Java^TM API for XML Processing
Release Notes

This document contains installation instructions and other notes that may help you use this software library more effectively. See also the JAXP FAQ for more information.

Identifying the JAR Files

This early access Java XML release is contained in two JAR files:

• xerces.jar
• xalan.jar

The xerces.jar file contains the Java XML "factory" APIs that give applications a consistent way to obtain instances of parsers created by different vendors. It also contains the APIs and implementation classes for SAX and DOM.

The xalan.jar file contains the XSLT transform APIs and implementation classes. (It also contains a copy of the SAX and DOM apis.)

Note:
The number and content of the JAR files is likely to change for the production release, so be sure to check the release notes in future versions.

Using the JAR Files

Version 1.2 and 1.3 of the Java Platform

If you are using this Java XML release with version 1.2 or 1.3 of the Java platform, place the JAR files in

Placing them in jre/lib/ext makes them "standard extensions" which are automatically found when you compile and run your Java programs.

Alternatively, you can specify the jar files using the -classpath option (-cp) when invoking the javac or java commands.

Version 1.4 of the Java Platform

To use this version of the Java XML release with version 1.4 of the Java platform, you must place them in

They must exist in this location to override earlier versions of the Xalan libaries that are a standard part of the 1.4 platform. Because of that special requirement, it is not possible to specify these libraries using the -classpath option on the java/javac command line.

XML Parsing

Starting with JAXP RI 1.2.0, the parser implementation changed from the Apache Crimson parser to Xerces Java 2. This release contains Xerces 2 version Xerces-J_2_0_0_beta3. More information can be found at the Apache Xerces site.

• There are two factory classes for making parsers pluggable. If you limit your application to the JAXP API in the javax.xml.parsers, org.xml.sax, and org.w3c.dom DOM Level 2 Core packages, you can use the library in a manner independent of the underlying implementing parser.
• To be notified of validation errors in an XML document, these items must be true:
  1. The document must be associated with a schema.

  2. Validation must be turned on. See the setValidating methods of javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory or javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory . To validate with a W3C XML Schema, you must also set a property or attribute (to be explained).

  3. An application-defined ErrorHandler must be set. See the setErrorHandler methods of javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder or org.xml.sax.XMLReader.

XSLT Processing

For XSLT processing, this implementation uses Xalan classic version xalan-j_2_2_d14. The plans for the next release are to include the XSLTC component of Xalan also. More information can be found at the Apache Xalan site.

• XSLT is supported in this release via the javax.xml.transform package. See the associated Javadoc for details on accessing basic functionality in a XSLT processor-independent manner.

New in JAXP RI version 1.2.0-EA1

The parser implementation changed from Apache Crimson to Xerces 2 version 2.0.0 beta3. The XSLT processor implementation was updated to Xalan classic version 2.2.D14.

The parser supports W3C XML Schema but does not support all aspects of the proposed JAXP 1.2 specification. In particular, the ability to enforce that an instance document conforms to a particular schema has not been implemented. However, the validation portions of the specification can be used along with schema hints in the instance document.