Ian DeRock wrote:
I'm fairly new to XML. As I can see it, XML is a way to organize data
like in a table in a RDB, or the RDB itself. I have used XML in
application data, but did not design the actual XML.
.... snip ... I would also like to know if maybe I sould make two XML docs, one for
the skills, and one for the experience seciont.
Let me know what you think,
Ian DeRock
Yes, XML is a way of organising data like a table in a relational
database, but that does not mean you have to abandon the RDB
way of working willy-nilly. You obviously have skill in many
commercial database systems, so why waste it?
I am also relatively new to XML, and it all came together for
me when I downloaded 'Cocoon' and got it working. Before that,
there seemed to be so many things that could go wrong. With
Cocoon, you get a complete working system and you can change
things one little bit at a time.
You can, if you wish, use your XML as a data-source.
Alternatively, you could keep your
personal details, your skills and your experience in the
RDB with all the dicipline of 'Normalisation' Etc that
a database can enforce.
Then, it is a (relatively) simple matter to have the XML
created for you. For example ESQL (which is part of the
Cocoon project) will generate XML ( with a very similar
structure to yours) from a SQL query. This can be done
on-the-fly, keeping up with new data in the Database as
soon as you enter it.
You can then put all your effort into learning how to
write XSL-T stylesheets, which is likely to be where
you spend most of your time. Getting at least two
totally different forms of output (say XHTML and PDF)
from the same source will give you a buzz, I'm sure.
That done (and it may take some time) you need to
learn the xml variation that a typesetting,
word-processing or desktop-publishing package understands.
Don't assume that this will be trivial, particularly
for not very well documented Open-Source, unless you are
happy with the look of an off-the-shelf transformation
(of DocBook, for example).
ESQL works as follows:
1. Define a data-source and SQL query
2. Assemble the result (if any) it into XML format
with whatever else you like.
You can select iterate through rows, select columns, insert
things on watched values (a 'group by' utility), limit the
number of rows returned, Etc. Its pretty comprehensive.
Some of the facilities will produce 'better' XML than yours;
for example
<esql:get-timestamp column=1 format="dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss"/>
is something you might like to modify for the start and end
dates of your work placements. Its got to beat typing it out
by hand.
Good Luck!
---
Ken