This page summarizes upcoming dates, locations and host companies for the delivery of instructor-led training courses developed by Crane Softwrights Ltd. and delivered by one of our worldwide training material licensees. A record of past deliveries by Crane is available on another page.

As of the end of 2014, Crane Softwrights has retired all of its former instructor-led training classes and no longer plans to develop or deliver other training materials, or create revisions of any course or book that we have already published. Please do not expect any revisions.

Exercises for the hands-on courses are designed for both Windows and Linux/Mac console windows. Any conforming XML tool can be used when working with the exercises. A copy of the cross-platform oXygen XML editor and Saxon XSLT/XQuery processor are made available in the classroom.

Some training material, from which some of these courses are derived, is available for preview and purchase at http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/training/.

1. Active lectures

1.1. Universal Business Language (UBL) overview

This lecture is tailored to the expected audience, presenting concepts and terminology regarding the Universal Business Language (UBL).

1.2. Uses of cryptography and blockchain for e-invoicing and business

This half-day workshop includes lectures on cryptographic techniques useful for business and the blockchain, blockchain considerations for e-invoicing and business, and a case study of a particular blockchain application. Additionally, the lecture may include helping students create their own ETH wallet.

2. Retired/legacy classes

These courses are no longer being provided, but are recorded here for reference purposes.

2.1. Introduction to the Universal Business Language (UBL)

"Introduction to the Universal Business Language (UBL)" overviews the development of, components of and methodologies used in the global encumbrance-free electronic commerce XML vocabulary developed by the OASIS UBL Technical Committee http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/ and standardized internationally as ISO/IEC 19845.

UBL is the product of an international effort to define a royalty-free library of standard electronic XML business documents such as purchase orders and invoices. Developed in an open and accountable OASIS Technical Committee with participation from a variety of industry data standards organizations, UBL is designed to plug directly into existing business, legal, auditing, and records management practices, eliminating the re-keying of data in existing fax- and paper-based supply chains and providing an entry point into electronic commerce for small and medium-sized businesses.

This OASIS and ISO/IEC Standard documented at http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.1/UBL-2.1.html and http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=66370 is attracting a lot of worldwide attention as an XML vocabulary and common library for business documents including purchase order, invoice, and other procurement documents, transportation documents and catalogue documents. Customization features allow one to utilize UBL in a conforming fashion while tailoring it to one's needs in a government, industry or trading business environment.

The presentation is either 60 minutes or a half-day long in a lecture style. For an outline, this class comprises the morning topics of the Practical Universal Business Language Deployment hands-on class.

See the syllabus for the expected outcomes for attendees.

2.2. Practical Universal Business Language Deployment

"Practical Universal Business Language Deployment" overviews the OASIS Universal Business Language (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/) - ISO/IEC 19845 suite of publicly-available files, process and methodology descriptions, deployment strategies and documentation from a technical perspective of the roles that all these artefacts play in information systems and how to work with each artefact with hands-on experience.

UBL is the product of an international effort to define a royalty-free library of standard electronic XML business documents such as purchase orders and invoices. Developed in an open and accountable OASIS Technical Committee with participation from a variety of industry data standards organizations, UBL is designed to plug directly into existing business, legal, auditing, and records management practices, eliminating the re-keying of data in existing fax- and paper-based supply chains and providing an entry point into electronic commerce for small and medium-sized businesses.

The morning session begins the full-day class with the half-day "Introduction to UBL" lecture, describing the roles of all of the files found in the UBL distribution, and the relevance of each of the files to the day-to-day tasks of learning and working with them.

The afternoon finishes the class delving into the technical detail of deployment, validation and customization of UBL, including the conception, specification and deployment of subsets and extensions of UBL document models and schemas. Hands-on exercises walk the student through the creation of conforming subset UBL schemas and validating instances with those schemas and with the distribution schemas.

This is a course supporting the deployment and use of UBL artefacts, but this is not a course in the interpretation of specific UBL information items in a business context or the adaptation of financial systems to the semantics expressed by UBL.  The instructor is not in a position to offer financial or legal advice regarding the application or suitability of UBL to any particular scenario or purpose.

