Re: [xml-dev] An XML language for describing file attributes of adirecto

[Michael Sokolov <sokolov@ifactory.com>]

Googling "XML directory listing" turns up a few software packages, but 
none of them looks particularly thorough.  This stands out: 
http://code.google.com/p/xml-dir-listing/, but it doesn't handle all the 
issues you and Liam raise.

-Mike

Jim DeLaHunt wrote:
> Hi, XML-dev folks:
>
> I'm looking for pointers to an XML-based language for describing file 
> attributes of a directory tree. Peter Murray-Rust suggested I ask this 
> list.
>
> I have an application in mind which will record directory listings of 
> a file system in text form. That is, it should say something like:
>
>     File name is: abc.txt
>     Last modification date is: 2009-12-31T01:23
>     Read-only attribute is: True
>     Hidden attribute is: False
>
> The listings will persist for years in a long-term archive, so the 
> language should be self-evident to an information archaeologist of the 
> future. The language should be able to describe the most commonly-used 
> file attributes of common PC platform file systems: NTFS, FAT, HFS+, 
> ext2/3, etc. It should be able to handle non-Latin file names, 
> different semantics for time stamps on different file systems, etc.
>
> Of course, the obvious choice of a language for structuring this data 
> is some XML-based language. Can anyone point me to a language which 
> already exists for describing hierarchical structures of file 
> attributes and directory attributes, as in a file system? I'm hoping 
> to benefit from the work those language designers did to get the 
> semantics right, create the schema or DTD, work out the niggling 
> details of whether something should be an XML element or attribute, etc.
>
> I've looked in the obvious places: http://xml.coverpages.com, web 
> search engines, the archives of XML-L and comp.text.xml, and here. I 
> didn't find any traces of such languages. The search was complicated a 
> bit because the search term "file attributes" gets lots of hits on the 
> term "attributes" as used in XML.
>
> Please suggest languages I should investigate. It helps to have the 
> name of the language, and a pointer to a URL where the language and 
> its related tools, syntax definitions, etc. are described.  Please 
> reply directly to me, or to a question I have open on Stack Overflow:
>
> <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1781936/an-xml-language-for-describing-file-attributes-of-a-directory-tree> 
>
>
> I can summarise for the list.
>
> (Peter Murray-Rust's comment at Stack Overflow: "If there isn't a 
> specification for this then there should be and I would expect the 
> OASIS folk to be involved. [You can say I suggested it.]")
>
> Thanks in advance!