> Ok, I've made the decision to use XML as the format to pass > data between objects in my application. This approach seems > to have lots of advantages as opposed to using lists of > parameters or structures. My question now is how and why > use XSD's and XSL.
What exactly are these advantages? I can't see any advantages for using XML to transport data within an application. If you want to transport data from one application to another, then XML provides advantages, but otherwise you're making more work for yourself. > 2. XSD's don't seem to provide much benefit in a stand-alone > application besides helping create test data via tools like > xmlSpy. I agree; if you're not passing data around between applications, you probably don't need DTDs or schemas. Of course, I don't think XML is especially useful at all in those cases either, as I mentioned above. > I don't even see how in ColdFusion you can validate an XML > using an associated XSD. CFMX 7 provides the XmlValidate function for this. > And it doesn't look like XSL documents are based off of an > XSD, so you still have to validate if field lengths, etc > using code. Am I missing something here? I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish, exactly. XSL documents follow the XSL schema - that defines all the different elements and attributes you can use within an XSL stylesheet. By itself, this won't help you with data validation, but then again that's not what XSL is for - it's for formatting and transforming XML documents. > 3. Lastly, since the XSL doesn't use data off of the XSD, > it appears to be just a different, not necessarily better, > mechanism for displaying data. I am not sure of the value > for me to learn this at this point in time and I see no > value in converting screens from CF/HTML to XSL/HTML. > Again, am I missing something here? What type of situations > cry out for XSL vs. CF/HTML? If you already have a bunch of XML documents, it may be easier (and will almost certainly be more efficient) to write XSL stylesheets and transformations than to write CFML programs to read one XML language, then write something else. But if your data isn't already in XML, it's usually kind of silly to generate XML then use XSL to transform it to something else when you could just write what you want in the first place with CF. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location. Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Logware (www.logware.us): a new and convenient web-based time tracking application. Start tracking and documenting hours spent on a project or with a client with Logware today. Try it for free with a 15 day trial account. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=67 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:217601 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
