Graphically Displaying XML Data

[rmccam]

Okay, so I'm going to pre-apologize for this post... I'm not much of a web designer but I've been asked to oversee a project at work that involves XML.

I have scheduling software that is used to book meeting rooms in our building. It can spit out XML data (which contains the time, event names, locations, etc.), but I need to turn that into something that visually looks good to display the schedule on TV's in the lobby of our building. Currently, our system for doing this is data entry into Powerpoint but I'd really like to automate this. Here's a sample of the XML code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="test/css" href=VDIData.css"?>
<VDIData>
  <Data>
    <BookingDate>2008-05-30T00:00:00-04:00</BookingDate>
    <StartBookingDate>2008-05-30T00:00:00-04:00</StartBookingDate>
    <RoomDescription>Ground Floor - Exploration Room</RoomDescription>
    <TimeEventStart>2008-05-30T14:00:00-04:00</TimeEventStart>
    <TimeEventEnd>2008-05-30T15:00:00-04:00</TimeEventEnd>
    <GroupName>SMITH, JOHN </GroupName>
    <OpenTime>1900-01-01T07:00:00-05:00</OpenTime>
    <CloseTime>1900-01-01T19:00:00-05:00</CloseTime>
    <GroupTypeDescription>Internal</GroupTypeDescription>
    <EventTypeDescription>Meeting</EventTypeDescription>
  </Data>
</VDIData>

The Powerpoint slide that we're trying to emulate with XML is essentially an X/Y scheduling grid (time/rooms) stating the times in which the meeting rooms are booked. My question is - is it possible to make XML data display graphically like we have it in Powerpoint? (So build blocks of time, show when there's free space in the rooms, have the persons name in the blocks, etc.) If so, how difficult is the job?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Stretchwickster]

Without having given it much thought, it doesn't sound too difficult. Find out more about XSLT, which is used to transform XML data into other formats. Depending on your needs, you may consider transforming your XML into an XHTML page as you could harness the graphical output building blocks that XHTML gives you (e.g. you could use an XHTML table element to construct timetables for each room).

Clive

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[Miros]

An XSL transformation does seem to be the way to go. However, you do need to clean up your XML first.

<?xml-stylesheet type="test/css" href=VDIData.css"?>

should be

<?xml-stylesheet type="test/css" href=[red]"[/red]VDIData.css"?>

 

[rmccam]

Thanks a million for the guidance! I'll definitely look into XSLT.