The Baby X resource compiler takes data - fonts, images, audio, strings
- and converts them into C source so that they can be read by C programs without relying on external data files.
An obvious extension is to take in structured data. Adding SQL and
querying a database would unfortuately mean extending the program so
that it could only run on a large machine with a SQL server running, and isn't really a viable proposition. However JSON, XML, and CSV are
commonly used to pass small to medium amounts of data about.
I've made a start on supporting CSV with the "<dataframe>" tag. CSV data
is tabular and two dimensional, and lends itself to an arrray of simple structures. JSON And XML can of course represent more complex data, with hierarchy. The dataframe tag is still very experimental. I've never used
it for anything practical.
So what would be the best approach to putting in JSON and XML support?
On 19/05/2024 11:16, Malcolm McLean wrote:
The Baby X resource compiler takes data - fonts, images, audio,
strings
- and converts them into C source so that they can be read by C
programs without relying on external data files.
An obvious extension is to take in structured data. Adding SQL and
querying a database would unfortuately mean extending the program
so that it could only run on a large machine with a SQL server
running, and isn't really a viable proposition. However JSON, XML,
and CSV are commonly used to pass small to medium amounts of data
about.
I've made a start on supporting CSV with the "<dataframe>" tag. CSV
data is tabular and two dimensional, and lends itself to an arrray
of simple structures. JSON And XML can of course represent more
complex data, with hierarchy. The dataframe tag is still very
experimental. I've never used it for anything practical.
So what would be the best approach to putting in JSON and XML
support?
I've only briefly used XML.
The problem with XML is that the data it represents is not just
hierarchical, but it can be chaotic. You can have one lot of data,
followed by another for something else with a different structure,
followed by other. It is just a container for disparate sets of data.
Even if the file does represent a simple list of records for example,
you won't know that without reading it and analysing it.
I looked online at an XML to CSV converter, which I thought would do something clever, but it seems to just turn each XML line into one
string per line.
Maybe it doesn't matter; the user of your program knows what's in
their XML file, and will know what to do with the different bits.
It's their problem.
But you still have to figure out how to represent an arbitary data
structure as C data. Plus you have to deal with tag names, and
attributes.
Personally, I would suggest using converters (ones clever than the
CSV one I tried) to turn XML files into better-organised formats
first.
On 19/05/2024 11:16, Malcolm McLean wrote:
The Baby X resource compiler takes data - fonts, images, audio, strings
- and converts them into C source so that they can be read by C
programs without relying on external data files.
An obvious extension is to take in structured data. Adding SQL and
querying a database would unfortuately mean extending the program so
that it could only run on a large machine with a SQL server running,
and isn't really a viable proposition. However JSON, XML, and CSV are
commonly used to pass small to medium amounts of data about.
I've made a start on supporting CSV with the "<dataframe>" tag. CSV
data is tabular and two dimensional, and lends itself to an arrray of
simple structures. JSON And XML can of course represent more complex
data, with hierarchy. The dataframe tag is still very experimental.
I've never used it for anything practical.
So what would be the best approach to putting in JSON and XML support?
I've only briefly used XML.
The problem with XML is that the data it represents is not just
hierarchical, but it can be chaotic. You can have one lot of data,
followed by another for something else with a different structure,
followed by other. It is just a container for disparate sets of data.
On 19/05/2024 11:16, Malcolm McLean wrote:
The Baby X resource compiler takes data - fonts, images, audio, strings
- and converts them into C source so that they can be read by C programs
without relying on external data files.
An obvious extension is to take in structured data. Adding SQL and
querying a database would unfortuately mean extending the program so
that it could only run on a large machine with a SQL server running, and
isn't really a viable proposition. However JSON, XML, and CSV are
commonly used to pass small to medium amounts of data about.
I've made a start on supporting CSV with the "<dataframe>" tag. CSV data
is tabular and two dimensional, and lends itself to an arrray of simple
structures. JSON And XML can of course represent more complex data, with
hierarchy. The dataframe tag is still very experimental. I've never used
it for anything practical.
So what would be the best approach to putting in JSON and XML support?
I've only briefly used XML.
The problem with XML is that the data it represents is not just
hierarchical, but it can be chaotic. You can have one lot of data,
followed by another for something else with a different structure,
followed by other. It is just a container for disparate sets of data.
Even if the file does represent a simple list of records for example,
you won't know that without reading it and analysing it.
I looked online at an XML to CSV converter, which I thought would do >something clever, but it seems to just turn each XML line into one
string per line.
bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
On 19/05/2024 11:16, Malcolm McLean wrote:
The Baby X resource compiler takes data - fonts, images, audio, strings
- and converts them into C source so that they can be read by C programs >>> without relying on external data files.
An obvious extension is to take in structured data. Adding SQL and
querying a database would unfortuately mean extending the program so
that it could only run on a large machine with a SQL server running, and >>> isn't really a viable proposition. However JSON, XML, and CSV are
commonly used to pass small to medium amounts of data about.
