From: John Thompson > This is where I think languages like php get it right. > Their simple XML stuff makes it simple to parse even > the junk you may get from somewhere else.
I've commented here and blogged on this topic a number of times. I shake my head at the pain people continually subject themselves to when trying to force the square peg of XML into the round hole of Pick BASIC just because that's the comfort zone. There are any number of other tools out there specifically designed to work with XML. If you go to many other forums, developers aren't focused on the XML processing. They deftly convert to/from XML (and JSON) without a problem, and their questions are largely focused on what to do with the data. MV professionals need to shift focus from doing everything within the MVDBMS to making the best use of all tools available and integrating the MVDBMS with whatever utility does the job that's required. At the core of it, even when using external tools we convert XML to "something" and that "something" ultimately needs to be saved in an MV structure. (Similarly for outbound XML.) But if you're focused on namespaces and attributes then the tools you're using aren't providing adequate abstraction from the XML, and you might want to consider tools that convert XML to "something else" which is easier for you to use. > The reality is, that there are a lot of sites and > places out there that will send you all kinds of xml, > and I found that since I was not proficient at > "massaging" those "non-standard" feeds into what the > U2 xml tools wanted, I just found it easier to do it > another way. Whoe - stop right there. I tend to angle away from DBMS-oriented tools for processing XML, but in all fairness we can't expect any tool to behave properly if the data doesn't conform to standards. No, I haven't seen "a lot of sites" sending "all kinds of XML" that is "non-standard". If you have a trading partner that doesn't produce or consume industry-standard documents, you need to talk with their IT people, and escallate to management on both sides if you're not getting cooperation. Respectfully, I'm guessing you're just not familiar with some of the details of XML, and when the U2 tools don't seem to address one of those details I'm guessing you're considering the document to be non-standard rather than the U2 tools. Again, in all fairness to the U2 team, I'm guessing this is a documentation issue or some lack of understanding along the way rather than any entity being non-standard. If indeed the U2 tools aren't providing standard functionality, well, see paragraph 1 above. :) Good luck. Tony Gravagno Nebula Research and Development TG@ remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com Nebula R&D sells mv.NET and other Pick/MultiValue products worldwide, and provides related development services remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com/blog Visit http://PickWiki.com! Contribute! http://Twitter.com/TonyGravagno NEW! http://groups.google.com/group/mvdbms/about _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