Hands-on exercises are provided in a turnkey fashion for a Java-based environment under either Windows command-line or Linux shell invocation.  Students may use any editing tool they wish for modifying the exercise files when completing the exercise objectives.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their customization requirements and deployment objectives to class to exercise the concepts and tools with their own intentions in mind. Students will be creating customized subset schemas and associated documentation in class using the software tools provided as part of the curriculum.

See the syllabus for the expected outcomes for attendees.

2.3. Practical Code List Implementation

"Practical Code List Implementation" overviews in detail the representation and validation of controlled vocabularies such as code lists and identifier lists for XML documents of any XML vocabulary. The OASIS genericode 1.0 format http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/genericode is used for the representation of values, and the OASIS context/value association using genericode 1.0 specification http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/ContextValueAssociation is used for the data entry or the validation of instances of any XML document model with controlled values.

Students are encouraged to bring to the hands-on class their own code lists and their own business document instances of their own XML vocabularies to supplement the exercises. Time is provided in class for students to create simple code lists and validation files for their own business documents as pro-forma artefacts that can be embellished after class into their own production files. Otherwise, the instructor brings documents and code lists for the exercises.

This is a course supporting the development and deployment of controlled vocabularies, including meta data specification, list maintenance, list restriction, list extension and the implementation and application of validation processes against instances that include constrained information items.

Please review the syllabus regarding special notes on timing, language and intensity of the class.

2.4. XML Town Hall

This is a totally unstructured discussion of up to three hours regarding XML and related technologies, directed entirely by the audience while being moderated by the speaker who answers technical questions and makes comments pertinent to the discussion.

This programme is best suited for an enthusiastic audience of people interested in learning more about standardized markup strategies, perhaps having had a background in SGML or proprietary text processing technologies.

The speaker engages the audience "Donahue-style" with a (hopefully!) wireless microphone inviting people to share their experiences, their problems and their plans, while commenting on strategies and technologies that may be appropriate.

This offering is only as successful as the participants wish to make it! And it has been very successful and well received in the past.

2.5. XML in the Corporation

"XML in the Corporation" introduces the concepts of the XML specification and the XML documents it describes. Subtitled "A Manager's Technical Overview", this course does not attempt to teach the bits and bytes syntax of the standards, rather, key terminology is covered as well as an overview of how the technology is applicable in a corporate information plan. Pointers to available resources are listed for further research.

This material is delivered as a 60-minute briefing, Legacy half-day (3 hours) and full-day (6 hours) formats are no longer offered.

2.6. Contrasting Push and Pull Processing in XSLT and XQuery

This presentation overviews how each of the XSLT and XQuery specifications are suited for both push and pull processing of XML structured information. Examples illustrating the techniques are included.

2.7. Introduction to Code List Implementation

"Introduction to Code List Implementation" overviews the use of Genericode and Context/Value Association files for the representation and validation of controlled vocabularies such as code lists and identifier lists for XML documents of any XML vocabulary. The OASIS genericode format http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/genericode is used for the representation of values, and the OASIS context/value association using genericode specification http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=34713 (a work item of the OASIS Code List Representation Technical Committee http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/codelist/) is used for the data entry or the validation of instances of any XML document model with controlled values.

The presentation is 30 to 60 minutes long in a lecture style.

2.8. Introduction to XML, XSLT, XQuery and XSL-FO

Comprised of excerpts from other management and technical lectures and hands-on courses, this presentation guides the audience through basic concepts of XML markup, transforming XML to other vocabularies using XSLT and XQuery, and the pagination of information using XSL-FO.

This is a brief overview of the roles and function of the XML Query Language (XQuery) and the two components of the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) family of standards, XSL Transformations (XSLT) and the XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO), used respectively for the transformation and pagination of structured XML information.

When it is necessary to visualize structured information, be it perhaps authored by hand, or extracted from a Topic Map, or exported in a structured form from a database tool, the raw XML form that is created is not appropriate for direct display to users.

Sometimes information needs to be accessed in databases or other sources and transformed from XML to XML. Sometimes information needs to be presented on a web screen, where the XML has to be transformed into HTML and CSS, the display languages of the web browser. When the information needs to be presented in a paginated paper form, the XML can be transformed into XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO). XSL-FO is similar to HTML and CSS, but the vocabulary is designed to express the pagination of information with headers, footers, page number citations, and other layout constructs specific to the printed form. An XSL-FO engine can produce PDF files or other printed forms of the XML information.

