Re: "everything is a file" and beyond

> I've found the XML libs I've used to be cumbersome, too. I think they can
be
> less so if we look at them more as extensions to a filesystem (file and
> directory) paradigm. I need to scheme further on this, though.

The only substantial difference I can think of between XML and filesystem
plus "stat" attributes is that order of child elements is significant. Thus,
the interface could be handled just like a filesystem except with the
addition of an order operator (e.g., [n] as in XPath).

Here are examples:

The XML file (foo.xml):
        <foo a="1" b="2">
            Bar <b>hud <i>fiss</i></b> retch<end/>
            <tag a="1"/>
        </foo>

File-like treatment of XML using XPath-derived path syntax:

    Environment-like treatment (i.e., no open/close):
        s = xmlGet("foo.xml/foo@a"); // returns "1"
        xmlPut("foo.xml/foo/tag[2]", ""); // inserts <tag/> after the
first tag element
        xmlPut("foo.xml/foo/tag[2]@a", "2"); // changes above to <tag
$a="2"/>
        xmlPut("foo.xml/foo/tag[2]", "text"); // changes above to <tag
$a="2">text</tag>
        xmlBase("foo.xml/foo");
        xmlPut("tag[2]", "new"); // inserts <tag>new</tag>
after the first tag element
        xmlDrop("tag[3]");

    File-like treatment (i.e., with open/close):
        f = xmlOpen("foo.xml");
        s = xmlRead(f, "foo@a");
        xmlSeek(f, "foo");
        xmlWrite(f, "tag[1]@a", "one");
        xmlErase(f, "tag[2]");
        xmlClose(f);

    Shell example (using the hypothetical XML/XPath filesystem):
        cd foo.xml
        cat foo@a
        mkdir foo/tag[2]
        cd foo
        echo "2" > tag[2]@a
        rm tag[2]

    Hypothetical XML-Script example (language that uses xml data structures
natively):
        load foo.xml
        echo foo@a
        foo/tag[2] = ""
        base foo
        tag[2]@a = 2
        drop tag[2]
Received on Wed, 25 Feb 2004 18:45:11 -0700