XML Parser - how do you run it?

[Non-Conformer]

I have downloaded some XML Parsers.

But, after I download, then what? I was kinda like expecting an executable file. But instead, I get this ... library file. What the heck am I supposed to do with this? Am I supposed to, like, compile it or something? What kind of compiler am I supposed to use? Sure wish the darn thing would come with some instructions. All I want to do is parse an XML file and validate the DTD.

Many thanks in advance if someone could point me in the right direction.

[Khalid Ali]

what you typically do is from the dos prompt(presuming that you have the parsers exec files in your path set)
you pass the paramters such as xml file name,xslt file name etc...and then parser does the rest of the work for you.I am only surprised that you did not have the docs..which parser are you talking about.

[Non-Conformer]

Um, I don't HAVE an executable file. That's the whole problem.

As for which parsers I have downloaded, here is a partial list: MSXML, ExPat, Cyclo, and TCL.

[ajimenez]

Have you tried Saxon? I found it pretty simple to use. You use it in the command prompt, pretty much how Khalid described it.

Look for the Instant version of Saxon:

http://saxon.sourceforge.net/

[Non-Conformer]

Yes! I downloaded "Saxon Lite" and I didn't hafta compile anything to make it work. Thank you, ajimenez.

However, I am curious why Saxon uses this clunky, obsolete dinosaur DOS prompt as its UI. I thought the whole world had abandoned command-based DOS in favor of nice, freindly GUI twenty years ago? As long as XML has been around, why is it that no one (to the best of my knowledge) has yet written an out-of-the-box XML parser with a freindly GUI front end? Aren't their users out there who need to parse their XML files?

[Non-Conformer]

A footnote:

After experimenting extensively with Saxon, I have found that it does NOT validate an XML file against the DTD. (It only verifies for "well-formedness.")

It DOES, however, validate it against the XSL. In fact, it's ultra-picky about the XSL, giving you a whole page full of nasty error messages for the tiniest infraction.

But what I was really looking for was a DTD validator. [sigh]. Back to square 1.

[Khalid Ali]

its been several years that I have used these tools(4 years at least),but I know that I have always used Xalan from apache.
http://xml.apache.org/xalan-j/
you might want to try that..I know that in the code I can set a boolean value to true to force the parser to validate an xml doc to validate against a DTD(java DOM API).
Or you can download XMLWriter (http://www.xmlwriter.net/) from the link and use that.it allows you to write and validate your xml docs,pretty decent IDE

[Non-Conformer]

:)

Yep, Wattle software fills the doctor's orders! It validates everything, and then some!

Thank you, Khalid.