[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: A standard approach to glueing together reusableXML fragme
On Thu, 2003-08-21 at 07:05, Chiusano Joseph wrote: > <Quote> > just isn't going to be a relational form as there's no way to determine > a priori what the normalised records are. there's clearly 2 tables, and > </Quote> > > You're assuming that the XML-formatted data will originate from (or > ultimately be stored in) a relational database, and this is not always > going to be the case. In fact, you may not know (and should not care) > what the receipient's system implementation flavor is. That's part of > the beauty of XML. > agreed, particularly if it's documentary. however if you do want to get it into a relational database at the end of some sequence, ie you're the recipient, it does matter a lot. i'm looking at the id= attributes to see if they really help. hopefully they do. cheers rick > Kind Regards, > Joe Chiusano > Booz | Allen | Hamilton > > Rick Marshall wrote: > > > > <oxymoron>relationally structured data</oxymoron> > > > > of course you can represent records, but as soon as you make a tree out > > of them they're not relational in a database sense > > > > eg > > > > <customer> > > <name>COMPANY X</name> > > <town>SOMEWHERE</town> > > <order> > > <part>ABC123</part> > > <quantity>2</quantity> > > </order> > > <order> > > <part>ABC234</part> > > <quantity>4</quantity> > > </order> > > </customer> > > > > just isn't going to be a relational form as there's no way to determine > > a priori what the normalised records are. there's clearly 2 tables, and > > you know that "customer" has attributes name and town, and "order" has > > attributes part and quantity, but it also needs either name or town to > > complete the relation and it's not obvious which. either or both? > > > > so without some semantics you can't represent relational tables with the > > natural tree structure of xml. > > > > on the other hand > > > > <customer> > > <name>COMPANY X</name> > > <town>SOMEWHERE</town> > > </customer> > > > > <order> > > <name>COMPANY X</name> > > <part>ABC123</part> > > <quantity>2</quantity> > > </order> > > <order> > > <name>COMPANY X</name> > > <part>ABC234</part> > > <quantity>4</quantity> > > </order> > > > > is ok, but then from what i've seen on the list most wouldn't think of > > this single depth as the natural thing to do. > > > > my personal preference (and used day to day) is: > > > > <table name="customer"> > > <record> > > <attribute name="name">COMPANY X</attribute> > > <attribute name="town">SOMEWHERE</attribute> > > </record> > > </table> > > <table name="order"> > > <record> > > <attribute name="name">COMPANY X</attribute> > > <attribute name="part">ABC123</attribute> > > <attribute name="quantity">2</attribute> > > </record> > > <record> > > <attribute name="name">COMPANY X</attribute> > > <attribute name="part">ABC234</attribute> > > <attribute name="quantity">4</attribute> > > </record> > > </table> > > > > and a few minor attribute additions. but again i suspect this is not > > what most use, but then i'm happy to proved wrong. > > > > rick > > > > On Wed, 2003-08-20 at 22:52, Chiusano Joseph wrote: > > > <Quote> > > > Unless someone can show me how XML or an XML only tool set such as > > > TeraText supports and fulfills RM, > > > </Quote> > > > > > > Are you asserting that one cannot represent relationally structured data > > > using XML? If so, can you please elaborate? > > > > > > Kind Regards, > > > Joe Chiusano > > > Booz | Allen | Hamilton > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org <http://www.xml.org>, an > > initiative of OASIS <http://www.oasis-open.org> > > > > The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ > > > > To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription > > manager: <http://lists.xml.org/ob/adm.pl> > > ______________________________________________________________________ > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org <http://www.xml.org>, an > initiative of OASIS <http://www.oasis-open.org> > > The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ > > To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription > manager: <http://lists.xml.org/ob/adm.pl>
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