[Koha-devel] xml
MJ Ray
mjr at dsl.pipex.com
Sun Oct 5 06:26:03 CEST 2003
On 2003-10-03 15:56:15 +0100 Benedykt <kb2qzv at poczta.wp.pl> wrote:
> I just wanted to ask whether any discussion was held on using xml for
> developing koha? www.w3.org says it is good to separate the data from
> the way
> it looks (data from html). Do you think that future direction of koha
> development could benefit from it (like language translations)?
To me, there are three sides to this.
First, using some xml protocols in koha: a good idea in general, but
comes with some nasty research, design and robustness problems if we
want to accept XML data. I think XML output is sure to start
appearing in 2.2 (RSS is already out there somewhere) and not spread
to any core use until 2.4 or later, if at all. We may be forced this
way if users need the "Z39.50 in xml" stuff or the OAI protocol.
Second, using xhtml output and CSS layout: makes display much cleaner
and easier, IMO, and more accessible if done carefully. A really good
idea and, personally, I hope that most of the code work can appear in
2.2, but it depends on many other people too.
Finally, using xml display technologies: xml, xslt, etc. A nightmare
IMO. Don't even go there with koha. I've been there before and am
not keen to go back. Full XSLT is apparently turing-complete and it
seems really dangerous not being able to tell a template from an
infinite loop. If people really want to do this, let them use XML
output from koha and reformat it.
--
MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know.
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