’t rejected. This can have a major impact on sustainability, as full loads mean fewer lorries on our roads, fewer rejections equal less waste and on-time deliveries reduce bottlenecks and returns.

As if suppliers weren’t being squeezed enough, now comes a whole raft of new initiatives that, unless automated, will place margins under greater and greater pressure.

Nevertheless, supply chain’s can fight back, to not only deliver the carbon reductions retailers seek, but turn these initiatives in to an opportunity to improve profitability.

Take for example a supplier faced with a mandate from a major retailer to reduce its carbon footprint by 25%. That’s not a 25% reduction in its own internal footprint but the footprint it creates in trading with the retailer. Understandably, all eyes turn to logistics and product returns as two major areas that can achieve this. But how and at what cost?

The solution lies in the redesign and integration of business processes between the supplier and its hauliers that, if done correctly, can not only help them deliver major improvements in carbon footprint but also improve cash-flow and reduce costs.

If for example suppliers and their logistics providers exchanged delivery requests, load plans and despatch advices in real-time, they could increase the number of full loads and decrease the number of incorrectly timed deliveries. Furthermore, by equipping drivers with simple mobile-phone based text messaging (SMS) or Apple iPhone applications, proof of delivery (POD) messages could be sent back to the supplier’s computer system immediately the goods are received. This not only allows the supplier to invoice more quickly (sometimes by weeks) but also has a dramatic impact on reducing invoice queries.

To conclude, there are many such initiatives that if implemented can help suppliers and their hauliers drive improvements to margins, cash-flow and customer service, whilst in tandem delivering the sustainability returns their customers demand.

Perceptant is a recognised expert in Efficient Logistics, Supply Chain Management & Electronic Data Interchange - EDI and has been helping companies seamlessly collaborate for over 20 years. For a limited period, organisations can have a free review of their logistical supply chain by visiting the Perceptant’s Solutions Forum, which can be found on their homepage.

Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) has quickly established itself as a viable technology with a huge range of real-world applications. One of the key reasons for its importance and wide acceptance is that it offers a working solution to one of the key problems faced by software developers and computer users alike: the exchange of incompatible data. Each software environment produces its own unique type of binary file which only it can understand. Once data is exported in XML format, it becomes a known quantity, independent of the environment in which it was originated.

The PDF format is another example of a platform-independent format which has gained worldwide acceptance. Once a document is saved in PDF format, its format is set in stone, it can viewed and printed with its layout and formatting intact, without the need for the software which created the original document. However, where the PDF format concerns itself mainly with the presentation of information, XML is used to describe and encapsulate the information itself.

Though XML itself is still fairly new, the idea behind goes back a long way. In the 1970s, Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) was developed in an attempt to create an application-independent method of describing data. SGML is a text-based language which employs the concept of adding mark-up to data which describes the data itself. An SGML document contains both the original data and a set of rules defining the structure of that data. SGML is a fairly complex language and, unlike XML, has never become mainstream. In the early 1990s, SGML was used to develop and specify the rules of HTML and in the late 1990s, SGML was again called upon, this time as the basis for the development of XML. In many ways XML is really a restricted form of SGML.

XML has already proved itself to be an excellent medium for storing, describing and transporting data, particularly over the web. It offers developers flexibility, clarity and simplicity. An XML document resembles an HTML document and consists of the same human-readable tags. However, the tags used to markup an HTML document are predetermined: only a fixed set of tags can legitimately be used. XML allows you to create your own markup language and define the tags which are legitimate for your data. It does this via the mechanism of a schema document, which can itself be an XML document. The schema document defines the vocabulary and grammar which may be used within the XML document containing your data.

The fact that, when creating and generating an XML document, you can invent all the rules, means that you never have to force your data into a container which was not designed to contain it. You define tags which reflect the nature of your data; you create a schema document which specifies the hierarchical structure of your information; and you decide on the type of information each element within your document is permitted to contain. In short, if you end up creating an XML documents which is unsuitable for holding your information, the responsibility lies with yourself!