The XML Query Language (XQuery) and the XSL Transformations (XSLT) language are used to express how to construct new arrangements of information found in structured sources such as XML documents. These new arrangements can be serialized as XML, HTML, XSL-FO or any vocabulary. Both XQuery and XSLT are different skins on top of the same processing model and transformation engine, sharing many common components of their specifications.

Finally, if you have to move information from a Topic Map or a database into an XML-aware application, XSLT and XQuery can be used to transform an instance of the source vocabulary into an instance of the vocabulary expected by the XML-aware application.

This presentation reviews the different scenarios in which XQuery, XSLT and XSL-FO play roles, setting the stage for where these standards can provide help in an information flow.

Based on the time available, the audience is invited to participate throughout the presentation with comments on their own experiences and situations.

2.9. Introduction to XML Information Modeling

"Introduction to XML Information Modeling" overviews, compares and contrasts at a high level a number of modeling facilities for use with the Extensible Markup Language (XML) http://www.w3.org/tr/xml. The objectives of the course are to understand the function and benefit of modeling XML documents, to distinguish different ways XML documents can be modeled, to be introduced to the role and utility of each of Document Type Definitions (DTD), ISO/IEC 19757-2 RELAX NG http://www.relax-ng.org, XML Schema http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema, ISO/IEC 19757-3 Schematron http://www.schematron.com, and the ISO/IEC 19757-4 Namespace-based Validation Dispatching Language (NVDL) http://www.nvdl.org, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources.

The presentation runs in either 90 minutes, a half-day (3 hours) or a full-day (6 hours) format in a lecture style.

2.10. Introduction to XQuery and XPath

"An Introduction to XQuery and XPath" is a lecture-style tutorial introducing the concepts of the XML Query Language (XQuery) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/XQuery, and XPath 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20 W3C Recommendations, used for transforming structured information from files or projected from databases (e.g. XML to XML, XML to HTML, XML to WML, XML to text, etc.). The course overviews the processing model and the basic principles behind the languages as described in the W3C Recommendations. Approaches to using XQuery and XPath for file and database access are reviewed. The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the standard, be introduced to the models upon which the standard is built, and identify available documentation and resources.

The presentation runs in either 45 minutes, 90 minutes, a half-day (3 hours) or a full-day (6 hours) format in a lecture style.

2.11. Introduction to XSL-FO

"An Introduction to XSL-FO" is a lecture-style tutorial introducing the concepts of the Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xsl and XSL-FO 1.1 http://www.w3.org/TR/xsl11 W3C Recommendations, used for expressing the paginated (e.g. printed) output of XML structured information. The course overviews the formatting model and the basic principles behind the vocabulary as described in the W3C Recommendations. The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the standard, be introduced to the components of the vocabulary, and to identify available documentation and resources.

The presentation runs in either 45 minutes, 90 minutes, a half-day (3 hours) or a full-day (6 hours) format in a lecture style.

2.12. Introduction to XSLT and XPath

"An Introduction to XSLT and XPath" is a lecture-style tutorial introducing the concepts of the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt, XSLT 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20, the XML Path Language (XPath) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath and XPath 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20 W3C Recommendations, used for transforming structured information (e.g. XML to XML, XML to HTML, XML to XSL-FO, XML to text, etc.). The course overviews the processing model and the basic principles behind the languages as described in the W3C Recommendations. Approaches to using XSLT and XPath for each of the display, formatting and arbitrary semantics are reviewed. The relationship of XSLT to XSL is explained, though details of XSL Formatting Object semantics are not included. The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the standard, be introduced to the models upon which the standard is built, and identify available documentation and resources.

The presentation runs in either 45 minutes, 90 minutes, a half-day (3 hours) or a full-day (6 hours) format in a lecture style.

2.13. XML Models, Stylesheets and Transformations

"XML Models, Stylesheets and Transformations" is a lecture-style presentation that overviews the use of a number of presentation vocabularies, modeling technologies, and stylesheet and transformation technologies with which to either present Extensible Markup Language (XML) information or manipulate it for web services and electronic commerce. This is a high-level overview with working examples to compare and contrast various vocabularies and languages from a technical perspective, but does not attempt to teach the details. Overviewed are Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Stylesheet (CSS), Wireless Markup Language (WML), Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL-FO), Document Type Definitions (DTD), Regular Language for XML (RELAX-NG), Schematron, W3C XML Schema, the Simple API for XML (SAX), the Document Object Model (DOM) and the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT). Principles regarding the appropriateness of each type of presentation, modeling, stylesheet and transformation technology are covered.

