<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
