[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: Is there anyone working on a binary version of XML?
XML in its current form cannot handle "binary" data at all. At best, you would have to convert non-text data to text. This is usually done via base64. You could create your own version of XML that could easily handle non-text data. All you need do is add one attribute to any XML element that provides the length (in bytes) of the non-text data. For example: <GIF bin:length="4096">GIF89a[4090 non-text bytes]</GIF> The "bin:length" attribute could tell your parser to stop parsing and store the 4096 bytes following the closing > of the element. After the 4096 bytes have been stored, start parsing again. The down side of this approach is: 1) bin:length would have to be agreed on by all binary parsers out there 2) binary XML files cannot be parsed by non-binary aware parsers (in other words, every parser in the world today) HTH, Sam -----Original Message----- From: Stephen D. Williams <sdw@l...> To: xml-dev@i... <xml-dev@i...> Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999 2:04 PM Subject: Is there anyone working on a binary version of XML? >I know, I know, this is anathema to what many of you feel is the essence of >XML, and I agree to a point. >I have come to feel however that there is room for a "works-as-if" binary >analogue to text based XML. Something that is totally subservient to the >standard and has exactly equivalent features, but that is highly efficient >for processing at all levels and easily converted to and from text based >XML. > >In using XML in real-world application work and designing future >infrastructure that is highly scalable and efficient while making use of >XML, I have come to the conclusion that I need a standard way to deal with >an XML analogue that is binary. There are a multitude of performance >problems that this solves, not only in parsing and exporting, but processing >of related data inside applications. > >Before I make all the details and ideas public, I would like to know if >there is any serious precedent directly dealing with XML. > >My design has highly efficient Java processing in mind, but is not specific >to any particular language. >Compression is a secondary, but associated issue. > >Thanks >sdw >-- >OptimaLogic - Finding Optimal Solutions >Web/Crypto/OO/Unix/Comm/Video/DBMS >sdw@l... Stephen D. Williams Senior Consultant/Architect >http://sdw.st >43392 Wayside Cir,Ashburn,VA 20147-4622 703-724-0118W 703-995-0407Fax >5Jan1999 > > > >xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... >Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 >To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; >(un)subscribe xml-dev >To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; >subscribe xml-dev-digest >List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...) xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; (un)subscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
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