The presentation is a half-day (3 hours) long.

2.14. Overview of the XSLStyle™ methodology

Crane Softwrights Ltd. makes freely available the XSLStyle™ embedded documentation methodology, used to embed DITA, DocBook or any other XML vocabulary directly in an XSLT stylesheet as documentation. Using available stylesheet libraries, the embedded documentation for an import tree of XSLT fragments can be exposed as formatted HTML. This equips the stylesheet writer to document their work without using external documentation files that may get out of sync or lost.

This presentation overviews the technical aspects of large stylesheet libraries, including the mechanics of using them, guidelines on creating them, strategies for sharing them, and the use of XSLStyle™ as a technique for documenting them.

2.15. Practical XML Information Description

"Practical XML Information Description" is a thorough and detailed examination of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.1 http://www.w3.org/tr/xml11, including the XML Information Set (Second Edition) http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-infoset and Namespaces in XML 1.1 http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-names11. The issue date for the above standards is February 4, 2004. The objectives of the course are to understand all of the functionality available when authoring or generating XML documents using these base standards, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources.

This hands-on course combines the use of lectures and exercises to convey the material. For the practical exercises, attendees are invited to bring a personal computer (with a USB port) and their own validating environment or they can use the validating software that will be made available for a Java-based environment.

This course runs only in a concentrated one-day format. Please review the syllabus regarding special notes on timing, language and intensity of the class.

2.16. Practical XML Information Modeling

This course is currently in development.

"Practical XML Information Modeling" overviews, compares and contrasts a number of modeling facilities for use with the Extensible Markup Language (XML) http://www.w3.org/tr/xml. The objectives of the course are to understand the function and benefit of modeling XML documents, to distinguish different ways XML documents can be modeled, to be introduced to the role and utility of each of Document Type Definitions (DTD), ISO/IEC 19757-2 RELAX NG http://www.relax-ng.org, XML Schema http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema, ISO/IEC 19757-3 Schematron http://www.schematron.com, and the ISO/IEC 19757-4 Namespace-based Validation Dispatching Language (NVDL) http://www.nvdl.org, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources.

This hands-on course combines the use of lectures and exercises to convey the material. For the practical exercises, attendees are invited to bring a personal computer (with a USB port) and their own validating environment or they can use the validating software that will be made available for a Java-based environment.

This course runs in either a one-day or three-day format. The one-day delivery is a subset of the three-day delivery. Both versions of the course provide foundation instruction, at different levels of detail, that can be used to work with the remainder of the technology.

2.17. Practical XPath

"Practical XPath" overviews the entire scope of the XML Path Language (XPath) versions 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath and 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20 W3C Recommendations, used for writing expressions involving data types, locations in XML documents and simple queries. The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the Recommendations, to overview all the constructs of the Recommendations, to contemplate and write XPath expressions, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources. The relationships of XPath to XSL and to XQuery are explained, though details of XSL and XQuery are not included.

This hands-on course combines the use of lectures and exercises to convey the material. For the practical exercises, attendees are invited to bring a personal computer (with a USB port) and their own XPath environment or they can use public-domain XPath software that will be made available for a Java-based environment.

This course runs in a two-day format. Time is allocated on the XPath perspectives of XML syntax and more exercise time or work with the instructor on one's own XML content. Please review the syllabus regarding special notes on timing, language and intensity of the class.

2.18. Practical Transformation Using XQuery and XPath

"Practical Transformation Using XQuery and XPath" overviews the entire scope of the XML Query Language (XQuery) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/XQuery, and XPath 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20 W3C Recommendations, used for transforming structured information from files or projected from databases (e.g. XML to XML, XML to HTML, XML to XSL-FO, XML to text, etc.). The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the Recommendations, to overview all the constructs of the Recommendations (the four-day delivery covers every keyword), to design and develop XQuery modules, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources.

This hands-on course combines the use of lectures and exercises to convey the material. Students For the practical exercises, attendees are invited to bring a personal computer (with a USB port) and their own XQuery environment or they can use public-domain XQuery software that will be made available for a Java-based environment.

