XML Daily Newslink. Tuesday, 27 February 2007

[Robin Cover <robin@oasis-open.org>]

XML Daily Newslink. Tuesday, 27 February 2007
A Cover Pages Publication http://xml.coverpages.org/
Provided by OASIS http://www.oasis-open.org
Edited by Robin Cover

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This issue of XML Daily Newslink is sponsored by
BEA Systems, Inc.  http://www.bea.com

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HEADLINES:

* OWL 1.1 Web Ontology Language Submitted to W3C for New Working Group
* TopQuadrant's Developer Tool Targets Semantic Web
* Ontology-Based Navigation of Bibliographic Metadata
* When to Use WSIT Reliable Messaging
* SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) Service for Google Apps
* Search KMLs on Google Earth
* California Assembly Bill #1668: State Agencies to Use XML-based Formats
* Meeting the SaaS Security Challenge
* XML for PHP Developers, Part 1: The 15 Minute PHP with XML Starter

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OWL 1.1 Web Ontology Language Submitted to W3C for New Working Group
W3C Members, Submission Request to W3C

SRI International, TopQuadrant, University of Manchester, and webMethods,
Inc. have submitted a 6-part "OWL 1.1 Web Ontology Language"
specification to W3C with a request that the Consortium consider this
technical material as a starting point for work in a new W3C Working
Group.  OWL 1.1 extends the W3C OWL Web Ontology Language with a small
but useful set of features that have been requested by users, for which
effective reasoning algorithms are now available, and that OWL tool
developers are willing to support. The new features include extra
syntactic sugar, additional property and qualified cardinality
constructors, extended datatype support, simple metamodelling, and
extended annotations. The initial design of the W3C OWL Web Ontology
Language (OWL) was conservative in several ways. Constructs that did
not have considerable support from within the W3C Web Ontology Working
Group were not included. Constructs for which effective reasoning
methods were not known or expected to be known in future were also not
included. Usage of OWL, particularly the OWL DL species of OWL, has
identified several constructs that are of considerable utility and
that fit well within the representation philosophy of OWL DL. Advances
in the theory of Description Logics have provided a basis for reasoning
with constructs that are not part of OWL, or not part of OWL DL. For
both these reasons, it was decided at the first "OWL: Experiences and
Directions" workshop to design an extension to the OWL DL species of
OWL. The extension is designed to provide simple extensions to OWL DL
that have been requested by major users of OWL DL, have effective
reasoning methods, as evidenced by theoretical results, and are
expected to be implemented by the developers of OWL DL reasoners...
The OWL 1.1 specification does not extend the RDF-compatible semantics
for of OWL to cover the new features of OWL 1.1. Complete reasoning in
OWL Full is intractable (it is estimated to be as hard as first-order
logic, where there is provably no decision procedure for determining
for an arbitrary formula P, whether P is valid). Complete reasoning in
OWL DL and OWL 1.1 is tractable, but the expressivity is limited; the
domain of discourse is constrained so that individuals, classes, and
properties are separated. OWL 1.1 extends the expressivity of OWL and
its RDF/XML syntax is less constrained than OWL DL, though still subject
to a regularity syntactic restriction.  The W3C Staff Comment (by
Dan Connolly) indicates that W3C welcomes public discussion of:
(1) designs for extending the RDF-compatible semantics of OWL to cover
OWL 1.1 features, (2) the role of the various tractable fragments, and
(3) deployment strategies for a possible new version of OWL.

http://www.w3.org/Submission/2006/10/
See also the W3C Team Comment: http://www.w3.org/Submission/2006/10/Comment

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TopQuadrant's Developer Tool Targets Semantic Web
David Needle, InternetNews.com

