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Re: Create XML

• To: Robert DiFalco <rdifalco@t...>
• Subject: Re: Create XML
• From: "Chiusano Joseph" <chiusano_joseph@b...>
• Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 09:28:36 -0400
• Cc: "Mayne Peter" <PeterMayne@a...>, xml-dev@l...
• Organization: BAH
• References: <CFDDEB3B870EE346BB583D2B0420F5AC0101E824@s...>

<Quote>
Being relatively new to XML, I am curious as to what the current thought
is on this?
</Quote>

You may want to check the January 2003 archives for a subject line "Can
XML Schemas do this?", in which XML and ordering was the topic. I think
Tim Bray put it very well in one of his postings [1].

Kind Regards,
Joe Chiusano
Booz | Allen | Hamilton

[1] http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200301/msg00551.html

Robert DiFalco wrote:
> 
> How do most people feel about imposing a sibling element order
> significance? Consider the following:
> 
> <Person>
>    <FirstName>William</FirstName>
>    <LastName>Burroughs</LastName>
>    <Occupation>Author</Occupation>
> </Person>
> 
> In truth, the order of the elements under Person does not impact the
> semantic of a Person. A Person is complete if all items exist and we do
> not need to know the Name before the Occupation and so on. The child
> elements make up a set that does not require order but may require
> completeness.
> 
> However, it seems harder to write parsers that process elements in a
> random ordering. So often, an arbitrary order is imposed (presumably) to
> make parsing easier.
> 
> Being relatively new to XML, I am curious as to what the current thought
> is on this? Do most people impose an ordering or do they write their
> parser code to handle any order the elements may appear in.
> 
> Of course, this isn't a big deal if my program is producing and
> consuming the XML. However, if I am consuming a document that a user
> produced, why should I force them to put FirstName, LastName, and
> Occupation into a particular order? A Person is still a Person if they
> appear as LastName, Occupation, and FirstName.
> 
> Thoughts for an XML newbie to chew on? Is there a best practice for
> this?
> 
> R.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mayne, Peter [mailto:PeterMayne@a...]
> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 4:44 PM
> To: xml-dev@l...
> Subject: RE:  Create XML
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Emmanuil Batsis (Manos) [mailto:mbatsis@n...]
> > Sent: Friday, 13 June 2003 1:42 AM
> > To: Mehmet AVSAR; xml-dev@l...
> > Subject: Re:  Create XML
> >
> >
> > You should use an XML API to create/manipulate XML documents
> > instead of raw string manipulation.
> Why? No, seriously.
> For small/simple XML documents such as the OP's, I tend to use a for
> loop and a few print statements (mod your favourite language) rather
> than dragging in XML libraries and adding more complicated code.
> An obvious argument for using an XML API is the guarantee (?) of correct
> XML at the end. But for simple XML, it's not hard to do it with a string
> and a loop (or a string template and a replace) and get the same result.
> I'm certainly not advocating that using XML APIs to create documents is
> stupid, but surely there's a crossover point where the simplicity of the
> result doesn't justify the added complexity of an XML API compared to
> just building a string?
> Or have I just committed heresy? :-)
> PJDM
> --
> Peter Mayne
> Technology Consultant
> Spherion Technology Solutions
> Level 1, 243 Northbourne Avenue, Lyneham, ACT, 2602
> T: 61 2 62689727  F: 61 2 62689777
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• References:
  • RE: Create XML
    • From: "Robert DiFalco" <rdifalco@t...>

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