This course runs in either a one-day or four-day format. The one day is more of an introduction with exercises than a comprehensive tutorial as it is not long enough to cover every construct. The four-day format covers everything and is the recommended length. Time is allocated on the XQuery and XPath perspectives of XML syntax and more exercise time. Please review the syllabus regarding special notes on timing, language and intensity of the class.

2.19. Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath

"Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath" overviews the entire scope of the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt, XSLT 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20, the XML Path Language (XPath) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath and XPath 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20 W3C Recommendations, used for transforming structured information (e.g. XML to XML, XML to HTML, XML to XSL-FO, XML to text, etc.). The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the Recommendations, to overview all the constructs of the Recommendations (the five-day delivery covers every element, every attribute, and every function), to design and develop XSLT scripts, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources. The relationship of XSLT to XSL is explained, though details of XSL Formatting Object semantics are not included.

This hands-on course combines the use of lectures and exercises to convey the material. For the practical exercises, attendees are invited to bring a personal computer (with a USB port) and their own XSLT environment or they can use public-domain XSLT software that will be made available for either a Java-based or a Windows-based environment (see syllabus link above for details).

This course runs in either a one-day or five-day format. The one day is more of an introduction with exercises than a comprehensive tutorial as it is not long enough to cover every construct. The five-day format covers everything and is the recommended length. Time is allocated on the XSLT and XPath perspectives of XML syntax and more exercise time. Please review the syllabus regarding special notes on timing, language and intensity of the class.

2.20. Practical Transformation Using XSLT, XQuery and XPath

"Practical Transformation Using XSLT, XQuery and XPath" overviews the entire scope of the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt, XSLT 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20, the XML Query Language (XQuery) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery, the XML Path Language (XPath) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath and XPath 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20 W3C Recommendations, used for transforming structured information (e.g. XML to XML, XML to HTML, XML to XSL-FO, XML to text, etc.). The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the Recommendations, to overview all the constructs of the Recommendations (the five-day delivery covers every element, every attribute, every function and every keyword), to design and develop XSLT and XQuery scripts, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources. The relationship of XSLT to XSL is explained, though details of XSL Formatting Object semantics are not included.

This hands-on course combines the use of lectures and exercises to convey the material. Students can choose to complete the exercises in either XSLT or XQuery or both, as both solutions are provided and reviewed in class. For the practical exercises, attendees are invited to bring a personal computer (with a USB port) and their own XSLT or XQuery environment or they can use public-domain XSLT and XQuery software that will be made available for a Java-based environment.

This course runs in either a one-day or five-day format. The one day is more of an introduction with exercises than a comprehensive tutorial as it is not long enough to cover every construct. The five-day format covers everything and is the recommended length. Time is allocated on the XSLT, XQuery and XPath perspectives of XML syntax and more exercise time. Please review the syllabus regarding special notes on timing, language and intensity of the class.

2.21. Practical Formatting Using XSL-FO

"Practical Formatting Using XSL-FO" overviews the Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xsl and XSL-FO 1.1 http://www.w3.org/TR/xsl11 W3C Recommendations, used for the paginated presentation of structured information (e.g. printing XML). The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the Recommendation, to overview basic constructs of the Recommendation, to design and develop XSL-FO scripts using XSLT and XPath (both of which are assumed to already be known by the attendee), and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources.

This hands-on course combines the use of lectures and exercises to convey the material. For the practical exercises, attendees are invited to bring a personal computer (with a USB port) and their own XSL-FO environment or they can use XSL-FO software to produce Adobe PDF that will be made available for a Java-based environment (see syllabus link above for details).

This course runs in either a one-, two- or three-day format. The two- and three-day deliveries overview every formatting object and highlights properties of interest in each. The one-day delivery is a subset of the other deliveries. The three-day delivery gives more time for exercises and more in-depth detail. None of the three lengths is sufficient to cover all of the properties and their respective values defined in the Recommendation, but all versions of the course provide foundation instruction that can be used to work with the remainder of the technology. Please review the syllabus regarding special notes on timing, language and intensity of the class.

