The best validating parser available for XML that I am familiar with is
IBM's XML Parser for JAVA. You will find it at
http://www.software.ibm.com/xml/resources/index.html

There are also several others. "Validating" essentially means that the
parser both uses and parses the DTD when parsing the document. There are
also a number of XML parsers that check that instances are "well formed."

A detailed description between "validating" and "checking" can be found on
the SGML/XML Website at this address
http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/check-xml.html under this heading: Valid
and Well-formed XML Documents

"An XML document must be well-formed, and in most cases should be valid
(conform to a specified document model) as well. The online tools listed
above are provided to help users and developers check or validate candidate
XML documents. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 specification
explains the distinction between validating and non-validating XML
processors in Section 5.1. In contrast to an XML "well-formedness checker"
or "XML Syntax Checker," and "XML Validator" uses an XML validating
processor to determine whether a candidate XML document conforms to its
schema, expressed formally in the DTD (document type definition). To be
valid XML and not merely well-formed XML, the XML document must have a
DOCTYPE declaration and it must satisfy the validity constraints expressed
by the declarations in the DTD. Validation of XML documents helps ensure
that the information is structured in a way that is sensible for
applications which use it. XML documents that are merely well-formed can
store any element inside of or adjacent to any other element whatever,
which usually would not be very helpful."

The best parser available for SGML is James Clark's SP (NSGMLS): it is
available at http://www.jclark.com/sp/index.htm

A minor correction to Michael Fox's message: Clark's XML "checker" is XP.

SPWizard is a windows interface to SP (NSGMLS):
http://www.eccnet.com/sgmlug/spwizard/

I've never tried it and so do not know how well it works.

Daniel


At 07:23 AM 1/21/1999 PST, you wrote:
>Dear EADtypes:
>
> Can anyone recommend an SGML parser that they've found is fairly user
>friendly? I've been making use of the validating function within
>SoftQuad's Author/Editor, but would like to make use of a parser
>independent of this software suite. I've read about sgmls and SP, but
>am unsure as to just how friendly these freeware programs have proven?
>
> I've been experimenting with simply dropping ASCII EAD markup into
>SoftQuad's Author/Editor. A/E will validate, but Panorama Pro does not
>seem to want to display the document instance without enumerating a
>series of "undefined" errors. Also, has anybody had any luck with XML
>parsers?
>
> Finally, does anybody know how to search the archived messages of the
>EAD listserv? Thanks in advance!
>
>
>Sincerely, Derrick Clements
>EAD Implementation Project
>York University Archives and Special Collections
>Toronto, Ontario
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
>
Daniel V. Pitti Project Director
Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
Alderman Library University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
Phone: 804 924-6594 Fax: 804 982-2363 Email: [log in to unmask]