XML is eXtensible Markup Language, a structured text format developed to describe data to be shared by dissimilar systems. XML has become a default standard for communications between systems. To make handling XML-formatted data simpler and more error resistant, NAV provides XMLports, a data import/export object. In addition to processing XML-formatted data, XMLports can also handle a wide variety of other text file formats (including CSV files, generic flat files, and so on). XML formatted data is text based, with each piece of information structured in one of two basic formats, Elements or Attributes. An Element is the overall logical unit of information while an Attribute is a property of an Element. Thus, they are formatted as:
<Tag>element value</Tag>(an Element format)<Tag AttribName = "attribute data value">(an Attribute format)
Elements can be nested, but must not overlap. Element and Attribute names are case-sensitive. Names cannot start with a number...