Hi Yuri,
> I also have a love and hate relationship with XML
> configuration files. The
> key, IMO, is to understand what configurations are really going to be
> performed by the operations people and externalize only that into XML
> (or in some cases a properties file).
I'm on the exact same line:
1) Applications -> developed by Java coders -> no need for XML, even for
descriptors (name, required connectors, etc.)
2) Containers -> applications deployed to them by:
- Java coders, for example in embedded cases -> no need for XML here (pure
Java, maybe fluent builders)
- Administrators -> need for XML here (similar to Apache HTTP server
configuration)
> I have seen many examples of people (I have done it in the
> past too) moving
> to XML configuration files for things that are really part of
> the app design
> and would only be changed by the programmer in a new release
> cycle. In some
> extreme cases it gets to a point where people are almost
> pseudo coding in XML
> loosing all the static typing that comes naturally with Java
> and introducing
> additional layers of complexity.
Agreed, we don't want to code in XML :-)
> However, more to the point, I will second Sean in reserving
> my judgement
> until I see the proposed XML based configuration.
Here is a sample Container XML configuration that I'm planning to support in
beta 20:
<container>
<!-- Server connectors -->
<server address="123.456.789" protocol="HTTP"/>
<server protocol="SMTP"/>
<!-- Virtual hosts -->
<virtualHost addresses="*" ports="80, 8888" protocols="HTTP, HTTPS"/>
<application="demo" uriPattern="/appA"/>
<application="manager" uriPattern="/appB"/>
</virtualHost>
<!-- Client connectors -->
<client protocols="HTTP,HTTPS"/>
<client protocol="SMTP"/>
<client protocol="JDBC"/>
</container>
Now, here is the planned hierarchy for an installed NRE's container:
$containerRootDir$
+ config.xml (see format above)
+ bin/
+ lib/
+ temp/
+ webapps/
+ demo.war
+ manager/
+ META-INF/
+ MANIFEST.MF (with "org.restlet.application" property)
+ WEB-INF/
+ lib/
+ classes/
+ templates/
+ images/
+ index.html
Best regards,
Jerome
