Grouping of elements?

[howa]

The following show two examples, which one is better you think?

<report>
<minScore></minScore>
<maxScore></maxScore>

.... other stuffs
</report>

or

<report>
<score>
<maxScore></maxScore>
<minScore></minScore>
</score>
...
</report>

 

[Peter Flynn]

The following show two examples, which one is better you think?

<report>
<minScore></minScore>
<maxScore></maxScore>

... other stuffs
</report>

or

<report>
<score>
<maxScore></maxScore>
<minScore></minScore>
</score>
...
</report>

If the scores are textual, then the redundancy is unnecessary:

<report>
<scores>
<min></min>
<max></max>
</scores>
....
</report>

If the scores are numeric or categorical, attributes are more common:

<report>
<score min="34" max="57"/>
....
</report>

///Peter

 

[Joe Kesselman]

As with other data structures, this depends on how you're going to use
the data now and in the future. If you will eventually be making "score"
more complicated, having it be a separate element may make sense. If min
and max score are really just part of the report, the extra level of
hierarchy may not make sense.

Why do you want the <score> element? If you can't explain that (to
yourself), you probably don't want it.

 

[howa]

Hello all,

One of my concern is: If I parse the XML into DOM, will attribute or
new element using more memory at runtime?

 

[George Bina]

Elements will occupy more memory than attributes.

Best Regards,
George

 

[Joseph Kesselman]

Elements will occupy more memory than attributes.

Probably, BUT the proper answer depends on ****EXACTLY**** which
implementation of the DOM you're using.

Remember that the DOM is only an interface, and very carefully leaves
the question of back-end storage open; the actual document storage model
may not be a DOM and may not even be object-based, which makes
generalizing about memory usage difficult.

If this matters to you, you may want to pick your implementation
specifically by how it manages storage.

 

[howa]

Maybe it will be better if

<report maxScore="34" maxScore="57">

....

?

Personally, I don't like empty element with attributes.

Or is it the common way to do in this way?

Thanks.

 

[Joseph Kesselman]

<report maxScore="34" maxScore="57">

That would be my own inclination.

Personally, I don't like empty element with attributes.

As I said: The question is how much structure you think you might add in
the future. Attributes can't have XML substructure, so if things
eventually get more complicated you will have to either add more
attributes, more children, or a more complicated syntax for your
attribute values.

Very much a matter of taste and style. Do whatever makes most sense for
the markup language you're working with and the applications that will
manipulate it.