Author’s company runs public courses in ASP.NET 3.5 in London and throughout the UK.

Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is a technology closely related to XML which is used to transform XML data. XML file are used to set out the ground-rules for a given body of data and to describe the data itself. XSL allows us to take the original XML data and convert it into information which can be displayed in a web browser window or opened with a text editor. XSL can also be used to create an XML file which is a modified version of an original XML file.

When displaying elements in a browser window, the XSL elements which enable looping through an XML tree and decision-making really come into their own. One of the key methods used in XSL for looping through XML elements is the “For-each” element. This uses the “select” attribute to specify which element is to be targeted in the loop. The “For-each” element has both an opening and a closing tag and any lines of code placed between the opening and closing tags will be repeated each time the element specified in the “select” attribute is encountered in the XML file.

For example, suppose we have an XML file containing a list of companies and the addresses of their websites. Suppose, as well, that the element which we will be targeting in the XSL “For-each” statement is called “company” and that, within each company element, we have a “name”, “telephone” and “website” element. Before starting our “For-each” loop, we could place the opening tag of an HTML “ul” element (an unordered or bulleted list).

Inside the “For-each” loop, we could output an HTML “li” element and, between its opening and closing tags, output the contents of the “name” and “telephone” elements from the XML file. The data in the “website” element in the input XML could be used to convert the “name” into a clickable link.

As for the appearance of the data in the resulting HTML output, this would be controlled by a linked CSS file. CSS can be used to format the output in any way we like, so our bulleted list can take on pretty much any appearance we desire.

The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Training, a UK IT training company offering XML, XSLT, XPATH, XQuery and XSL-FO training courses in London and throughout the UK.

The nature of XML makes it easy to exchange data in multiple of forms. The XML technical specifics was introduced on February 1998 to answer the need of handling document and data over the Web. Admittedly the technical terms of website creation makes it complicating to understand. Thank God for XML For Dummies.

The plain English guidebook is ideally meant for those who have no background in website creation. It discusses extensible markup language giving a summary regarding XML use, basics and its history. Authors Ed Tittel, Ramesh Chandakand Norman McKula specifically wanted a book written for those who needs assistance in translating this special language for application without the complication of technical terms. The information are rather easy to understand in this book.

Web pages are more dynamic with XML. Create interactive interfaces from multiple data sources with the use of push technology that easily allows management and transmission of data across the Web. This special markup language works with HTML to produce those impressive website outlines.

The book is a simplified gist about XML. It is an overview of the special markup language. It offers a step-by-step method for designing and creating with use of its extensible features. The book comes with valuable data of XML resources online, samples of helpful codes and a glossary. It also comes with CD-ROM freeware versions of XML software.

Now making portable information through the conversion of HTML documents to XHTML is achievable with XML. It helps store different types of data to comprehend and use it for Document Type Definitions. This guide is ideally for beginners to use with Word 2003 even add CSS to make documents available in the Web.

XML gives immerse high quality output.Style sheets are created with consistency tagging data for different use send information and linking it to other applications.

Next, check out more tips and resources for learning XML and RSS.

Core XML

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a specification by the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) for creating markup languages such as XHTML. The XML specification is being used in an increasingly wide range of applications for exchanging data between different environments, platforms and media. One of the main reasons for its rapidly growing popularity is its flexibility. It allows developers to define their own hierarchy of tags which reflect the structure of their data. In addition to the core XML specification, a number of other technologies have been developed for working with XML projects.

XML Schema

XML schema documents and schema languages are used to validate and document XML markup languages. They allow developers to explicitly lay down the syntactical and structural ground rules for particular classes of XML documents. A number of schema languages have been developed but perhaps the two most important are those defined by the W3C: Document Type Definition (DTD) which was built into the original XML specification and the more XML schema language developed a few years later.

