what's the point?

[jemminger]

hi all,

i'm interested in using XML, though i don't know what for...

i do web development with ASP currently. for what purposes do all of you use XML?

thanks for your input!
=========================================================
if (!succeed) try();
-jeff

 

[skiflyer]

I just made my first real use of it because I needed a configuration file for an application which would be read remotely and managed by a web front end.

the simple .ini file was too limited, and I saved bunches of time using XPath and DOM for VB and an XML Parser/Writer I made for PHP rather than coming up with my own proprietary format to store the data.

Well ok, I saved a little time, but it's much easier now when I change the specs and add this or that.

-Rob

 

[jemminger]

thanks Rob.

anyone else care to share? =========================================================
if (!succeed) try();
-jeff

 

[palbano]

>> anyone else care to share?

well i now use XML for all desktop application persistance. it just makes things way easy.

i no longer create classes that contain data elements, just classes that wrap an XML DOM Node object to provide typed get/set methods. The DOM Document tree provides my application with the data structure i used to have to code myself!

for client/server development i use it for the network protocol. sending XML messages accross sockets makes client server development a snap. Write a server in Java, write a destop client application in VC++ and focus on your buisness problems because the technical problems are already solved. The same goes for distributed solutions.

No custom parsing, no custom data formats, no worries! code all looks the same (patterns) so its easy to understand, no worries!

Need lots of XML... put it in a database and let the databases do what they do so well, for the rest let XML do what it does so well, no worries.

Need traditional database table schema... cool, generate XML from your query result sets. If your database does not support it natively, write it your self it is simple and can be done with simple generic re-usable code in any language. NO WORRIES.

We have been using it in these ways for almost 3 years now without any performance issues. We have legacy code that has grusome perfomance so XML can't possibly slow things down LOL

Is it for everyone in every application? No. It works well for us because we are not running our software on a space shuttle. -There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't-

-pete

 

[guitardave78]

I use it to form simple markup systems so that the documents are easy to update
eg use
<link url=&quot;

http://www.tek-tips.com&quot;

name=&quot;Tek Tips&quot; />

instead of

<font face=&quot;arial&quot;><strong><a href=&quot;

http://www.xml.com/pub/r/1329&quot;>Tek

Tips</a></strong></font><br />

Doesnt seem like much but you can, with xsl, have that link string formated how ever you like. All the xml has to include is the data. You dont have to put <br /> or stuff like that or fonts or any nonsense in the xml, it is all in a single xsl file.

 

[XMLStick]

XML is useful too for conversion purposes. You may convert relational data loaded into your data source into a custom Oracle database. This is accomplished by using a TransX Oracle utility that serves the purpose of filling the Oracle database with data from a specially prepared XML document. An XML view of the data source (created by converting the data source using RustemSoft XML Converter) is then transformed using the Oracle utility into an Oracle database.

 

[petey]

XML is great for many reasons.[ol][li]It is an open standard so it can be passed between various platforms and applications and always be counted on to function the same way.[/li][li]It is an open standard, so it's free.[/li][li]It is an open standard, so everybody uses it.[/li][li]Because everybody uses it you can benefit from the &quot;community of knowledge&quot; surrounding it.[/li][li]Because everybody uses it there are lots of free and powerful tools available to work with it.[/li][li]The syntax is highly intuitive.[/li][li]The syntax is readable by humans.[/li][li]The syntax is readable by machines.[/li][/ol]
My 2 cents anyway, but others have obviously said this before.

-petey

http://www.drpeterjones.com/

 

[petey]

Case in point:

I built some Java tools (JSP tags, incidentally) for my web project, and they require a special configuration file to function. The config file is written in XML, but so what?

Well, if people want to use my tools in their own code, they have to read the XML file to know what they do, which is certainly possible. But with the features already built into Java, I was able to transform the XML file into an HTML document with minimal code. PRESTO!

A custom config file format would have required a serious coding effort if I wanted to convert it into HTML (not gonna happen), but I got it for free since the config file was in XML.

http://www.drpeterjones.com/

 

[guitardave78]

Also using asp you can generate different formats from the the data in one XML file to be viewable on several systems, eg PC, Wap devices and Palm devices. (HTML, WML and well HTML, but with different layout!)