XIndice/eXist or PHP? (rant?)

[Bastiaan Zapf <ba...@tu-clausthal.de>]

<frustration>

I've been so much frustrated with Xindice, eXist, Cocoon and a lot more of
software... I doubt there are advantages in some "new-style-XML-Systems"...

I got some partial systems running (Tomcat with Cocoon and working Xindice),
but never could build a whole "document pipe" (as in: xml + xslt (both maybe
from DB) => neatly formatted html)

<practical proposal to get work done>

I tried with PHP/XML/XSLT and succeeded within a few hours... commented
sourcecode will be made available if someone wants it.

Now I wonder if there would be any problem using an apache with a clever
link to a php script that transforms xml documents by html request, replace
missing interfaces (like XUpdate, XPath-style queries) with wrappers if
needed (this should be not this much of a problem given the number of
availabe opensource packages...)

</practical proposal to get work done>

Anyway, any partial package in itself was great work... theres just a lot of
work (maybe in form of documentation, maybe in form of sourcecode work) to
be done with the linking.

<self-critic>

For example, I lacked overview on how to use the cocoon.xconf and
sitemap.xmap to actually link to a XIndice Webapp (which was running alone
[proved by php ;)]). The doc says,

        The XML:DB generators are currently unmaintained and going to be
        deprecated soon. Please use the XML:DB pseudo-protocol instead.

but what is the XML:DB pseudo-protocol, and which generator should I use to
do the access? Would I need a sitemap matcher?

</self-critic>

</frustration>

Where can I find the documentation that explains these questions?

How many hours (installation, by month) does a skilled maintainer need to
maintain such an installation / explain it to new users / get work done? I
suppose installation would be a little tricky, explaining the concept to
others should be easy... and what work will be ahead of the road?

I'd like to hear some other's experience before I involve deeper.

However, no hard feelings, I enjoyed playing around with your programs very
much, and when they work, it's fun... I think XML is on its way... I think
in a short timespan the web will be deeply changed by XML, both in width and
in depth (width being connections between "websites", depth being
cleverness/usefulness). We will be able to read our news on our Bluetooth
PDA/Cellular with a snap of our fingers, now that would be cool.

Greetings,
	Basti

RE: XIndice/eXist or PHP? (rant?)

[Bastiaan Zapf <ba...@tu-clausthal.de>]

> More specific info:
> http://www.cocooncenter.de/cc/documents/resources/xindice/

Thanks for that. Could not yet get it working, lack some time though. Will
be on top priority list for the next tries in this topic...

> Use the one that fits you best.

I'll try and see what does for the application...

Greets...

	Basti

Re: XIndice/eXist or PHP? (rant?)

[Gianugo Rabellino <gi...@apache.org>]

Bastiaan Zapf wrote:

> For example, I lacked overview on how to use the cocoon.xconf and
> sitemap.xmap to actually link to a XIndice Webapp (which was running alone
> [proved by php ;)]). The doc says,
>
>         The XML:DB generators are currently unmaintained and going to be
>         deprecated soon. Please use the XML:DB pseudo-protocol instead.
>
> but what is the XML:DB pseudo-protocol, and which generator should I 
> use to
> do the access? Would I need a sitemap matcher?

With the XML:DB pseudo-protocol you are able to insert resources in the 
Cocoon sitemap as plain URLs (so you don't need a specific generator). 
The idea is to use something like

<map:generate src="xmldb:xindice:///db/addressbook"/>

More specific info:

http://www.cocooncenter.de/cc/documents/resources/xindice/

And for more generic Cocoon information:

http://outerthought.net/wiki/Wiki.jsp

Yes, Cocoon still lacks organic documentation, but it's improving.

As per PHP over Cocoon, I won't get into details: this is not the right 
list and, besides, being a Cocoon developer myself I would be biased. 
:-) Use the one that fits you best.

Ciao,

-- 
Gianugo Rabellino