XML in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Investigating Available Options

Before committing to designing and implementing a new XML application, it is a good idea to take a few minutes to search the Internet for prior art. Since the first version of the XML Recommendation was released in 1998, thousands of new XML applications have been developed and released around the world. Although the quality and completeness of these applications vary greatly, it is often more efficient to start with an existing DTD or schema (however imperfect) than to start from scratch. In some cases, supporting software is already available, potentially saving software development work as well.

XML vocabulary development

It is also possible that the work your application needs to do may fit into an existing generic framework, such as XML-RPC or SOAP. If this is the case, you may or may not need to create your own XML vocabulary. XML-RPC only uses its own vocabulary, while different styles of SOAP may reduce the amount of work your vocabulary needs to perform.

Beyond the average search engine, XML Cover Pages (http://xml.coverpages.org) provides information about a wide variety of XML-related vocabularies, software, and projects. The search for existing applications may also find potential collaborators, which is helpful if the XML format is intended for use across multiple organizations.