2.22. Principles of XQuery for XSLT Writers

"Principles of XSLT for XQuery Writers" introduces the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt and XSLT 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20 W3C Recommendations to an audience already familiar with the XML Query Language (XQuery) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery W3C Recommendation. All these specifications are used for transforming structured information (e.g. XML to XML, XML to HTML, XML to XSL-FO, XML to text, etc.). The course overviews the processing model and the basic principles behind the languages as described in the W3C Recommendations. Approaches to using XSLT and XPath for each of the display, formatting and arbitrary semantics are reviewed in comparison to how similar functionality is achieved using XQuery. The relationship of XSLT to XSL is explained, though details of XSL Formatting Object semantics are not included. The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the standard, be introduced to the models upon which the standard is built, and identify available documentation and resources.

This course runs in a one-day format and is designed as an introduction with exercises and not a comprehensive tutorial as it is not long enough to cover every construct. Please see Practical Transformation Using XSLT, XQuery and XPath for a comprehensive treatment of all of these specifications, or Practical Transformation Using XQuery and XPath for a focused class.

2.23. Principles of XSLT for XQuery Writers

"Principles of XSLT and XPath" is a lecture-style tutorial introducing the concepts of the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt, XSLT 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20, the XML Path Language (XPath) 1.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath and XPath 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20 W3C Recommendations, used for transforming structured information (e.g. XML to XML, XML to HTML, XML to XSL-FO, XML to text, etc.). The course overviews the processing model and the basic principles behind the languages as described in the W3C Recommendations. Approaches to using XSLT and XPath for each of the display, formatting and arbitrary semantics are reviewed. The relationship of XSLT to XSL is explained, though details of XSL Formatting Object semantics are not included. The objectives of the course are to understand the role and utility of the standard, be introduced to the models upon which the standard is built, and identify available documentation and resources.

This course runs in a one-day format and is designed as an introduction with exercises and not a comprehensive tutorial as it is not long enough to cover every construct. Please see Practical Transformation Using XSLT, XQuery and XPath for a comprehensive treatment of all of these specifications, or Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath for a focused class. Also the Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath Video is an alternative for self-paced study.

2.24. Tradeshift API Sandbox Quick-start

"Tradeshift API Sandbox Quick-start" overviews the Tradeshift (http://www.Tradeshift.com) language-independent Application Programmer's Interface (API). In this class the student creates buyer and seller accounts in the Tradeshift sandbox (http://sandbox.Tradeshift.com). Documents are exchanged using the web interface and using the programming-language-independent API through an open-source Python implementation of that API and sample programs. Attendees interested in the API are assumed to be programmers, but a working knowledge of Python is not required in order to understand how the Python code accesses the interface. The independence of the Tradeshift API allows access to Tradeshift using any programming language to implement the principles covered in this class.

This is a course including information regarding the deployment and use of UBL artefacts on Tradeshift, but this is not a course in the interpretation of specific UBL information items in a business context or the adaptation of financial systems to the semantics expressed by UBL. The instructor is not in a position to offer financial or legal advice regarding the application or suitability of UBL to any particular scenario or purpose.

Hands-on exercises form the basis of this class. In a classroom setting, students are expected to have access to the Internet. In a web-conference setting, this class is taught on a one-on-one basis where the instructor has the opportunity to monitor the student and, where helpful, operate the student's computer remotely to assist.

At the end of the class the student will have successfully set up sample buyer and seller accounts in the sandbox, sent documents back and forth between accounts using both the web interface and the API interface, downloaded documents from an account to their computer, edited and validated documents, uploaded documents from their computer to an account, and forwarded uploaded documents from one account to the other. Principles of XML, UBL and the Tradeshift API are overviewed and related so that the student understands what aspects of the document exchange are under what purview.

This course is three hours long in either the classroom setting or the web conferencing setting.

Until further notice, classes delivered in the web conference setting are available to be taught in two time slots on the available days: 12:00UTC-15:00UTC and 17:00UTC-20:00UTC.

Please contact Crane Softwrights Ltd. at info@CraneSoftwrights.com to schedule one of the available dates and time slots. Should another time of the day be required for where you live, please mention this when you contact us.

2.25. Introduction to XML, XSLT and XSL-FO

Comprised of excerpts from other management and technical lectures and hands-on courses, this presentation guides the audience through basic concepts of XML markup, transforming XML to other vocabularies using XSLT, and the pagination of information using XSL-FO.