Companies looking to tap the benefits of the so-called Semantic Web
have a new development tool to consider. TopQuadrant said its TopBraid
Composer 2.0, released today, seamlessly supports multiple inference
(or reasoning) engines and mash-up facilities. The idea behind the
Semantic Web is to give data more meaning through the use of metadata,
which describes how, when and by whom a particular set of data was
collected, and how that data is formatted. Tim Berners-Lee, creator of
the World Wide Web, has referred to the Semantic Web as being like a
great big database."  With a commonality or at least understanding of
data types, new applications like mash-ups and knowledge management can
be created that link multiple sources of information. This can be a huge
asset to corporations and other large organization where information
sources have evolved from different silos, According to Dean Allemang
(TopQuadrant). The TopBraid Composer 2.0 modeling toolset supports
Semantic Web standard languages RDF/S and OWL, including OWL 1.1
extensions. TopQuadrant said its Eclipse-based TopBraid Composer 2.0
allows, for the first time, Semantic Web applications to be developed
with unique, flexible and user-customizable hybrid reasoning that
allows rules, queries and description logic to be combined to solve
significant business problems. One TopQuadrant customer, an engineering
firm, estimates it generates 20,000 new documents a day: "They're
trying to figure out how to keep up; sure, you can use Google or other
search engines, but these are engineering documents that come out of
a structured workflow. A lot of the documents look alike; you have to
read three or four paragraphs in to figure out what's different." But
the metadata behind those documents is readily identifiable, and that's
what an application designed with TopBraid Composer is designed to
look for. TopQuadrant, which started out and continues to offer
consulting services, lists Intel, NASA, General Motors, the FAA and
the General Services Administration among its customers. Nova Spivack,
CEO and founder of Radar Networks [said] Radar Networks, currently in
stealth mode, is building what it describes as a major new Web 3.0
online service that will bring the Semantic Web to consumers.

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3661816
See also the TopQuadrant knowledge base: http://www.topquadrant.com/diamond/tq_standard.htm

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Ontology-Based Navigation of Bibliographic Metadata
Margherita Sini, Gauri Salokhe, et al., FAO Report

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations announced
the publication of a new paper in the FAO Document Repository:
"Ontology-based Navigation of Bibliographic Metadata: Example of the
Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Journal." The paper describes the work
done within the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) on providing an ontology-based navigation to the Food, Nutrition
and Agriculture (FNA) Journal. The aim of the revised navigation was
to provide more efficient and effective browsing of the Food and
Nutrition Publications using a knowledge model to guide the user with
concepts and relationships relevant to a specific subject area. With
this approach, data from two different bibliographical databases were
reused, by merging and unifying them and make them better accessible
to users. A preliminary metadata merge was needed to combine all the
information into one system in order to produce a metadata-ontology.
Resource Description Framework Schema (RDFS) has been chosen to exploit
semantic relationships e.g. the possibilities of browsing the data in
different ways (by keywords, categories, authors, etc.), and the
creation of a multilingual concept-based advanced search. In a demo
version of the portal, that has not yet been published online, which
was presented at the ECDL conference in 2004, other functionalities
were available to the users. For instance, the ability to provide
semantically related concepts while navigating the keywords, the
ability to provide co-authors, the ability to create a query using
graphical-composer. These steps are just a starting point for further
exploitation of other semantic relationships available in a
bibliographic metadata record. Making use of existing semantic
relationships between, for example, author and keyword, that are not
normally exploited in bibliographic databases allowed for more
meaningful and hence user-friendly browse experiences. The possible
benefits of converting from RDFS to OWL are currently being explored.

http://xml.coverpages.org/FAO-Ontology-ah766e00.pdf
See also AGRIS AP XML: http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/ae908e/ae908e00.htm

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When to Use WSIT Reliable Messaging
Mike Grogan, Blog

Reliable messaging is a feature of WSIT, which will be delivered
through Glassfish V2. When the Reliable Messaging feature is used,
it does its work automatically with almost no effort from
application developers. This means that there is little to say about
how to use the feature. It is important, though, to understand when
to use the feature. The first thing to know is that an client
application programmer does not get to choose whether to use Reliable
Messaging. If a Web Service endpoint uses it, it advertises the fact
in a WS-Policy Assertion its WSDL. A WSIT client invoking the endpoint
will always use Reliable Messaging when the Policy assertion is present.
There are a few client-side Reliable Messaging configuration settings,
but they are fine-grained ones. The default values work fine in almost
every case. This means that the only special attention a client
application programmer needs to pay to Reliable Messaging is the
mechanism for closing a connection described here. In most cases, a
client programmer does not need to know that Reliable Messaging is
being used. The developer of a WSIT endpoint only needs to choose
whether to enable Reliable Messaging, and if it is enabled, must decide
whether to enable the ordered delivery feature. The decisions are
reflected in Policy assertions in the WSDL of the endpoint. These
assertions can be edited using the NetBeans 5.5.1 IDE. To make the
decisions, it is important to understand some of the benefits and
disadvantages of Reliable Messaging. Performance is the most
frequently-mentioned disadvantage,but might not really matter that
much to many users. The Reliable Messaging protocol sends its own
messages and adds protocol headers to application messages, so both
the number of messages and their sizes are increased if Reliable
Messaging is enabled. This increases processing times and decreases
the number of requests that can be processed by a given endpoint.

