Re: XML* vs. eXpat

Adam Glauser wrote:

I haven't actually used the XML* BIFs, as I haven't had any new XML to handle since we got to V5R4. It certainly looks like XML-INTO should be pretty slick for smaller, simpler documents.

Adam, I just got done writing an article about the various XML schemes in i, and XML-SAX is *exactly* that - it's an implementation of the SAX parser. It's the same thing the COBOL's XML PARSE statement does. I don't understand why the other SAX parsers such as expat are any better, although I did give Scott's port a nod in the article since it was way ahead of IBM's, and it was free. Typical Klement stuff - taking something complex and making it usable even for us API challenged folk <grin>.

What I really like about the RPG approach, though, is that it supports both SAX and DOM processing. The XML-INTO is pure DOM processing; you tell it where in the document to get some data, and it pulls it out, thank you very much. Whereas XML-SAX is a complete SAX processing approach: you define your handler and the parser invokes it for every event.

I've written my own parser (I wouldn't do it again <grin>) and I'm comfortable that XML-SAX does everything you need.

Joe