What is XML?
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language, capable of describing many different kinds of data. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of data across different systems.
XML can be read and interpreted directly by many applications, including Excel and various web-scripting languages. This allows you to easily save the datasets on this site and import into Excel or other applications. Other web-servers can also read the datasets on this website directly to use in different websites.
See the online Wiki XML pages for more information.
Data4nr XML feeds
The datasets on this site are available in XML format by clicking on the orange "XML" logo (shown above), which appears on dataset pages at the right-hand side of the page. Depending on which browser version you are using, you will then either see an unformatted list of datasets (which you can save to your computer), or you will be asked to save the XML file. Once you have saved the XML file you can open this directly into Excel and other applications.
You can also call the XML pages directly (these can be called from other web-servers):
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Lists of datasets: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/theme-name/rss.xml
- For example: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/population/rss.xml
- You can also specify "all" as a theme name: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/all/rss.xml
- Choose sub-themes by appending their ID to the theme with a '+'. For example: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/population+mig/rss.xml
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Filtering: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/theme-name/filter-mask/rss.xml
- For example: http://data4nr.net/xml/population/0010010/rss.xml (Data with age breakdown and several timepoints available)
- The easiest way to determine the filter to use is by navigating the site, then clicking on the "XML" button and looking at the URL
- For more detailed information, please see the Documentation section below.
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Searching: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/theme-name/search-term/rss.xml
- For example: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/all/ethnic/rss.xml
- May be combined with sub-themes and filtering as above, for example: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/population+mig/1000000/turnover/rss.xml
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Specific dataset by ID: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/dataset-id/rss.xml
- For example: http://www.data4nr.net/xml/1/rss.xml
XLS and CSV downloads
You can also download lists of datasets as an Excel file or a CSV file. Links to these are shown on Data4nr.net pages alongside links to XML feeds where available. Currently, Excel and CSV downloads are not available for individual datasets.
The way you search and filter datasets for Excel and CSV files is the same as for XML feeds, above. However, the URL is slightly different, with the basic format as follows:
- Excel files: http://www.data4nr.net/export/theme-name/export.xls
- CSV files: http://www.data4nr.net/export/theme-name/export.csv
(Hint: XML files are also available using: http://www.data4nr.net/export/theme-name/export.xml)
So the XML examples above become:
- All datasets, as CSV: http://www.data4nr.net/export/all/export.csv
- Theme and sub-theme, as XLS: http://www.data4nr.net/export/population+mig/export.xls
- Filtered population list, as CSV: http://data4nr.net/export/population/0010010/export.csv
- A search for "ethnicity", as XLS: http://www.data4nr.net/export/all/ethnic/export.xls
- A combined theme, subtheme, filter and search, as CSV: http://www.data4nr.net/export/population+mig/1000000/turnover/export.csv
Documentation
We will shortly be releasing more in-depth documentation on using XML feeds, XLS and CSV files. Meanwhile, if you have any questions regarding this, please contact us.
Code examples
We hope to release example code for integrating Data4nr XML with other applications in the near future.
