12.1.5. Main elements of RDF

< rdf:RDF > element ¶

< rdf:RDF > is the root element of the RDF document. It defines an XML document as an RDF document. It also contains references to the RDF namespace:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
  ... *Description goes here...*
</rdf:RDF>

< rdf:Description > element ¶

The < rdf:Description > element identifies a resource by the about attribute.

The < rdf:Description > element can contain those elements that describe the resource:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:cd="http://www.recshop.fake/cd#">
<rdf:Description
rdf:about="http://www.recshop.fake/cd/Empire Burlesque">
  <cd:artist>Bob Dylan</cd:artist>
  <cd:country>USA</cd:country>
  <cd:company>Columbia</cd:company>
  <cd:price>10.90</cd:price>
  <cd:year>1985</cd:year>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

The elements artist, country, company, price, and year are defined in the namespace http://www.recshop.fake /cd#. This namespace is outside of RDF (not part of RDF). RDF only defines this framework. The elements artist, country, company, price, and year must be defined by others (companies, organizations, individuals, etc.).

Attribute (property) to define the attribute (attribute) ¶

Attribute elements (property elements) can also be defined as attributes (instead of elements) as attributes (attributes):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:cd="http://www.recshop.fake/cd#">
<rdf:Description
rdf:about="http://www.recshop.fake/cd/Empire Burlesque"
cd:artist="Bob Dylan" cd:country="USA"
cd:company="Columbia" cd:price="10.90"
cd:year="1985" />
</rdf:RDF>

Attribute (property) to define the attribute (attribute) ¶

Attribute elements (property elements) can also be defined as attributes (instead of elements) as attributes (attributes):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:cd="http://www.recshop.fake/cd#">
<rdf:Description
rdf:about="http://www.recshop.fake/cd/Empire Burlesque">
  <cd:artist rdf:resource="http://www.recshop.fake/cd/dylan" />
  ...
  ...
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

In the above example, the attribute artist has no value, but references a resource that contains information about the artist.