CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmllist
user2467545
user2467545

Reputation:

How to represent list data in XML

I am working on designing the XML document for my current use case. My use case is-

Given an id, I can have check-score and talent-score and number of categories. And each category will have category-id, check-score and talent-score.

So suppose if I have two id's, then the above data will be there in two id's.

For example, below is my XML that I have created basis on single id-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
    <id>0</site-id>
    <check-score>0.5</check-score>
    <talent-score>0.2</talent-score>
    <categories>
        <category-id>123</category-id>
        <check-score>0.5</check-score>
        <talent-score>0.2</talent-score>
    </categories>
    <categories>
        <category-id>321</category-id>
        <check-score>0.2</check-score>
        <talent-score>0.4</talent-score>
    </categories>

What will happen if I have another id with value as 1 and corresponding things related to that id. Meaning, how do I represent second id and other components related to that in my above example? Should I do something like this if I have two id's?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
    <id>0</site-id>
    <check-score>0.5</check-score>
    <talent-score>0.2</talent-score>
    <categories>
        <category-id>123</category-id>
        <check-score>0.5</check-score>
        <talent-score>0.2</talent-score>
    </categories>
    <categories>
        <category-id>321</category-id>
        <check-score>0.2</check-score>
        <talent-score>0.4</talent-score>
    </categories>

    <id>1</site-id>
    <check-score>0.2</check-score>
    <talent-score>0.3</talent-score>
    <categories>
        <category-id>289</category-id>
        <check-score>0.3</check-score>
        <talent-score>0.7</talent-score>
    </categories>
    <categories>
        <category-id>987</category-id>
        <check-score>0.1</check-score>
        <talent-score>0.5</talent-score>
    </categories>

And it might be possible, I can have multiple id's so I am not sure what is the right way to write an XML for my above use case.

Can anyone help me on this?

Upvotes: 6

Views: 24933

Answers (1)

user2246674
user2246674

Reputation: 7719

I follow the rule of "use containers for unbound multplicity" in XML.

This is generally easier to consume, cleaner to express in schemas, and all-around consistent and simple to deal with and extend. In addition, using an approach like this is well supported using automatic serialization/type mappers. As shown above in the 2nd example, creating mixed mode markup for such structured data will result in a mess and requires special handling to deal with.

For example, to use containers for the multiplicity:

<someRelevantRootElement>
  <sites>
    <site site-id="0">
      <!-- not sure what scores are doing there -->
      <categories>
        <category category-id="123">
          <scores check="0.5" talent="0.2" />
        </category>
        <category category-id="..">
          <!-- .. -->
        </category>
        <!-- more categories? -->
      </categories>
    </site>
    <site side-id="..">
      <!-- .. -->
    </site>
    <!-- more sites? -->
  </sites>
</someRelevantRootElement>

Also note that I converted some elements to attributes. Using an element for an "id" is almost always wrong as an id is describing an aspect of some information (read: element).

Of course, it could be the case that scores are the container, and the category (id) is just an aspect of (an attribute of) such score information (element).

In any case, I urge the use of containers-for-unbound-multiplicity. It makes life easier.

Upvotes: 2

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