Re: XML: The good, the bad, and the ugly

In message <tvfbm0tob5ql5sk0sv9eagkishsigolbpi_at_4ax.com>, Gene Wirchenko <genew_at_mail.ocis.net> writes
>Bernard Peek <bap_at_shrdlu.com> wrote:
>
>>In message <cjsldr$vui$1_at_news.netins.net>, Dawn M. Wolthuis
>><dwolt_at_tincat-group.comREMOVE> writes
>
>>>XML isn't brain surgery, but it is likely to make a significant impact that
>>>really does advance the state of B2B software
>>
>>I've used XML in a situation where it did provide real benefits. When
>>the received data failed to validate it got bounced by the machine and
>>never even reached a human. At a stroke that ended most of the arguments
>>about whose job it was to fix malformed data files.
>
> The same approach can be used with any received data file. If it
>fails the import validation, bounce it.

Yes that's true, however first you have to agree the validation technique to be used then agree the rules. With XML the first part of that is inherent. I'm not claiming that XML is a perfect solution, merely that it solved one particular real-world problem for me. There were other ways to solve that particular problem, there usually are. But in real world situations some solutions, although technically valid, are inaccessible or are only accessible at an unacceptable price. To solve that particular problem I could have invented a new extensible markup language with validation rules, and in fact I had already done so a few years earlier. The existence of XML just made the whole process easier to sell to the board.

-- 
Bernard Peek
London, UK. DBA, Manager, Trainer & Author. Will work for money.