[Dev] XML for CPIA

[John Anderson]

Alec Flett wrote:

> Bryan Stearns wrote:
>
>> I don't see why this is necessary:
>> - It's another syntax to learn, but who'll learn it?
>
> I guess its just personal preference but for me I don't think this is 
> a matter of 'learning' the xml - anyone who's done more than 10 
> minutes of xml in their life will just 'get it'
>
>> Most parcel developers who are adding item types will mostly just be 
>> writing detail-view trees of blocks; I'm looking forward to rewriting 
>> the detail view's parcel.xml as Python, so the ready examples that 
>> developers will have will be Python. Few non-Python developers will 
>> be customizing other parts of the UI, at least in the next year or so.
>
> I'm not worried about non-python developers. The other point I haven't 
> mentioned here is day to day maintenance of our own UI. I would argue 
> that the xml is going to be WAY easier to maintain than the python 
> declarations. Lets say we change the file menu around - which is 
> easier, manipulation of the XML tree or manipulation of the Python? I 
> would argue the xml, by a long shot, precisely because the UI is 
> hierarchical.

I think non-python developers would be better served by a GUI builder. 
As for python developers, I'm not convinced that yet another XML format 
is easier to understand or maintain than Python. I suggest that we look 
some samples of the two formats to resolve this question.

>
> While I understand the issue of having two ways of doing things, I 
> personally find the Python way to be pretty klunky for UI. I think its 
> great for other one-off item instances, don't get me wrong..
>
>> - The syntax isn't better: while it might be familiar to HTML 
>> programmers just because it's XML, it isn't simpler or terser than 
>> the equivalent Python code given in the example.
>>
> I'm not quite sure I understand the simpler/terser argument.
> It is actually terser: "brief and to the point" - there is less to 
> type/read. No need to refer to .update, the current parcel in each 
> element declaration.
> It is actually simpler: there are no redundant attributes like 
> blockName or parcel name and you don't have to explicitly declare 
> childrenBlocks.

The similarity to HTML may not buy you much because using CPIA requires 
you understand a lot of concepts that are very different from familiar HTML

>
>
>> (and what's with the "<ref: 22d5dbf0-0921-11da-ab3d-00054e47c157>"?)
>>
> (oops, just posted about this - it was a bad cut-n-paste)
>
> Alec
>
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