RE: [xml-dev] Best way to create an XML document

["Michael Kay" <mike@saxonica.com>]

> I have following follow-up questions, and would appreciate 
> clearing my doubts:
> 
> 1) Is it possible to pretty print the output?

Try transformerHandler.getTransformer().setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.INDENT,
"yes")

> 2) Is this approach faster than using DOM serialization?

Well, it should be, because it doesn't involve building a tree in memory.
But the only way to find out is to measure it.

> 3) Here I am using the transformer functionality for creating 
> XML, which looks more like a XSLT feature (i.e., transformation task).
> Should we not have this capability in the XML parser (for 
> e.g., in Xerces)? Should we have something like xml-writer 
> (which Rob pointed) built into Xerces (possibly as an enhancement)?

It's hard to change history. XSLT processors include a serializer because
it's defined in the XSLT specification, and since they have one, it makes
sense to expose it even if you aren't doing a transformation. There's no
particular reason why a product whose primary purpose is XML parsing should
also include a serializer.
> 
> At the end of all this, it struck to me, I should try 
> violating the well-formedness constraint of XML and see what 
> happens. And to my surprise, this technique also suffers from 
> the same problem I mentioned with xml-writer. Why does the 
> implementation doesn't ensure this?

Because the spec doesn't say it has to. And because XSLT serializers were
primarily written to get their input from XSLT transformers, which they
trust; so why incur the extra expense?

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/