XML Tutorial
Lesson 9: Using the C++ XML DSO

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What is the C++ XML DSO?

Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5 ships with a C++ Data Source Object (DSO) that can be used to bind XML to HTML. Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4 shipped with a Java XML DSO that is still supported in Internet Explorer 5; however, the new C++ DSO gives you better performance and the ability to bind directly to an XML data island.

The C++ DSO provides you with the ability to create XML-driven Web applications in a completely declarative fashion, although it is still possible to write scripts against the XML document object. With the C++ DSO, both the ActiveX® Data Object (ADO) and XML object models are available to you.

How do I bind XML to HTML?

Let's say you have the following XML file:

<universities>
  <university>
    <name>UCSB</name>
    <location>Santa Barbara, CA</location>
  </university>
  <university>
    <name>University of Texas at Arlington</name>
    <location>Arlington, TX</location>
  </university>
  <university>
    <name>USM</name>
    <location>Hattiesburg, MS</location>
  </university>
  <university>
    <name>Baylor</name>
    <location>Waco, TX</location>
  </university>
</universities>

You can bind this XML to a repeating table with the following HTML:

<XML ID=xmlDoc src="universities.xml"></XML>
<TABLE DATASRC="#xmlDoc" BORDER=1> 
  <THEAD><TH>NAME</TH><TH>LOCATION</TH></THEAD>
  <TR>
    <TD><SPAN DATAFLD="name"></SPAN></TD>
    <TD><SPAN DATAFLD="location"></SPAN></TD> 
  </TR>
</TABLE>

If you're running Internet Explorer 5 , click the button below to view the table created.

UCSB Santa Barbara, CA University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX USM Hattiesburg, MS Baylor Waco, TX

There's no need for an APPLET or OBJECT tag; the XML DSO simply does all the work for you.

Try it!

See the XML DSO demo in the XML Downloads area. Download the sources for that demo and see if you can change the display format from a form to a repeated table.