This is a brief overview of the roles and function of the two components of the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) family of standards, XSL Transformations (XSLT) and the XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO), used respectively for the transformation and pagination of structured XML information.

When it is necessary to visualize structured information, be it perhaps authored by hand, or extracted from a Topic Map, or exported in a structured form from a database tool, the raw XML form that is created is not appropriate for direct display to users.

If the information needs to be presented on a web screen, the XML has to be transformed into HTML and CSS, the display languages of the web browser. The XSL Transformations (XSLT) language is used to express how to construct a web page using HTML from the information in XML. A web browser can then display the HTML that has been created, or some web browsers can accept raw XML and an XSLT stylesheet and present the final result without an intermediate form.

If the information needs to be presented in a paginated paper form, the XML can be transformed into XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO). XSL-FO is similar to HTML and CSS, but the vocabulary is designed to express the pagination of information with headers, footers, page number citations, and other layout constructs specific to the printed form. XSLT can be used to transform XML into XSL-FO such that an XSL-FO engine can produce PDF files or other printed forms of the XML information.

Finally, if you have to move information from a Topic Map or a database into an XML-aware application, XSLT can be used to transform an instance of the source vocabulary into an instance of the vocabulary expected by the XML-aware application.

This presentation reviews the different scenarios in which XSLT and XSL-FO play roles, setting the stage for where these standards can provide help in an information flow.

Based on the time available, the audience is invited to participate throughout the presentation with comments on their own experiences and situations.

2.26. Introduction to DOM and CSS

This course has been suspended due to lack of interest.

"Introduction to DOM and CSS" introduces the concepts of Document Object Model and Cascading Stylesheets, two W3C Recommendations that can be used together to effect transformation and formatting. Attendees leave the lecture with an understanding of the relationships between XML and these two recommendations. Pointers to available resources are listed for further research.

This presentation runs in either a 90-minute (ideally) or 45-minute time.

2.27. Practical Formatting Using DSSSL

This course has been suspended due to lack of interest.

"Practical Formatting Using DSSSL and XSL" introduces the concepts and formatting basics of the Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (DSSSL) and the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) using the publicly available James' Awesome DSSSL Engine (JADE) and XT programs. The course combines the use of lectures and hands-on exercises to convey the material. Attendees are invited to bring a Windows'95- or Windows'NT-based personal computer for the practical exercises (must be Java-equipped if choosing to work on the XSL exercises). The objectives of the course are to understand the role of the standard and the utility of the tool, to successfully write DSSSL programs and XSL scripts, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources.

2.28. Practical Formatting Using DSSSL and XSL

This course was based on the concept draft and initial working draft of XSL and is no longer offered due to the release of the mature working drafts.

"Practical Formatting Using DSSSL and XSL" is a one-, two- or three-day course introducing the concepts and formatting basics of the Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (DSSSL), standardized in 1996, and the proposed Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), to be standardized in the summer of 1999. The course uses the publicly available James' Awesome DSSSL Engine (JADE) and XSLJ programs, combining the use of lectures and hands-on exercises to convey the material. The focus is on DSSSL due to the standardized nature of the technology, though attendees can choose to do exercises in the draft XSL. This version of XSL shares the same processing model as DSSSL but is based on the September 1997 concept paper whose syntax is not warranted to be compatible with the final version of the standard. Attendees must bring a Windows'95- or Windows'NT-equipped personal computer for the practical exercises. The objectives of the course are to understand the role of the standard and the utility of the tool, to successfully write DSSSL and XSL programs, and to efficiently navigate the available documentation and resources.

2.29. Practical Use of oXygen XML

"Practical Use of oXygen XML" is a collection of instructor-led hands-on classes guiding the student in the operation of the oXygen XML editor and author tools. The emphasis is on practical use of the tool and as such this course is not a comprehensive treatise of the product. The objective is to quickly get productive in using the tool as either an author or as a developer. The material includes how to create and customize complete authoring environments called "frameworks". Please see the syllabus for exact details to ensure you choose the desired configuration of the class to meet your needs. Not all configurations of the class cover all of the features of this very powerful and comprehensive tool.

3. Licensed deliveries by others

Periodically, other training organizations around the world license Crane's training materials for both public and private delivery.

Please see our licensee page for a list of existing licensees and information about licensing.