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....
A user interface markup language is a markup language that renders and describes graphical user interfaces and controls. Many of these markup languages are dialects of XML and are dependent upon a pre-existing scripting language engine, usually a JavaScript engine, for rendering of controls and...
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
in March 2004. Application developers use MXML in combination with ActionScript
ActionScript
ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of...
A Rich Internet Application is a Web application that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser, via a browser plug-in, independent sandboxes, extensive use of JavaScript, or virtual machines...
Adobe Flex is a software development kit released by Adobe Systems for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich Internet applications based on the Adobe Flash platform...
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
, which acquired Macromedia in December 2005, gives no official meaning for the acronym MXML. Some developers suggest it should stand for "Magic eXtensible Markup Language" (which is a backronym
Backronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
). It is likely that the name comes from the MX suffix given to Macromedia Studio products released in 2002 and 2004, or simply "Macromedia eXtensible Markup Language".
MXML is used mainly to declaratively lay out the interface of applications and can also be used to implement business logic and internet application behaviors. It can contain chunks of ActionScript code, either when creating the body of an event handler function, or with data binding where the curly braces ({) syntax is used.
MXML is often used with Flex Server, which dynamically compiles it into standard binary SWF
SWF
SWF is an Adobe Flash file format used for multimedia, vector graphics and ActionScript. Originating with FutureWave Software, then transferred to Macromedia, and then coming under the control of Adobe, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function.,...
files. However, the Adobe Flash Builder IDE (formerly Adobe Flex Builder) and free Flex SDK can also compile MXML into SWF files without the use of a Flex Server.
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
The PHP Extension and Application Repository, or PEAR, is a repository of PHP software code. Stig S. Bakken founded the PEAR project in 1999 to promote the re-use of code that performs common functions. The project seeks to provide a structured library of code, maintain a system for distributing...
package called XML_MXML, which is a framework to build Adobe Flex applications.
MXML is considered a proprietary standard due to its tight integration with Adobe technologies. It is like XAML in this respect. No published translators exist for converting an MXML document to another user interface language such as UIML
UIML
UIML is an XML language for defining user interfaces on computers.Basically UIML tries to reduce the work needed to develop user interfaces. It allows you to describe the user interface in declarative terms and abstract it...
In computer programming, XUL , the XML User Interface Language, is an XML user interface markup language developed by the Mozilla project. XUL operates in Mozilla cross-platform applications such as Firefox...
Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
. However, there do exist third party vendor plugins for Flex Builder that are capable of generating a result other than a SWF file from Flex applications, for instance native mobile applications.
