From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me
X-Spam-Level: 
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham
	autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit
X-Google-Thread: 103376,a26758eec3c2e1ad
X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public
X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-06-18 08:20:08 PST
Path: 
 archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.icl.net!colt.net!newspeer.clara.net!news.clara.net!eusc.inter.net!cs.tu-berlin.de!uni-duisburg.de!not-for-mail
From: Georg Bauhaus <sb463ba@l1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Use of XML for config files
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 15:20:05 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: GMUGHDU
Message-ID: <aenj35$aed$2@a1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de>
References: <thehouseofcards-12975D.07500703062002@news.bellatlantic.net>
   <4519e058.0206041129.5b250124@posting.google.com> <wkbsakqfiw.fsf@acm.org>
 <4519e058.0206100702.5a4b431a@posting.google.com>
 <ae7b34$ms9$1@a1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de> <3D0769F7.68F5BD9C@san.rr.com>
 <4519e058.0206130553.3ee195f1@posting.google.com>
 <3D08CAF0.846AA176@san.rr.com> <aeam7q$dbg$1@a1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de>
 <3D08E539.343A42BF@san.rr.com> <aed7ll$p83$1@a1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de>
 <3D0A2686.785D1BAC@san.rr.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: l1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de
X-Trace: a1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de 1024413605 10701 134.91.4.34 (18 Jun 2002
 15:20:05 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.uni-duisburg.de
NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 15:20:05 +0000 (UTC)
User-Agent: tin/1.5.8-20010221 ("Blue Water") (UNIX) (HP-UX/B.11.00
 (9000/800))
Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:26248
Date: 2002-06-18T15:20:05+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

Darren New <dnew@san.rr.com> wrote:
just a little update:

[tools]
: brush.type=airbrush
: brush.shape=round
: brush.color=green
: 
:> <tools>
:>   <brush type="airbrush" shape="circle" color="green"/>
:>   ...
:> </tools>
: 
: OK. So we add a little more to the ini format. We still don't get into
: matched-tags hell etc.

To each his own hell :-) (broken lines with a fpt value (incl dot),
an '=' character in the value text etc...)
: 
: Maybe I'm not seeing any big difference between "XML parser" and "Config
: file API" here. If someone wants a config file that complex, why not just
: use one of the existing XML parsers? 

we could reconcile the two formats, I think, like so.

Suppose the configuration is visible through some protected
object 'conf', and suppose access to some specific value is coded using
a hashing scheme:

conf.get("[tools]brush.color"); -- or some such

This is very similar to an XPath expression

conf.get("/tools/brush/@color");

Does this open up an opportunity to build an abstraction?

-- Georg
: 

-- 
---
Microsoft Windows--a fresh perspective on information hiding