IBM Adds XML Options To Developers' ToolkitIBM Adds XML Options To Developers' Toolkit

IBM is adding to its list of XML developers' tools as XML continues "to gain ground as the lingua franca of the Internet," says Marc Goubert, manager of IBM's alphaWorks Web site for developers.

IBM has added several XML pieces to its Emerging Technologies Toolkit found on www.ibm.com/alphaworks. The toolkit is available for free download and contains new tools and technologies that may find their way into future IBM products. Developers make use of what's available in the toolkit with the understanding that it's not a finished IBM product, but alpha or untested versions of tools that IBM is considering for use, Goubert says.

Compound XML Document Editor is one such tool for use in creating and editing Web applications with XML documents that invoke the latest XML standards. The editor can work with Voice XML for adding a voice segment to a document or application interface. The tool also includes support of Synchronized MultiMedia Integration Language, which can manage the number of frames per second at which a video is shown or for other multimedia descriptors.

Additional XML standards supported by Compound XML Document Editor include XForms, a World Wide Web Consortium standard for Web forms that can be used across a wide variety of devices; XPath, the XML query language that can extract specific contents from an XML document; and Scalable Vector Graphics.

A second tool, XForms Generator, helps developers quickly generate XML forms that are tied to business processes.

Both tools may be plugged into the open-source Eclipse developers' workbench, Goubert says.

Another tool that IBM is testing the popularity of through alphaWorks is XML Enhancements for Java. The tool makes it easier to use XML in Java applications by providing specific Java 1.4 language extensions. With the extensions, a developer can build XML-formatted presentations in a Java application while using Java components previously used for other applications.

If XML Enhancements for Java wins broad developer use, Goubert says, IBM or some other party would be likely to propose to the Java Community Process, the organization that controls additions to the language, that it be included in a future version.