> are there plans to include support for recursive structures > or pointers in upcoming WDDX specification revisions? my > suggestion for doing so would be the inclusion of a simple > new element in the DTD: something along the lines of 'pointer' > or 'structPointer'. > > here's the modification to the WDDX DTD: > <!ELEMENT var (boolean | number | dateTime | string | array > | struct | recordset | pointer)> > <!ELEMENT pointer EMPTY> > <!ATTLIST pointer > value CDATA #REQUIRED> > > and here's an example packet with some structural recursion: > <?xml version='1.0'?> > <!DOCTYPE wddxPacket SYSTEM 'wddx_0090.dtd'> > <wddxPacket version='0.9'> > <header/> > <data> > <struct> > <var name='foo'> > <struct> > <var name='bar'> > <pointer value='data.foo'> > </var> > </struct> > </var> > </struct> > </data> > </wddxPacket> > > data would of course be the root node. or maybe a > 'ThisPacket.data' substructure. would it need to be more > complicated than that? in addition to providing for recursion, > a pointer type would also cut down the size of packets that > use the same struct references in multiple nodes. and it would > provide greater support for interoperability with > object-oriented databases.
Maybe I'm missing something, but this doesn't seem to make sense to me. Recursion typically works from the "top" down - or more appropriately in this case, from the "outside" in, while in your example, you're working from the inside out - which at least in this case would never finish, since your parser would rebrowse the nested variable, which would point to the outer variable, which would take you to the nested variable ... For what it's worth, I've never encountered recursion in any XML language to my recollection. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ voice: (202) 797-5496 fax: (202) 797-5444 ______________________________________________________________________ Why Share? Dedicated Win 2000 Server � PIII 800 / 256 MB RAM / 40 GB HD / 20 GB MO/XFER Instant Activation � $99/Month � Free Setup http://www.pennyhost.com/redirect.cfm?adcode=coldfusionc FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
