Re: A good argument for XML

arthernan_at_hotmail.com wrote:
> The
> Event is root level, Participant is second level, Faculty would be
> third level. I personally don't care much for XML as a "Brand" but I'll
> use it to illustrate.
>
>
> <event>
> <location>Singapur</location>
> <start day>1-Jan-2006</startday>
> <participant>
> <FirstName>Peter</name>
> <LastName>Gonzales</name>
> <agenda>
> <item>
> <day>1</day>
> <subject>Why XML is bad</subject>
> </item>
> <item
> <day>2</day>
> <subject>Is Bill Gates related to Bush? </subject>
> </item>
> </agenda>
> </ce_forms>
> <form> ..... </form>
> <form> ..... </form>
> <ce form>
> <participant>
> ...
> </participant>
> </event>
>
> Ok this is just a portion of how the XML could look like. This looks a
> lot more like the final content. Versus a very big spreadsheet. That is
> my whole argument. I don't think anybody intends that reports should be
> big spreadsheets. But even from the report design perspective having
> the ability of using only one query to produce the data to fill out the
> entire report seems more manageable. It's like a table of contents.

Interesting. Reduced to essentials you have

Participants ---< Registrations >--- Sessions

Unfortunately, the report is not simple list of the participants with the sessions they are registered in. This report is fragmented and buried somehere in the bottom or middle layer of the document you are producing.

Let me get the other perspective, though. I'm a participant and I want to know what sessions I'm registered to participate tomorrow. Ok, look up in the Event brochure, browse through the table of content, find the right page, see my schedule. This traditional way of searching information in the booklet is slowly dying. Today, I just go to the web page, login, get to my schedule page, and print it. With mobile device I don't even have to print anything.

In short, you are fighting the mess of things organized the wrong way. There is no future in it. This conclusion is not really helful to solve your real problem, but that's the theory group, right;-?

P.S. Spoken by somebody who is still doing the things traditional way -- writing a book. Received on Fri Jul 15 2005 - 21:38:35 CEST