Defense Presentation

A Framework for Display of Information from a Data

Source

Presented byShaolong Wu

University of HoustonDepartment of Computer Sciences

Agenda

1. Motivation2. Objectives3. Introduction4. Architecture5. Implementation6. Demonstration7. Conclusion8. Future Work

Motivation

Web Publishing Technology- Components: Browser, Web Server, Database, Network- Technologies: HTML, HTTP, XML/XSL, JDBC/ODBC,

ASP, Servlet/JSP- Expensive Resources- Complexities

Simplify Web Publishing Process

Increase Performance and Scalability

Agenda

1. Motivation2. Objectives3. Purpose4. Architecture5. Implementation6. Demonstration7. Conclusion8. Future Work

Objectives

Understand Web Publishing Architecture and Technologies

Develop a Framework for Display of Information from a Data Source

Demonstrate How Easy and Simple to Use

the Framework

Agenda

1. Motivation2. Objectives3. Introduction4. Architecture5. Implementation6. Demonstration7. Conclusion8. Future Work

Complexities of Web Publishing

Browser

CGI

ASP

Servlet

HTTP Response

Database

JDBC/ODBC

HTML

Create/Transform

HTTP Request

Web Server

Complexities of Web Publishing

Expensive resources- ODBC/JDBC- ASP/JSP, Java/VBScript etc- SQL

- Web Server Administration Expensive processes

- Connecting to database at Server- Creating HTML at Server

Simplify The Process

Browser

Database

HTTP Request

Web Server

Template

HTTP Response

HTTP Response

HTTP Request

HTML

Create/Transform

Simplify The Process

Release a lot of resources- No database connection at Server- SQL dynamically generated at client machine

- HTML created at client machine Reduce complexity of the process

- No ODBC/JDBC- No Code for ASP/JSP- Server only provides the Template- Web Server Administration becomes easy

XML Technology

New technology about data

Platform independent

Metalanguage

Provides structural and semantic information to the data

Provide additional meaning and context to the application

Well-formed, hierarchical structure and can be valid

XSL and XSLT XSL is a formatting language XSL transforms XML data XSLT is a text based transformation

process XSLT is completed through a XSL

StylesheetXSL Stylesheet

XML Data

XLSTProcessor

Result TreeHTML, XML, Text …

Transforms

SQL Server 2000 XML Support

HTTP Access FOR XML XML Mode

- Raw: each row in result becomes “row” element

and columns become attributes- Auto: table become element or sub-element, columns become attributes, hierarchy depends on table order in SQL- Explicit: user defines the elements and attributes

Agenda

1. Motivation2. Objectives3. Introduction4. Architecture5. Implementation6. Demonstration7. Conclusion8. Future Work

Framework Architecture

QueryTemplate.xmlSchema

Query XSL Stylesheet

Mapper

SQL Database

XML Data

HTTP Request HTTP ResponseRunValidator

HTML Document

Transforms

GeneratorsJava Objects

Our Framework

Agenda

1. Motivation2. Objectives3. Introduction4. Architecture5. Implementation6. Demonstration7. Conclusion8. Future Work

Components and Objects

Defines which data to display and how to display Must follow a Schema Root Element: <xmlMapper:mapper> First Part: <xmlMapper:query> defines which data

• Sub-element <xmlMapper:fields> defines fields and table• Sub-element <xmlMapper:where> defines the WHERE

clause• Used by Generators to generate the Query

Second Part: <xmlMapper:output> defines how to display

• Define targets and actions for XML Stylesheet• Can be any HTML output• Used by Generators to create the XSL Stylesheet

The QueryTemplate.xml Template

Components and Objects

The Generators Retrieve the QueryTemplate.xml Template

from Server Accept user input query condition Generate the Query and the XSL Stylesheet Also validate the Template when running at

terminal Accept the Query, XSL Stylesheet and database

address Retrieve XML Data from SQL Server 2000

database Transform the XML data into HTML document

The Mapper

GUI Tool to help developing the Template Run at Server terminal

The RunValidator

Components and Objects

Generated by the Generators based on the Template

Used by the Mapper to retrieve the XML data from database

Format:SELECT+'<ROOT>';SELECT…TableName.FieldName…WHERE TableName1.FieldName=TableName2.FieldName AND TableName.Field=FOR XML AUTO;SELECT '</ROOT>'

The Query

Components and Objects

Generated by the Generators based on the Template

Used by the Mapper to transform the XML data into HTML

Regular XSL Stylesheet

Specifies matching targets and actions

Usually, the matching targets are XML elements or Attributes

Application dependent

The XSL Stylesheet

Components and Objects

The SQL Database SQL Server 2000 database Support retrieving XML data via HTTP access

with the “FOR XML” clause

The XML Data Database table name become elements or sub-

elements Hierarchy depends on the order defined in the

TemplateThe HTML Document The desired HTML Document Display in client’s browser

Components and Objects

Include Java objects the Generators and the Mapper

Specify a location to display the resulting HTML

Use a form to get user input query condition

Use a button to trigger the Javascript method that did all the process

The Starting HTML

Agenda

1. Motivation2. Objectives3. Introduction4. Architecture5. Implementation6. Demonstration7. Conclusion8. Future Work

Demonstration

accounts DatabaseShow how to develop, deploy, and apply our framework step by step

Northwind DatabaseShow how to transform deep hierarchical XML dataShow how easy to insert a column into HTML table after development

Agenda

1. Motivation2. Objectives3. Introduction4. Architecture5. Implementation6. Demonstration7. Conclusion8. Future Work

Benefits and Significance

HTML is dynamically created on client machine Increase scalability and performance of the server

Retrieve XML data from database directly on client machine Reduce complexity

One Template to specify what to display and how to display it Easy to use and maintain

All processes are executed on client machine More secure

Agenda

1. Motivation2. Objectives3. Introduction4. Architecture5. Implementation6. Demonstration7. Conclusion8. Future Work

Scope for Future Work

Support Netscape browser

Validate XML data in browser

Support writing data to database, even keep a user session

Support other databases

Thank You !