xml validation using dtd's

[slagy maggie]

I am currently using JAXP....and could some one tell me how to validate an incoming xmlstring using it's corresponding DTD???

[Ajith Kallambella]

I have tried to answer your question here.
Where is your DTD? If it is an external resource, then your XML file should have a reference to it. If it is internal to the XML document then it should be a part of your XML string. As long as one of these two conditions are satisfied, a validating parser will be able to locate your DTD and validate the document against the definition.
Does that help?
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Ajith Kallambella M.
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java�2 Platform.
IBM Certified Developer - XML and Related Technologies, V1.

[slagy maggie]

The dtd is internal and comes in with the xml string,and since i am using JAXP,i can set validating to true
<!DOCTYPE CRMDataExchange SYSTEM "customersearchrequest.dtd">
is there some other code i should include for it to be validated
what if it fails???as you can see i dont understand how the validation takes place....please educate

[slagy maggie]

should i use sax error handler for validatinf an xml against a DTD,if so how should i do this???

[Ajith Kallambella]

Your DOCTYPE tag
<!DOCTYPE CRMDataExchange SYSTEM "customersearchrequest.dtd">

says that DTD is not internal! Internal DTDs are inline DTDs and they are embeded in the XML document. In your case the DTD is external and is defined in the customersearchrequest.dtd file.
Can you please clarify?

[slagy maggie]

yes you are right,it is in an external file
do i have to turn the validation on??? in JAXP .....
if so do i have to have sax errorhandlers set???how do i exactly go about doing the validation???thanks in advance

[slagy maggie]

i have set validation to true..i get the error message back saying customerSearchrequest.dtd cannot be resolved without a document URI...i cannot understand wehat to do
<!DOCTYPE CRMDataExchange SYSTEM \"c:\\CustomerSearchRequest.dtd\">
I have given an abssolute path here for my dtd( and my document builder accepts an xml string as an input to parse).....

[Mark Savory]

Hi,
Can you please clarify where your coping the DOCTYPE line from?
If it is directly from the xml document then it should NOT have the '\' escape character. So this
<!DOCTYPE CRMDataExchange SYSTEM \"c:\\CustomerSearchRequest.dtd\">
should be like this
<!DOCTYPE CRMDataExchange SYSTEM "c:\CustomerSearchRequest.dtd">

[Mark Savory]

I forgot something:
Don't forget the protocol: 'file:'
<!DOCTYPE CRMDataExchange SYSTEM "file:c:\CustomerSearchRequest.dtd">