XML

[Trevor Croll]

For about 4 months I have been looking for ways of  XML ing the software I was planning to write. My conclusions may be of interest to others.


My conclusion as how I should write my application is:
for data definitions I start with a name space file ie namespace.xml
For screen style sheet I may need another namespace file to help the user choose appearance.

I then take XSchema, make some additions to it for input fields, field lengths, field types etc.....
and develop a data entry interface that obeys this "new enhanced Xschema"

This was the user can define their own fields and do a straight forward data entry / edit screen that would look similar to Access forms.

I then use XSL definitions to "merge" the data with the XSL to produce HTML which in the short term I can use Internet explorer for viewing and printing until I have produced my own viewer.

For reporting I need XQL which can run down a nindex file and pull in all items that obeys that index and examine them for the data in them. This builds an XML data string which then when an XSL style sheet defn is applied "merges" the data into a HTML document.

For internet email transmissions there is two options: sent the HTML file, or send the XML data and XSL style sheet definitions so the package at the other end can produce the HTML view.

The implications of this approach are:
Must constrain all functions to produce acceptable HTML
do not need XFA, XFDL, or any other not yet recommended standard.

Have to produce an XSchema of my own, but since it is only used in my package it does not matter if it does not conform to any standards.



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