Thomas Beale wrote: > Sam Heard wrote: >> Hi Peter >> >> I have discussed this at some depth with quite a few people and we do >> need something that works easily in Java, C#, Eiffel, Python, Ruby. >> The benefit is that a script that is relatively short and a css will >> provide a lot of power and local adaptability and be an asset we can >> share in all these environments. Accessing a component written in >> another language is always difficult (Eiffel from Java, C# from >> Eiffel etc) so it makes sense to go down this road. So far we have >> gone down the coding route and find we have lots of people doing the >> same thing and keeping it all synchronised and upto date is difficult. >> > well, to be fair, C-based languages talk to each other;
> Java doesn't talk to any other compiled language easily, ??? Ummm...that's a surprise seeing how things like our schema checker calls out to a variety of engines including the MS one. Gee I must be like a bumblebee. & then there's SWT etc.etc.etc. Usually the problem with apps like that is that the designers never intended for them to be called on by outside processes & that's the case whether you're writing the outside app in C, Java or Bash. > but nearly everything can call a script, because it is an operating > system call. My take on this from experience would be:* > * > > * everything, no matter how trivial you think it will be to start > with, will get much more complex due to people wanting it to do more > > * complexity = pain, in a language with weak semantics > * complexity = maintenance > > I have in the past written various PERL scripts that quickly became > larger than I originally expected. PERL is powerful, but almost > unreadable (without total discipline and an amazing memory, and > possibly a background in deciphering egyptian hieroglyphics)....in the > end it has always become a maintenance problem, and every time I have > chosen what seems to be an easy option, I have regretted it. > > Others will be more involved in this than me, so I won't comment > further, other than to say: think very carefully about maintainability! > XSLT requires design not different from anything else. Use the unix app mentality i.e. that a given script does one job well & then have a number of scripts & alles will be in ordnung. e.g. wrt the publishing mech you have: D:\Data\Java\workspaces\3.3\PublishArchetypes\PublishOpenEHR\xslt>ls BranchReport.xslt ProduceReport1.xslt processADLFileList.xslt CombineBranchFileLists.xslt Release.xslt processFileList.xslt CommonReportTemplates.xslt ValidateAndFileList.xslt setTextAsVal.xslt ProcessArchetypes.xslt Xhtml-reports test ProcessTemplates.xslt identity.xslt ProduceReport.xslt Where each script has a specific job. e.g. in the above Xhtml-reports folder you then have: D:\Data\Java\workspaces\3.3\PublishArchetypes\PublishOpenEHR\xslt\Xhtml-reports> ls ArtefactList.xslt Dependencies.xslt Errors.xslt TypesFolders.xslt ChangeHistory.xslt Doc.css Orphans.xslt UsedBy.xslt CommonTemplates.xslt DraftInRelease.xslt Template.xslt filterErrors.xslt etc. Equally my XSLT which turn HL7V3 mif into SVG are organized : D:\Data\Java\workspaces\3.3\xmlprocess\Applications\MifTVJSF\xslt\svg>ls ClassElements.xsl MIF2SVGGenerator.xsl TextElements.xsl CommonTemplates.xsl MIF2SVGProcessor.xsl lineintersect.xslt CreateSortedMifAttributes.xsl MIFV1Processor.xsl sortedMifClassAtts.xml MIF2SVG.css MiscElements.xsl As I have built it in the expectation of Mif version 2 & indeed v2.1 v2.2 etc. I have a horror of being handed vast XSLT scripts which have been created in the same way as the earth i.e. through steady accretion. Adam ********************************************************************** This message may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our apologies. Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or take any action in reliance on its contents: to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Please inform us that this message has gone astray before deleting it. Thank you for your co-operation. NHSmail is used daily by over 100,000 staff in the NHS. Over a million messages are sent every day by the system. To find out why more and more NHS personnel are switching to this NHS Connecting for Health system please visit www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail **********************************************************************
