Newsletter Discussion

Abstract

At http://www.mathematik.uni-osnabrueck.de/tester/ one can find an online Semantic Web tool - XML2RDF converter - provides following functions: converting XML code to the RDF/XML format, validating XML files and validating the results. Some built-in examples are given, where the user can experiment with the tool. One can also load an arbitrary URL and make the XML2RDF conversion.

User Manual for XML2RDF Converter

About

The XML2RDF converter is an online available Semantic Web tool. It can be found at http://www.mathematik.uni-osnabrueck.de/tester/ and provides following functions:

• Converting XML code to the RDF/XML format,
• Validating XML files,
• Validating the results.

It is very easy to work with the XML2RDF converter, which this user manual will show in the following. The use is free of costs.

Target Audience

The tool can be used by anybody interested in the conversion of files from XML data format into RDF/XML data format.

For instance, a librarian could be interested in such a conversion of his library catalogue to the RDF/XML format in order to provide the data at a higher semantic level. A possible benefit could be an improved search of desired terms in the catalogue, like described in the working paper "Knowledge Management in Digital Libraries - From XML to RDF".

The Tool

The tool can be found at: http://www.mathematik.uni-osnabrueck.de/tester/

XML Data To Be Transformed

The tool window allows the visualization of the XML input file, which has to be transformed into the RDF/XML data format. The user can type in or paste the desired XML data here.

There are some built-in examples, where the user can experiment with the tool. For doing so, the user has to choose one example in the checkbox below and click on the button "Load Example" on the right. This visualizes the desired example in the window above.

But the tool also allows for loading an XML file located at an arbitrary URL. For this function the user has to type in the URL in the textbox named "URL" and click on the button "Load URL" on the right of it. As a result the XML data will be loaded and visualized again in the window above.

The "Reset" button clears the typed-in location of the URL, and allows the user to type in a new URL.

The button "HOME" brings the user back to the start page of the XML2RDF converter.

Validate XML

After having some XML loaded or typed in, it is advisable to validate this data in order to check whether the input data is a valid XML document. The validation uses the XML-Validator from the W3C. For this purpose the user has to click the button "Validate XML". A new window appears in the browser and here the user has to click "Get Results" to display the correctness of the input XML document.

Convert To RDF/XML

The conversion itself, from XML input to RDF/XML form, is done through the button "CONVERTING TO RDF/XML". The user has to click this button. Behind it lies the XSLT-stylesheet, which performs the transformation from the input format to RDF/XML format. In case the conversion is successfully done, the output fragment can be seen in a window that will appear at the very bottom of the page in the browser. When some problems occur while trying to convert, the window that is supposed to show the result, will give an error message, indicating the source of error.

Validate RDF/XML

If the conversion to RDF/XML is well done, then one can check the validity of it by clicking the button "Validate RFD/XML". Here the RDF Validation Service of the W3C is used. A new window appears in the browser and shows the user the results of the validation.