begin quoting Bob La Quey as of Fri, Jul 06, 2007 at 12:06:32PM -0700:
> Standard off the shelf validating parser please.
Well, there's java.util.Properties, aside from the block-of-text syntax.
But there are standard ways for that, too. See below.
> I do not want my programmers wasting their time
> writing parsers. Even simple ones are hard, if
> one expects them to be reliable and handle flaky
> inputs.
I've never found XML to handle flaky inputs at all. Mostly, it falls
down and dies, giving cryptic and/or non-useful errors.
I've also had XML that Will Not Parse on a machine that isn't connected
to a network. With validation turned off. Whatever good a "standard
validating parser" gives is insignificant to that one little problem.
> I also want off the shell tools like XSLT to
> produce html for reports.
What sort of report do you get from a printer configuration?
(And presumably, the report is only needed because XML is so
gosh-darned annoying to read...)
> BTW, what do you call that? It is not an s-expression
> is it?
I call it "structured keys".
[snip]
Third format (java.util.Properties style):
consumable.comment.en=Toner Black (4000 prints) - $80 \
Toner Yellow (4000 prints) - $110 \
Toner Magenta (4000 prints) - $110 \
Toner Cyan (4000 prints) - $110 \
Transfer Belt (35000 prints) - $47
Most scripting languages just execute configuration files, so they've
basically got their own validating parser built-in.
--
I am not such a big fan of trailing backslashes.
Stewart Stremler
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