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January 25, 2021
Question

XML for cross-application portability

  • January 25, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 326 views

A naïve question, I suspect, but on the one hand we have FrameMaker with a "save as XML" option, on the other hand we have InDesign with an "Import XML" option. Are these two visions of XML on speaking terms?

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    1 reply

    frameexpert
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 25, 2021

    Not necessarily because XML is just a way of defining markup for content. As a simple example, consider these two XML snippets:

    <book>
      <title>War and Peace</title>
      <author>The Guy that Wrote It</author>
    </book>
    <contact>
      <title>Mr.</title>
      <firstName>Frank</firstName>
      <lastName>Jones</lastName>
    </contact>

    Both of them have a <title> element, but they mean two different things, depending on how the structure was designed. The structure of an XML document is usually specified in a DTD or schema.

    Legend
    January 25, 2021

    Good! that actually confirms my suspicions, as well as making perfect sense.