I've made a start on supporting CSV with the "<dataframe>" tag. CSV data >>> is tabular and two dimensional, and lends itself to an arrray of simple
structures. JSON And XML can of course represent more complex data, with >>> hierarchy. The dataframe tag is still very experimental. I've never used >>> it for anything practical.
So what would be the best approach to putting in JSON and XML support?
I've only briefly used XML.
That's clear from what you write below.
Even if the file does represent a simple list of records for example,
you won't know that without reading it and analysing it.
Study XML Schema.
Then study XSL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XSLT
XML is a markup language. A subset of SGML. HTML is a non-proper
and non-regular subset of XML.
It's far more flexible and useful than a set of comma-separated-values.
I looked online at an XML to CSV converter, which I thought would do
something clever, but it seems to just turn each XML line into one
string per line.
You use stylesheets (XSL) with a stylesheet processor to make
arbitrary transformations to an XML document. The output can
be XML, HTML, CSV, or any custom format required for an application.
On 20/05/2024 10:23, Mikko wrote:
On 2024-05-19 22:41:36 +0000, bart said:And of course the Baby X resource compiler already supports that. You
On 19/05/2024 11:16, Malcolm McLean wrote:
The Baby X resource compiler takes data - fonts, images, audio, strings >>>> - and converts them into C source so that they can be read by C
programs without relying on external data files.
An obvious extension is to take in structured data. Adding SQL and
querying a database would unfortuately mean extending the program so
that it could only run on a large machine with a SQL server running,
and isn't really a viable proposition. However JSON, XML, and CSV are
commonly used to pass small to medium amounts of data about.
I've made a start on supporting CSV with the "<dataframe>" tag. CSV
data is tabular and two dimensional, and lends itself to an arrray of
simple structures. JSON And XML can of course represent more complex
data, with hierarchy. The dataframe tag is still very experimental.
I've never used it for anything practical.
So what would be the best approach to putting in JSON and XML support?
I've only briefly used XML.
The problem with XML is that the data it represents is not just
hierarchical, but it can be chaotic. You can have one lot of data,
followed by another for something else with a different structure,
followed by other. It is just a container for disparate sets of data.
Not just XML. JSON and may other formats have the same features.
In order to put a resouce to a C program my preference is to convert
the resource to an array of characters or bytes and process it the
same way it would be processed if it were read from a file.
can convert XML or JSON to a string, and then run your own parser over
it at runtime.
But that isn't really a very good solution.
On 20/05/2024 20:27, bart wrote:
On 20/05/2024 17:14, Scott Lurndal wrote:That is one answer. XML and JSON are trees, with certain contraints on the nodes. So we could devise a C struct which represents a node, and spit out
bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:I have enough experience to know that it CAN represent disparate data
On 19/05/2024 11:16, Malcolm McLean wrote:
The Baby X resource compiler takes data - fonts, images, audio, strings >>>>> - and converts them into C source so that they can be read by CI've only briefly used XML.
programs
without relying on external data files.
An obvious extension is to take in structured data. Adding SQL and
querying a database would unfortuately mean extending the program so >>>>> that it could only run on a large machine with a SQL server running, >>>>> and
isn't really a viable proposition. However JSON, XML, and CSV are
commonly used to pass small to medium amounts of data about.
I've made a start on supporting CSV with the "<dataframe>" tag. CSV
data
is tabular and two dimensional, and lends itself to an arrray of simple >>>>> structures. JSON And XML can of course represent more complex data,
with
hierarchy. The dataframe tag is still very experimental. I've never
used
it for anything practical.
So what would be the best approach to putting in JSON and XML support? >>>>
That's clear from what you write below.
just like I said, since I've had to generate exactly such files as input
into another application that required such data.
I have no interest in studying XML or every using again. I already statedEven if the file does represent a simple list of records for example,
you won't know that without reading it and analysing it.
Study XML Schema.
in an earlier post that it's more complicated than it looks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML_Schema_(W3C)
And, therefore, 'chaotic' it what can be represented, even if technically
Then study XSL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XSLT
XML is a markup language. A subset of SGML. HTML is a non-proper
and non-regular subset of XML.
It's far more flexible and useful than a set of comma-separated-values.
it can be described by a recursively defined syntax.
Or you need to know is that XML can represent the syntactic structure of
most programming languages, and we all know how easy that is to represent
as a fixed set of initialised C data structures hardcoded into a source
file.
a rooted tree.
That seems to be a better approach. Data represents something in the real world. And normally there are a lot of constraints on it. A temperature measurement might be missing, but it must be real, it can't be
The OP wanted to be able to directly process XML; I suggest that it first
I looked online at an XML to CSV converter, which I thought would do
something clever, but it seems to just turn each XML line into one
string per line.
You use stylesheets (XSL) with a stylesheet processor to make
arbitrary transformations to an XML document. The output can
be XML, HTML, CSV, or any custom format required for an application.
be transformed into something more regular.
imaginary. Even though XML will of course allow you to put "<REAL>" and "<IMAGINARY>" tags under the temperature tag if you so desire.
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