Begin forwarded message:
From: Alex Roedling <[email protected]>
Date: June 16, 2009 9:34:32 AM PDT
To: [email protected]
Subject: New York Times: MySQL Customer Introduces NYT_Transformer
NYT_Transformer is an open-source project based on a framework
developed at The New York Times. Originally used to load XML into a
MySQL database, it’s now a generic transformer that can be
customized to suit various input and output types.
The framework will handle the heavy lifting for you. Interested in
processing a MySQL data set and saving the results to Oracle?
http://open.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/introducing-nyt_transformer/
If you’re a regular reader of the Open blog, you’re familiar with
the Times Developer Network, the TimesOpen event and other Times
open-source initiatives. We rely on open-source software to
accomplish many critical tasks behind the scenes of NYTimes.com, so
we take every opportunity to give back to the open-source community.
Today we’re releasing a PHP framework called NYT_Transformer: a
flexible data processor that can be customized for various input and
output types.
NYT_Transformer was built from the ground up to use an object-
oriented approach to data transformation. It offers generic input
and output objects that can be extended to handle a multitude of
different data types, plus filters that allow data manipulation on
each record. Want to convert an XML file into a database table? The
framework will handle the heavy lifting for you. Interested in
processing a MySQL data set and saving the results to Oracle? No
need to write DB handlers or record separators; let NYT_Transformer
do the work for you. Take a look at the example in the documentation
to get an idea of how easy it is to take advantage of the
framework’s flexibility.
The NYT_Transformer framework comprises about 10,000 lines of PHP
code and is easy to install and use. But it’s not just a static
framework. If you need an input or output type that doesn’t exist,
the base objects are easily extended. We’ve included 12 subclassed
inputs and 9 subclassed outputs, but we are hoping to get the
community involved in adding more. Perhaps you need a PostgreSQL
input or an e-mail output type. Build your own, and if you think
others might find it useful too, send it over and we’ll add it to
the code.
We’ve been using NYT_Transformer at The Times for about two years.
Currently, we’re using it for more than 20 internal projects,
including tasks behind the Movies, Travel and Health sections. And
we’re looking forward to seeing how you use it. To share your work,
ask questions, suggest improvements or offer other feedback about
NYT_Transformer, visit the Times Developer Network forum. As with
DBSlayer and XSL Cache, we hope this project will help you build
applications and will encourage you to get involved in the work that
we do here at NYTimes.com.
I would like to thank the many people who made this possible,
especially Marci Windsheimer for the excellent documentation and
Adam Gschwender for his help in the final stages in making the
framework more robust and extendable.
Ready to start using NYT_Transformer? Read the documentation here
and download the source code here.
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