Author XML Documents

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This topic provides basic information about XML documents.

What Is an XML Document?

A basic XML document is simply an XML element that can, but might not, include nested XML elements.

For example, the XML <books> element is a valid XML document:

<books>
  <book isbn="0345374827">
    <title>Maeve Ascendant</title>
    <author>Eva Corets</author>
  </book>
</books>

Authoring guidelines

There are some things to remember when constructing a basic XML document.

  • All elements must have an end tag.

  • All elements must be cleanly nested (overlapping elements are not allowed).

  • All attribute values must be enclosed in quotation marks.

  • Each document must have a unique first element, the root node.