Subject: [xsl] Help: Reasons to use XML/XSL ? From: "Jarrell Dunson" <Jarrell_Dunson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 09:15:43 -0400 |
Hey, Thanks ahead of time to each of you for reading this. I'm an XSD, XML, XSLT Newbie....and am trying to learn the process. However, I really need some input - not from a programming perspective, but from a philosophy and usage perspective. For instance, I'm a current user and programmer of Perl...using SQL, CGI, and Perl DBI for pulling information from an Informix Relational Database. I'm able to pull data out of a database quite easily...via Perl DBI/SQL...and format it with Perl into quality HTML pages. ..and the process is rather efficient. For HTML, I can build the pages via wriing the code myself, or using Perl script, etc, I can also, at times, use a text editor (or text editor assistant / html formatter) to build basic html and modify it as needed. [Instead of coding a table by hand, for example, I'll use an editor assistant (such as Dreamweaver, or Notetab) to create all the code for a 3x4 table...and then modify and/or populate the HTML as needed]. So for this process, I'm going from database ...via Perl script...to HTML. In learning XSD, XML, XSLT, however, I just don't see the advantage of it? What more does XSD, XML, XSLT give me as a programmer? For me to do the same steps....to go from a database to web page, it seems to me that I have to take three [or four] more major steps...each involving a more complicated process. From my beginner perspective, I have to build a XSD...and then a matching XML - based upon the XSD (validating, etc.). For output, I have build the output leg, XSLT (transforming the XML, etc)....to get the same results. I just don't see the advantage. In my current programming, I'm using one scripting process DATABASE --> [1] Perl/DBI (using SQL) --> To HTML/Web Page In using XML, I need three (or four) processes: [1] Build XSD first. Then: DATABASE --> [2] Perl/DBI (using SQL) --> To XML. Then, [3] Build an XSLT --> [4] Transform the XML via XSLT --> HTML/Web page Isn't this far more complicated? Granted, I could see advantages if I were outputting my data in different ways...say, one of my outputs was for the Internet, another for a PDA, another for an RSS feed....etc. OR, I could possibly see advantages [per the claims I've heard from big corporations] if I were a great business enterprise...and all my data needed to be standard...and I needed to use my own mark-up language - though I'm not fully convinced of this. But for simple processes....from database to web, I just don't get it It seems far more complicated, and [other than buiiding my resume skills] raises the question if it's worth... So, for an uneducated newbie, can you help? I've learned XSD...and XML...and am working on the XSLT, but I haven't seen enough to "buy into it". What's the real benefit of learning and using XSD, XML, AND XSLT? - especially over a simple process like Perl/DBI....and why ? THANK YOU ahead of time, Jarrell Jarrell R. Dunson, III Asbury Theological Seminary Administrative Computing Coordinator Jarrell_Dunson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (859) 858-2379 (direct) (859) 858-2330 (fax)
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