Open Metadata Formats: Efficient XML-Based Communication for Heterogeneous Distributed Systems

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Date
2000Author
Widener, Patrick M. (Patrick McCall)
Schwan, Karsten
Eisenhauer, Greg Stephen
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Definition and translation of metadata is incorporated in all systems that
exchange structured data. We observe that the manipulation of his metadata
can be decomposed into three separate steps: discovery of the metadata,
binding of program objects to the message formats represented in the
metadata, and marshaling of data to and from wire formats using the
metadata. We have designed a method of representing message formats in XML,
using datatypes available in the XML Schema specification. We have
implemented a tool, xml2wire, that uses such metadata and exploits this
decomposition in order to provide flexible
metadata definition facilities for an efficient binary communications
mechanism. We also observe that the use of xml2wire makes possible such
flexibility without intolerable performance effects.