XSL, XSLT AND XSL-FO

Next we have XML technologies for transforming XML. Extensible Stylesheet language (XSL) comprises two parts: XSL Transformations (XSLT) and XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO). XSLT stylesheets are essentially XML documents which transform a given class of XML document (referred to as the source tree) into a different class of XML document (referred to as the output tree). XSLT documents can be compared to CSS documents but are much more powerful. XSL-FO documents are written in XML and control the formatting layout in an output document in a very detailed manner. It allows the definition of layout masters from which are derived page sequences for generating the final document pages. Flow objects are then used to bind data to the various regions of pages.

XPath, XLink, XPointer and XQuery

XPath, XML Linking Language (XLink), and XML Pointer Language (XPointer) are all provide solutions for linking and addressing when working with XML documents. XPath is a declarative language which uses expressions that resemble the directory paths used to describe locations in computer file systems. XPath expressions are used in XSLT documents to address specific nodes within the hierarchy of the XML source document.

XLink is basically a method of creating hyperlinks within XML documents. It overcomes some of the limitations of the hyperlinks used in XHTML, such as the fact that each hyperlink has only one source and one destination. XPointer allows you to create links which point to very specific points within the hierarchy of an XML document by including XPath expressions in its syntax. XQuery is designed to query XML data in much the same way that SQL is used to query databases. It uses XPath expressions to extract elements and attributes within the structure of an XML document.

XML schema definition languages are based on the recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). They use XML 1.0 syntax and aim to explicit describe the structure of XML documents and constrain the data which they may contain. They offer a distinct improvement on the more limited schema features offered by the Document Type Definition (DTD) recommendation which formed part of the original XML specification released in 1998. The most widely used schema language is the one defined by the W3C in 2001: W3C XML Schema. However, there are alternatives, such as RELAX NG and Schematron.

XML Schema documents are the successors to DTDs and overcome some key limitations associated with them. Firstly, DTDs do not support data types. Secondly, DTDs do not support namespaces. Thirdly, DTDs do not allow developers to accurately define the number of permitted occurrences of elements within their parent element.

XML schema documents describe the structure of an XML instance document by defining what each element must or may contain. An element is limited by its type. For example, an element of complex type can contain child elements and attributes, whereas a simple-type element can only contain text. The diagram below gives a first look at the types of XML Schema elements.

Schema documents serve three principal purposes. Firstly, they can be used to validate XML documents. Secondly, they can be used as a dictionary or grammar for the creation of a given class of XML document. And, thirdly, they can be used to provide documentation for XML documents.

Each XML schema is itself an XML document and contains definitions of all elements and attributes permitted in a given class of XML documents. The schema also specifies the structure or hierarchy to which elements must adhere and the type of content each particular element may contain. Elements may be of the simple or complex type. Complex type elements may contain child elements as well as attributes. Simple type element may only contain data. XML documents using a particular schema are referred to as instances of the schema. An XML instance that correctly adheres to its associated schema is said to be valid.

Validation is usually the principal role of schema documents. Validation offers many benefits. It ensures the consistency of data within a document. It ensures that data has the right structure and internal hierarchy. It ensures that data within the document structure is of the correct type. It allows us to receive data from multiple sources.

Almost all XML documents are generated by programs and scripts written to extract information held in databases and transform it into XML. However, it is also possible for human beings to create XML documents. Schemas can be used during this process to assist in the document creation process. XML schemas also provide a mechanism for documenting XML documents and form an important part of the specification of XML vocabularies.

In case you haven’t heard of Google Sitemaps (BETA), it is a new program set up by Google to encourage webmasters to create a special XML-format sitemap file for Google to spider through. If you go through the official page, you will find yourself boggled if you are not very good at programming.

Thankfully, here’s a very simple method for you to create such a sitemap in 7 easy steps so you don’t have to spend $97 on some software that purports to do the same thing automatically. You betcha, people are charging a premium for doing the thing which you can without taking out your wallet.

So, to create a Google sitemap:

1) Create an xml sitemap at http://www.sitemapspal.com.

2) Simply type in your url address and click submit.

3) Copy and paste the code into a new HTML file and save it as sitemap.xml.

