Re: [boost] [GSoC] Boost.XML

Subject: Re: [boost] [GSoC] Boost.XML
From: Stefan Seefeld (seefeld_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-03-22 17:53:05

On 03/22/2010 05:42 PM, Andrew Sutton wrote:
>
> I think that Apache's xerces would make a good second such target. MSXML
> would probably be a better option. Expat... Maybe.
>    

OK. The only problem I can see with MSXML is that it's a 
platform-specific library, which constrains the ability to use (and test).

> I think that the project depends on the interface that you want to expose.
> I'd like to see a uniform method for opening XML files (preparing them to be
> parsed?), opening buffers for parsing, saving files?, etc.

My DOM API has one function to generate a DOM-tree from an XML file, and 
one to generate an XML file from a DOM-tree. I'm not sure anything else 
is needed, as far as parsing is concerned. Of course, SAX and XMLReader 
are a different story...

>   I'm guessing that
> a SAX-based interface wouldn't be too hard. I can't imagine that SAX
> providers don't expose wildly different APIs.
>    

Right, though there are non-SAX (post-SAX ?) APIs that are considered 
better than SAX, notably XMLReader.

> How does this sound ? Is there any interest in this ? Such an endeavor may
>    
>> also help rebut some of the arguments against the current approach, and thus
>> help move us further towards an acceptable and official solution.
>>
>>      
> Well, I'm interested :) I think designing by the committee is the wrong way
> to go these libraries (XML, BigInt, etc.). I say wrap up the stuff that's
> out there and figure out where the problems come as we go. Nothing's ever
> perfect the first time you do it, and this isn't one of those times where it
> needs to be.
>    

True. OK, let me put it this way: The goal here should be to define an API.
I have an existing implementation that wraps libxml2. I welcome any 
proposal for alternate implementations / backends. Be warned, though, 
that I consider XML compliance a prerequisite, not an optional feature. :-)

Thanks,
         Stefan

-- 
       ...ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin...