[thelist] Alternate sources of storing data

Kuhn, Timothy M. (Tim) (Perkins Coie) TKuhn at perkinscoie.com
Mon Oct 8 12:27:55 CDT 2007




On 10/8/07, Tom Dell'Aringa <pixelmech at gmail.com> wrote:

> It seems like a lot of work to build a database interface for
something this
> simple. Any suggestions on how to work this out with a flat file,
whether it
> be an xml file or json or whatever? Basically I'd like to be able to
simply
> open joe_blow.txt, add a line and be done.

 If you wanted to do this in xml the xml file would not be a complicated
affair. I don't know PHP so I don't know if it has built in objects that
make dealing with xml easy. I am a .net coder by trade and in .net it
would be fairly straight forward. For the xml your file could look like
this

<skaters>
<skater>
<lastname>Blow</lastname>
<firstname>Joe</firstname>
<bio>Joe is a great skater. He likes flowers and frequently runs over
them
accidentally and cries about it.</bio>
<toptens>
<year>2007</year>
<topten>North Shore Inline Marathon: 5th in 45-49</topten>
<topten>St. Paul Inline Marathon: 5th in 45-49</topten>
<year>2006</year>
<topten>This Inline Marathon: 5th in 45-49</topten>
<topten>That Shore Inline Marathon: 5th in 45-49</topten>
</toptens>
</skater>
</skaters>

If you needed to sort you could parse the xml for skater and sort on
lastname for example. I have done similar things for simple sites when
setting up a db on someone else's host was just too much of a pain. Or
as others said stick it in a db.

Tim

NOTICE: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you have received it in error, please advise the sender by reply email and immediately delete the message and any attachments without copying or disclosing the contents. Thank you.



More information about the thelist mailing list