http://weblogs.java.net/blog/mikeg/archive/2007/02/when_to_use_wsi.html
See also Tango's Web Services Interoperability Technologies (WSIT): https://wsit.dev.java.net/

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SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) Service for Google Apps
Staff, Google Technical Documentation

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an XML standard that
allows secure web domains to exchange user authentication and
authorization data. Using SAML, an online service provider can contact
a separate online identity provider to authenticate users who are trying
to access secure content. Google Apps offers a SAML-based Single Sign-On
(SSO) service that provides partner companies with full control over
the authorization and authentication of hosted user accounts that can
access web-based applications like Gmail or Google Calendar. Using the
SAML model, Google acts as the service provider and provides services
such as Gmail and Partner Start Pages (PSP). Google partners act as
identity providers and control usernames, passwords and other information
used to identify, authenticate and authorize users for web applications
that Google hosts. It is important to note that the SSO solution only
applies to web applications. Google offers two tools to help partners
understand and implement a SAML-based SSO service. (1) The SAML-based
SSO Static Demo demonstrates the SAML transaction process. The demo uses
static files to simulate the transactions that Google and the partner
company would conduct to log a user into a hosted Google application
(Gmail). (2) The Web-based Reference Implementation is an interactive
Java application that allows partners to view the XML generated for
SAML requests and responses. The documentation for the tool explains
how the partner could modify the tool to submit SAML requests to an
internal application that actually authenticates a user. Both of these
tools display a similar interface. However, the static demo does not
actually execute any code whereas the web-based reference implementation
provides Java code that demonstrates the functionality a partner will
need to perform to process SAML requests and generate SAML responses.

http://code.google.com/apis/apps/sso/saml_reference_implementation.html
See also the demo: http://code.google.com/apis/apps/sso/saml_static_demo/saml_demo.html

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Search KMLs on Google Earth
Staff, Google Friends Newsletter

"KML is the XML file format people use to create overlays to enhance
the geographic imagery with a vast array of detailed information. For
instance, open up Google Earth, type in a query like [lord of the
rings], and the results from the web (in KML files) for your query will
appear in a folder below the local results as placemarks. The placemarks
are based on the area in your view, so searching for [lord of the rings]
while you're viewing South Africa will get you no results -- but when
you're viewing New Zealand,  the same query will show you top ten
placemarks (green icons) from the region and by clicking on 'see more'
you can find tons more placemarks. With the latest version, you can
search across all of the KML available on the web using either keywords
or geographic locations. Our users have created millions of KML files..."
Casual users create KML files to placemark their homes, to document
journeys, and to plan cross-country hikes and cycling ventures.
Scientists use KML to provide detailed mappings of resources, models,
and trends such as volcanic eruptions, weather patterns, earthquake
activity, and mineral deposits. Real estate professionals, architects,
and city development agencies use KML to propose construction and
visualize plans. Students and teachers use KML to explore people,
places, and events, both historic and current. Organizations such as
National Geographic, UNESCO, and the Smithsonian have all used KML to
display their rich sets of global data. Relevant MIME/Media types are
'application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml' (kml) and
'application/vnd.google-earth.kmz' (kmz).

http://earth.google.com/kml/
See also Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/

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California Assembly Bill #1668: State Agencies to Use XML-based Formats
Mark Leno, Legislation Introduced

