Editing WoW:XML basics (section)

== Introduction ==

XML files are structured as a bunch of nested tags, each with content and attributes. A tag is used to provide information about something. Say we wanted to use XML to describe the contents of our fridge. We would start by creating an empty "fridge" tag.

<pre>
<fridge>
</fridge>
</pre>

Now that we have a fridge, we can start adding things to it. Let's put a couple pizzas in our fridge, by adding them as '''content''' to the "<fridge>" tag.

<pre>
<fridge>
  <pizza></pizza>
  <pizza></pizza>
</fridge>
</pre>

But wait — those pizzas aren't the same kind. One of them is pepperoni, and one is vegetarian. Since this is an extremely important distinction, let's add it as an '''attribute''' to the "<pizza>" tag.

<pre>
<fridge>
  <pizza toppings="pepperoni"></pizza>
  <pizza toppings="peppers onions mushrooms"></pizza>
</fridge>
</pre>

That's essentially how XML works. You need a root node that contains all the other data in the XML document (In this case, <fridge>). More data can be added by creating content and attributes in any existing element.

In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' [[AddOn]] development, any XML file used for the interface needs a root element "<Ui>". You'll need to define three attributes in this tag. Don't feel compelled to memorize them; copy/pasting is fine. They just tell the program parsing the XML document about the format you're using to structure the data.

<pre>
<Ui xmlns="http://www.blizzard.com/wow/ui/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.blizzard.com/wow/ui/
..\FrameXML\UI.xsd">
</Ui>
</pre>