What are XML Namespaces? And how do you work with them?

XML Namespaces are an important aspect of working with Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents. The main idea about XML Namespaces is that they allow you to associate XML elements and attributes with globally unique identifiers (namespace names), which then allows you to more robustly write code for handling documents using those elements and attributes.
In this video, we look at the history and motivation of XML Namespaces so that you can better understand why they were even created. We then look into practical aspects of working with them, including a demo with an XML editor (the Oxygen XML editor) and XPath expressions to explore how an XML document is using XML Namespaces. We also look at some good practices in terms of what to do and what to not do when working with XML Namespaces.

00:00 Introduction
00:28 XML Namespaces Overview
00:50 XML Technology Overview
01:30 Motivation for XML Namespaces
09:53 Using XML Namespaces
14:55 XML Namespaces Demo
18:09 XML Namespaces Good Practices
21:28 Wrap-Up

[jonathanpryzby]

Hugely helpful. Youre totally right that when I see the URI, I was assuming there was a lot more magic going on that I didn't understand. Thanks for driving that point home, I dropped a like

[pezza]

Superbly explained. I had really struggled with the concept of namespaces until I watched this. I shared the video with my team. Thanks!

[diegomorais]

Which editor is that used on the video?

[ezequielbarbosadossantos]

Talked for 20 minutes and didn't really explain anything.