Re: [xml-dev] Are subelements significant by themselves?

[mrossi@csc.com]

Sure. A project we did a while back used an XML representation of some form
data (not XForms, this was a while ago) to integrate with a PDM system. The
form data conatined lots of useful information about a problem with a
product. But we wanted just the part number of the affected component to
link up with the PDM system. Since we had the data encoded as XML we used a
stylesheet to display the form in a browser. And during the translation we
extracted JUST the part number from the appropriate form element to create
a link to that part in the PDM system.

Another example that comes to mind was an app we did to display an
interactive stock list (more PDM/parts related stuff). XML markup is used
to add some intelligence to a Web application in which the user is
presented a list of assemblies/sub-assemblies that comprise a product. The
user can navigate into this product structure, select certain items of
interest and link to information about each of those items. When we go to
extract the relevant information, we only need the elements pertinent to
that part. We don't necessarily care that they're contained in any
particular hierarchy (other than possibly for validation).

Now I can see that if XPath expressions are the means of selecting nodes of
interest, you'd be dependent on the hierarchy. But if you know there's only
one element of a particular type in your document, or you just want all
elements of a particular type, you don't necessarily have to worry about
the ancestory.

Michael A. Rossi
Computer Sciences Corporation
mailto:mrossi@csc.com
856-983-4400 x4911


                                                                                                                   
                    Seairth                                                                                        
                    Jacobs               To:     xml-dev <xml-dev@lists.xml.org>                                   
                    <seairth@seai        cc:                                                                       
                    rth.com>             Subject:     Re: [xml-dev] Are subelements significant by themselves?     
                                                                                                                   
                    10/03/01                                                                                       
                    02:57 PM                                                                                       
                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                   


Can you name some apps, even if they are examples?  The basic criteria is
that the app is looking for a subelement without knowing anything else
about
the document.

---
Seairth Jacobs
seairth@seairth.com