Chemical Markup Language
Encyclopedia
CML is an approach to managing molecular information using tools such as XML
and Java. It was the first domain specific implementation based strictly on XML
, first based on a DTD
and later on XML Schema, the most robust and widely used system for precise information management in many areas. It has been developed over more than a decade by Murray-Rust
, Rzepa
and others and has been tested in many areas and on a variety of machines.
Chemical information is traditionally stored in many different file types which inhibit reuse of the documents. CML uses XML's portability to help CML developers and chemists design interoperable documents. There are a number of tools that can generate, process and view CML documents. Publishers can distribute chemistry within XML documents by using CML, e.g. in RSS documents.
CML is capable of supporting a wide range of chemical concepts including:
Details of CML and points currently under discussion are now posted on the CML Blog.
and JChemPaint
, some of which use alternative CML libraries. See Blue Obelisk
.
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
and Java. It was the first domain specific implementation based strictly on XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, first based on a DTD
Document Type Definition
Document Type Definition is a set of markup declarations that define a document type for SGML-family markup languages...
and later on XML Schema, the most robust and widely used system for precise information management in many areas. It has been developed over more than a decade by Murray-Rust
Peter Murray-Rust
Peter Murray-Rust is a contemporary chemist born in Guildford in 1941.He was educated at Bootham School and Balliol College, Oxford. After obtaining a D.Phil he became lecturer in chemistry at the University of Stirling and was first warden of Andrew Stewart Hall of Residence...
, Rzepa
Henry Rzepa
Henry S. Rzepa is a contemporary computational organic chemist. He was born in London in 1950, was educated at Wandsworth Comprehensive School, and then entered the chemistry department at Imperial College London where he graduated in 1971. Following a Ph.D...
and others and has been tested in many areas and on a variety of machines.
Chemical information is traditionally stored in many different file types which inhibit reuse of the documents. CML uses XML's portability to help CML developers and chemists design interoperable documents. There are a number of tools that can generate, process and view CML documents. Publishers can distribute chemistry within XML documents by using CML, e.g. in RSS documents.
CML is capable of supporting a wide range of chemical concepts including:
- molecules
- reactions
- spectra and analytical data
- computational chemistry
- chemical crystallography and materials
Details of CML and points currently under discussion are now posted on the CML Blog.
Versioning
The latest versions of the schema are available at Sourceforge. The latest frozen schema is CML2.4. A number of constructs in CML1 were DTD-based and are now deprecated so users should consider using CML v2.Tools
JUMBO began life as the Java Universal Molecular Browser for Objects but is now a Java library that supports validation, reading and writing of CML as well as conversion of several legacy formats to CML and, for example, a reaction in CML to an animated SVG representation of the reaction. JUMBO has evolved into an extensive Java library, CMLDOM, supporting all elements in the schema. Although JUMBO used to be a browser, the preferred approach is to use the Open Source tools JmolJmol
Jmol is an open-source Java viewer for chemical structures in 3D,that does not require 3D acceleration plugins.Jmol returns a 3D representation of a molecule that may be used as a teaching tool, or for research e.g...
and JChemPaint
JChemPaint
JChemPaint is an editor and viewer for chemical structures in 2D.It is free and open source software, written in Java and so it runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Unix systems...
, some of which use alternative CML libraries. See Blue Obelisk
Blue Obelisk
Blue Obelisk is an informal group of chemists who promote Open Data, Open Source, and Open Standards; it was initiated by Peter Murray-Rust and others in 2005...
.
See also
- List of document markup languages
- Comparison of document markup languagesComparison of document markup languagesThe following tables compare general and technical information for a number of document markup languages. Please see the individual markup languages' articles for further information.-General information:...
- Software importing and exporting a valid CML format
- BioclipseBioclipseThe Bioclipse project is a Java-based, open source, visual platform for chemo- and bioinformatics based on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform...
- CDKChemistry Development KitThe Chemistry Development Kit is an open-source Java library for Chemoinformatics and Bioinformatics. It is available for Windows, Unix, and Mac OS...
- JOELibJOELibJOELib is a free software chemical expert system mainly used for converting chemical file formats. Because of its strong relationship to informatics, this program belongs more to the category cheminformatics than to molecular modelling. It is available for Windows, Unix and other systems supporting...
- OpenBabelOpenBabelOpenBabel is free software, a chemical expert system mainly used for converting chemical file formats. Due to the strong relationship to informatics this program belongs more to the category cheminformatics than to molecular modelling. It is available for Windows, Unix, and Mac OS...
- AvogadroAvogadro (software)Avogadro is a molecular editor designed for cross-platform use in computational chemistry, molecular modeling, bioinformatics, materials science, and related areas...
- Bioclipse
- Joint Committee on Atomic and Molecular Physical Data (another well-known standard, especially for spectroscopic data)
- Blue ObeliskBlue ObeliskBlue Obelisk is an informal group of chemists who promote Open Data, Open Source, and Open Standards; it was initiated by Peter Murray-Rust and others in 2005...
community for Open Source chemical software
External links
- Chemical Markup Language (CML) This includes the CML Schema, links to tools, documentation, and source code
- Discussion list
- CML Blog
- The original (old) site
- The Jmol Browser's site