4) FTP it to your host.

5) Go here to log in if you already have an account: http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login using the same username and password as you would to log in to GMail. Ask for invitation.

6) Inform Google about your sitemap location using the HTTP request, like this: www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/ping?sitemap=http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml.gz and wait!

7) After 10-24 hrs, do your URL search on Google.com. Index page should be picked up.

Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) has very rapidly established itself as a viable technology with a huge range of real-world applications. One of the main reasons for its growing importance and wide acceptance is the fact that it offers a working solution to one of the key problems faced by software developers and computer users alike: the exchange of incompatible data. Each software program creates its own unique type of binary file which only it can understand. When data is exported in XML format, it becomes a known, clearly defined quantity, independent of the environment in which it was originated.

Adobe’s PDF format is another example of a platform-independent format which has gained worldwide acceptance. When a document is saved in PDF format, its format is set in stone, it can viewed and printed with its layout and formatting intact, without the need for the software which created the original document. However, whereas the PDF format concerns itself primarily with the presentation of information, XML is used to describe and encapsulate the information itself.

Though XML itself is still fairly new, the idea behind is over thirty years old. In the 1970s, Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) was developed in an attempt to create an application-independent method of describing and storing data. SGML is a text-based language which relies on the concept of adding mark-up to data which describes the data itself. An SGML document contains both the original data and a lexicon of rules defining the structure of that data. SGML is a fairly complex language and, unlike XML, has never gained wide popularity. In the early 1990s, SGML was used to develop and specify the rules of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and in the late 1990s, SGML was again called upon, this time as the basis for the creation of XML. In a lot of ways XML is basically a restricted form of SGML.

XML has already proved itself to be an excellent medium for storing, describing and transporting data, particularly over the internet. It provides flexibility, clarity and simplicity. An XML document may look similar to an HTML document and consists of the same human-readable tags. However, the tags used to markup HTML documents are pre-defined: only a limited set of tags can legitimately be included. XML allows you to create your own markup language and define the tags which are legitimate for your data. It does this via a schema document, which can itself be an XML document. The schema document specifies the vocabulary and grammar which can be used within the XML document which contains your information.

The fact that, when creating or generating XML documents, you can invent all the rules, means that you never have to twist and force your data into a container which was not designed to hold it. You design tags which reflect the nature of your information; you create a schema document which defines the hierarchical structure of that information; and you specify the type of data each element within your document is permitted to contain. In short, if you end up with an XML documents which is not suitable for holding your information, you have only yourself to blame!

Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is an XML-related technology which is used to transform XML data. XML file are used to set the ground-rules for a given body of data and to describe the data itself. XSL allows us to take that data and convert it into information which can be displayed in a web browser window or opened with a text editor. It can also be used to create an XML file which is a modified version of an original XML file.

When displaying elements in a browser window, the XSL elements which allow us to loop through an XML tree and carry out decision-making really come into their own. One of the key methods used in XSL for looping through all occurrences of a given XML element is the “For-each” element. This uses the “select” attribute to specify which XML element is to be used in the loop. The “For-each” element uses both an opening and a closing tag and any lines of code placed between the opening and closing tags will be repeated each time the element specified in the “select” attribute is encountered in the XML file.

For example, let’s say we have an input XML file containing a list of companies and the addresses of their websites. Let’s also say that the element which we will be targeting in the XSL “For-each” statement is called “company” and that, for each company element, we have a “name”, “telephone” and “website” element. Before beginning our “For-each” loop, we could output the opening tag of an HTML “ul” element (an unordered or bulleted list).

Inside the “For-each” loop, we could then output an HTML “li” element and, between the opening and closing “li” tags, output the contents of the “name” and “telephone” elements from the XML file. The data in the “website” could then be used to convert the “name” into a clickable link.

As for the appearance of the data in the resulting HTML output, this would be controlled by a linked CSS file. CSS can be used to format the output in any way we like, so our bulleted list can take on pretty much any appearance we desire.