Perl XML Module by Ooboo LLC Released as Freeware

CGIDir
Friday, September 8, 2006; 08:26 AM

For all the perl developers out there, ooboo LLC, a Michigan-based web services technology company, announced the shareware distribution of the popular web development tool xml.pm - as freeware. An extension or "module" of the popular perl programming language, xml.pm is a "load-and-go" solution for perl-based XML applications.

"XML is an exciting emerging data standard" says Thomas Catsburg, Chief Technologist and Senior Partner at ooboo LLC, and making it accessible for the perl programmer just got easier. As well, Mr. Catsburg points out that "XML really provides the means for a programmer to structure and separate data from presentation - and this module makes that easy".

Developed over a period of 5 years, xml.pm is a great foundation for any perl programmer. The single module ( about 150K in size ) puts powerful capabilites in the hands of the software developer. It enables anyone to easily read, parse and manipulate XML datasets through object-oriented methods. Included in the module is a convenient stylesheet capability - to mold and present your data as web pages or any other form - with the following features available in version 4.0:

* DOM-based xml/xsl/xsd object parser
* Create and manipulate xml object( s ) in memory
* Read and Write xml/xsl/xsd objects to and from files
* 35+ built-in stylesheet elements ( expanded in 4.0 )
* xsl:perl extension for embedding perl code in a stylesheet
* xsl:cgi extension for passing cgi variables as hidden html form inputs
* xsl:cookie extension for passing http cookies as hidden html form inputs
* Mix html and xsl in stylesheets with minimal escaping!
* 12 built-in stylesheet format functions ( expanded in 4.0 )
* built-in schema validation functions
* unique(  ) extension for unique filtering
* html listing of source code with many examples and test code! (NEW in 4.0)
* expression parsing engine improvements for "natural" mathematical expression (NEW in 4.0)
* 14 new xforms functions ( NEW in 4.0 )

The xml.pm module is available for download from the ooboo LLC site ooboo.com/cgi-bin/workflow?workflow=ooboo/public/xml.xml for free! "Why free? In the same spirit as perl itself", says Mr. Catsburg, "but if you're so inclined to make a contribution for a perpetual license, then you're welcome to do so."

Perl, also known as the Practical Extraction and Report Language, is a dynamic procedural programming language designed by Larry Wall and first released in 1987. Perl borrows features from C, shell scripting ( sh ), AWK, sed, Lisp, and, to a lesser extent, many other programming languages. Perl modules are discreet components of the perl language.