RE: [PHP] PHP and XML?

On Thu, 31 Aug 2000, Shashank Tripathi wrote: > Why not? First, lets say the delimiter is "{|}" and not a comma, or any > other character that I am SURE doesnt occur in my data. Then I define two > flat files. One looks like this: The reason for XML is to give metainformation about what the fields *mean*. Where you control the entire data stream, XML is not as much of an issue. Let's take, for example, information about a current ebay listing. All the listing info, for example, has to be parsed out of a page (e.g. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=423987497). If that style changes, your software may suddenly break (you see this about 2x a year from auction management software companies fwiw). Now, imagine that one could also get XML data in there, or perhaps XML in lieu of the html. Suddenly, we have context. We know for sure what the auction title is and don't have to look for: <FONT face='Arial' color=#970F31 size=5>Yarn-BERROCO "LINOR"</FONT><BR> -- _Deirdre * http://www.sfknit.org * http://www.deirdre.net "More damage has been caused by innocent program crashes than by malicious viruses, but they don't make great stories." -- Jean-Louis Gassee, Be Newsletter, Issue 69