XML Elements
To create an XML document, it must contain elements. Lets assume that I want to create a document with the elements LAND, FOREST, TREE, MEADOW, GRASS. Here is how I would use these elements:
<LAND>
<FOREST>
<TREE>Oak</TREE>
<TREE>Pine</TREE>
<TREE>Maple</TREE>
</FOREST>
<MEADOW>
<GRASS>Bluegrass</GRASS>
<GRASS>Fescue</GRASS>
<GRASS>Rye</GRASS>
</MEADOW>
</LAND>
Each element is enclosed in <> brackets. The ending element has the '/' character before its name. As you can see, there is one element that contains all others, <LAND>. XML requires one element that contains all others. This single element, which in this case is "LAND", is called the root element. The FOREST element contains several TREE elements, and the MEADOW likewise contains several elements of GRASS. Each element that is contained in another ends in that same element and therefore each element is properly nested.
Elements that are included in another element are considered nested. The TREE elements in the above example are nested in the FOREST element. The FOREST element is the parent element to the TREE element and the TREE element is also called the sub-element to the FOREST element. These relationships hold true as you move up and down the element hierarchy. The FOREST and MEADOW elements are sub-elements to the LAND root element.
The below example is not well formed:
<LAND>
<FOREST>
<TREE>Oak</TREE>
<TREE>Pine</TREE>
<TREE>Maple
</FOREST>
</TREE>
<MEADOW>
<GRASS>Bluegrass</GRASS>
<GRASS>Fescue</GRASS>
<GRASS>Rye</GRASS>
</MEADOW>
</LAND>
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