When you are doing regular expressions you can
basically just cut and paste them from an example and
escape out the few XML sensitive characters, but you
have to escape out the escape characters in a java
properties file which I think makes something that is
already hard to read even more unreadable. This is
just a simple regular expression.
XML Version (phone number with double quotes around
it)
"^\(?(\d{3})\)?[-| ]?(\d{3})[-| ]?(\d{4})$"
Properties file version
\"^\\(?(\\d{3})\\)?[-| ]?(\\d{3})[-| ]?(\\d{4})$\"
In a regular expression a '(' means something and
regular expressions also use '\' to escape out
characters except they don't match java's escape
characters. So '\\(' is escaping out a '\' which is
then escaping a '('.
I did a project keeping all of my regular expressions
in a properties file and I find keeping them in xml
much more convenient. Of course if you were using a
Java IDE then you wouldn't have to worry about
escaping out the java escape characters yourself, but
not everyone uses a full blown IDE.
When I mentioned less technical people I meant
art/design people that use something like Dreamweaver.
Dreamweaver already has basic support for JSP and one
day it will probably support or have a plugin for
editing XML files. I don't think less technical
people are going to find a java IDE easier to use than
an HTML editor if you use properties files. There are
lots of generic XML editing packages so you don't have
to hand roll your own xml editor. And there's always
vi or notepad.
David
http://home.earthlink.net/~dwinterfeldt
--- Nick Afshartous <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> Cook, Levi writes:
> > IMHO, expressing rules using first class Java
> objects *can* be just as
> > flexible as defining rules in an XML file.
> >
> > The analog to changing a value in an XML file is
> using a property editor to
> > change values stored in a JavaBean (thus avoiding
> recompiling). The upside
> > of this approach is simpler integration with
> visual editors (simply
> > implement a property editor for your form-bean).
>
> > Ultimately, I feel this is
> > where your less technical people can begin to
> contribute more effectivly.
> > The other route requires hand-rolling a visual
> editor for your XML scheme
> > and/or having your users learn quite a bit about
> the intricacies of your
> > schema.
>
> Thanks Levi for pointing out that a property editor
> could be used.
> Could one also add new rules and attributes
> dynamically with a
> property editor ?
>
> Maybe the trickiest part for the users would be to
> learn the
> syntax for rule expressions. In particular how to
> refer
> to object attributes within a rule.
> --
>
> Nick
>
>
>
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