q: writing xml is not as easy as it looks

[Ketil Z Malde]

Mark Cheek <mcheek at netvendor.com> writes:

> i have to write an xml document that must be validated
> against a given dtd.  i do not even know where to begin.. i could, of
> course, use the FileWriter to write to an ascii file, but there must be
> a better way!

I must admit I use XEmacs and the psgml-mode.  It reads the DTD, and
prompts you with the valid elements/attributes.  Try loading a
HTML-document with it to get an impression of how it works.

> is it possible for me to construct an xml document in
> memory (using the DOM packages? the SAX packages?)

SAX is (AFAIK) mostly useful for reading XML.

> and then write the xml document to a file using IBM or Sun's parser?

Sure, but it doesn't sound any simpler to me than using a text editor, 
if all you want is *one* conformant document.

> is there anything that will help me to write a valid xml document
> when my xml data is in multiple locations and my dtd is not static?

What's the DTD?  How much transformation and data reshuffling will you
be doing?  I'd normally grab Python and SAX for this kind of thing,
and just push out the xml sequentially.

-kzm
-- 
If I haven't seen further, it is by standing in the footprints of giants

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