"AB 1668, as introduced, Leno. Information technology: open-document
software. Existing law sets forth the requirements for the acquisition
of information technology goods and services, and establishes the
duties and responsibilities of the Department of Technology Services.
This bill would require all state agencies, beginning on or after
January 1, 2008, to create, exchange, and preserve all documents, as
specified, in an open extensible markup language-based, XML-based file
format, and to start to become equipped to receive any document in an
open, XML-based file format, as specified. The bill also would require
the Department of Technology Services to evaluate, as specified, all
open, XML-based file formats and to develop guidelines, as specified,
for state agencies in using open, XML-based file formats...  When
deciding how to implement this section, the department in its
evaluation of open, XML-based file formats shall consider all of the
following features: (1) Interoperable among diverse internal and
external platforms and applications; (2) Fully published and available
royalty-free; (3) Implemented by multiple vendors; (4) Controlled by
an open industry organization with a well-defined inclusive process
for evolution of the standard: (b) Beginning on or after January 1,
2008, state agencies shall start to become equipped to accept all
documents in an open, XML-based file format for office applications,
and shall not adopt a file format used by only one entity..."

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_1651-1700/ab_1668_bill_20070223_introduced.pdf
See also the text version: http://xml.coverpages.org/MarkLeno-AB1668-20070223.html

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Meeting the SaaS Security Challenge
Andrew K. Burger, TechNewsWorld

Software as a Service (SaaS) and other forms of on-demand applications
are becoming more prevalent within enterprises, according to the report.
As the use of on-demand applications increases, so does the likelihood
of attacks by cybercriminals. The nature of on-demand applications
poses particular security challenges. In order to detect and prevent
attacks, enterprise IT managers are increasing their use of message
encryption, as well as implementing multifactor authentication and
multi-layered security environments. As distributed software and
systems become more prevalent, the challenge of securing on-demand
applications intensifies. "There are two major categories of changes
which are already occurring but will be accelerated by the use of SOA
and on-demand applications," BEA Systems Principal Engineering
Technologist Hal Lockhart told CRM Buyer. Lockhart is also co-chair of
the OASIS XACML and Security Services (SAML) technical committees.
OASIS is one of the IT industry organizations working to address such
issues through an open, collaborative standards development process.
In terms of the current state of security technology for distributed
applications, Lockhart said that "in many cases, we already have highly
effective mechanisms available, but they are insufficiently dynamic,
federated, flexible, interoperable or scalable. WS-Security,
WS-SecureConversation, WS-Trust, and WS-SecurityPolicy primarily address
attacks like interception, impersonation, message modification and
spoofing. XACML (eXtensible Access Control Markup Language) addresses
unauthorized access. SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is
concerned with federating information used to prevent impersonation
and abuse of privilege.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/55971.html
See also the OASIS XACML TC: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/xacml/

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XML for PHP Developers, Part 1: The 15 Minute PHP with XML Starter
Cliff Morgan, IBM developerWorks

It's hard to miss the importance of XML in today's application
development environment. If you've never before worked with XML in PHP
or have not yet made the jump to PHP5, this starter guide to working
with new functionality available in PHP5 for XML might persuade you
just how easy to work with XML can be. This first article in a three-
part series, focusing on quick start API's, demonstrates how SimpleXML,
in combination where necessary with the DOM, is the ideal choice for
developers working with straightforward, predictable, and relatively
small XML documents. These documents are exactly the sort passed by
Ajax applications containing, for example, the contents of a form
submission or perhaps the response of a Web service application
programming interface (API) like weather.com. While PHP has offered XML
support since its early versions, that support improved exponentially
with the introduction of PHP5. Because the PHP4 support for XML was
somewhat limited, such as offering only a SAX-based parser enabled by
default and the PHP4 DOM not implementing the W3C standard, PHP XML
developers reinvented the wheel, so to speak, with PHP5 and complied
with commonly used standards. PHP5 includes totally rewritten and new
extensions, including the SAX parser, the DOM, SimpleXML, XMLReader,
XMLWriter, and the XSLT processor. All these extensions are now based
on the libxml2. Along with the SAX support improved from PHP4, PHP5
also supports both the DOM according to W3C standard and the SimpleXML
extension. SAX, DOM, and SimpleXML are all enabled by default. If you
are familiar with the DOM from other languages, you will have an easier
time coding with similar functionality in PHP than before. Part 2 of
this series will focus on advanced XML parsing techniques.

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-xmlphp1.html

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