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XML
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:23 pm
by Luke
What do y'all use it for? I have yet to find a use, but then again I haven't really looked into it much. I do a lot of eCommerce sites and standard info sites. Is it worth looking into?
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:29 pm
by John Cartwright
Google is your friend:
http://www.google.ca/search?hs=xja&hl=e ... arch&meta=
This is a really informative thread I found in that search that explains it very well:
http://forums.devx.com/showthread.php?t=4660
Re: XML
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:07 pm
by Roja
The Ninja Space Goat wrote:What do y'all use it for? I have yet to find a use, but then again I haven't really looked into it much. I do a lot of eCommerce sites and standard info sites. Is it worth looking into?
Its definitely worth looking into, and its becoming the new standard language for "Web 2.0" (definition varies).
I use it for my db schema's. Its a little larger than a standard schema file, but its much more descriptive, and far more portable. I can use the xml to draw db relationships, and much more. Its incredibly useful. Read more about
adodb's xmlschema.
Re: XML
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:00 pm
by sheila
The Ninja Space Goat wrote:What do y'all use it for?
I had to use it to pass data to a Flash app. Flash sends a request to a PHP script. PHP hits the database and returns XML that Flash then uses to change what it shows the user.
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:39 am
by Grim...
We've had this discussion before, too:
viewtopic.php?t=36657
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:58 am
by Grim...
I must confess, however, I still don't see how it could be useful for me.
I'm currently building a discussion board, and I thought about making the threads in XML.
Then I thought: Why?
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:05 am
by m3mn0n
Depends on entirely what sort of apps you make. And if one is planning to make a career out of PHP programming, then I'd definately recommend learning it and using it by making practice apps.
One popular example is if an RDBMS is not used in a project, you could use XML instead of a CSV text file.
I have a few old projects that run strictly on text files so when/if I ever revamp them to modern standards, XML is something I'd definately use.
Another is 3rd party data importing and exporting. If you create an application that imports and exports data through text files, XML is a solution I'd recommend over CSV text files again.
The ability to basically create your own markup language and completely customize the values makes reading the raw data so much easier if it ever required human editing.
eg.
<clients>
<client>
<iDNo>02942</iDNo>
<name>John</name>
....
</client>
...
</clients>
beats the heck out of
02924, John, ..., ...
02925, Joe, ..., ...
02926, Bob, ..., ...
And PHP gives you the ability to basically just import the file and then have all of the tags in an array. So simplicity and scalability and clarity I think are big bonuses in XML usage.
But for a more comprehensive listing of reasonings why, I'd recommend checking out the links posted above.
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:18 am
by onion2k
Sami wrote:One popular example is if an RDBMS is not used in a project, you could use XML instead of a CSV text file.
That's a very bad example. XML is certainly not the best choice for a flat file storage system .. nor is CSV. You should work out a format that best suits the data being stored. The processing overhead for XML is hefty at best, not to mention the storage overhead.
XML is for transfering data between computers where you don't have the ability to work out a more suitable structure. Data feeds are a typical example .. if you're feeding some data to lots of people you don't know then you need a format that defined in a way that everyone can easily use .. such as XML.
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:06 am
by m3mn0n
I respectfully disagree.
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:18 am
by Jenk
The only use I have made of XML thus far is to transfer data between different applications, in a common (standard) format.
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:05 am
by Grim...
So perhaps (from a discussion board point of view) I could output (say) the latest updated threads in XML so people could include them easily on their front page.
Right?
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:08 am
by Jenk
Yup: RSS feeds.
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:15 am
by Grim...
I do that already, but that's different, isn't it?
(I know their XML based)
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:15 am
by s.dot
I've yet to encounter XML, and I don't even understand what it is. Normally I'd be intrigued to click those links and read more, but my brain is on overload from learining how to SSH on my freebsd box. Plus I've done so much work lately that my brain is fried. Now is one of those times where I could use a break from everything, but I know I'll never get around to it.

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:26 am
by m3mn0n
Grim... wrote:I do that already, but that's different, isn't it?
(I know their XML based)
Well essentially, it's one and the same thing since RSS is a form of XML (much like XHTML is a form of XML) so adding an RSS field would count as having an XML element in the application
scrotaye wrote:I've yet to encounter XML, and I don't even understand what it is. Normally I'd be intrigued to click those links and read more, but my brain is on overload from learining how to SSH on my freebsd box. Plus I've done so much work lately that my brain is fried. Now is one of those times where I could use a break from everything, but I know I'll never get around to it.

The weekend is near, my friend!
We shall all rejoice when Friday afternoon is upon us!
