The XML Backend

This backend saves and transforms a protege knowledge base into an XML file that conforms to an XML Schema specification that describes the Protege knowledge model. This backend places all classes and instances in a single XML file, and the .xsd file is the same for any Protege knowledge base. The schema (the .xsd file) captures basic knowledge about the Protege view of classes, slots and instances. Ultimately, we expect this format will become the default Protege storage format, eventually replacing the Clips-based .pont and .pins syntax. (In some release of Protege after 2.1!)

Installation: As with other plug-ins, expand the zip file into the plug-ins directory. There is no configuration step for the backend; when you click on "Convert-Project-to-format" you should see "XML Backend" as one of the options.

WARNING: As with other backends, once you convert, Protege does an entire transformation of the KB. To be explicit -- it will save your KB in the XML format, modify the .pprj file, and then automatically do a virtual load from this XML format. Thus, if information is lost in the transformation, it will be lost immediately, rather than later, when you explicitly load from the new format.

Known limitations: User-defined meta slots (subclasses of :Standard-Slot), will cause an error with this backend. We expect and appreciate bug reports, comments, and questions. Send email to contacts listed below and/or the Protege-discussion mailing list.

The jar file package (no source)
The full package (w/ source)
The XML schema file (also included in the above packages)

Latest release: July 23: Updated Protege 2.1 release (inverse slot problems fixed)

(Older stuff Protege 1.9: Plug-in jar file, Source code. Protege 2.0: Plug-in jar file, Source code
XML schema file is the same across all 3 versions.)

Primary Contact: John Gennari
Programmer: Ching-Ping Lin

University of Washinton
Biomedical and Health Informatics
July, 2004