NEWBIE - Can XML do that?

[Matt W]

I know very, very little about XML. Is it possible to imitate a simple
database? I have a client who wants a web page that can display three
photos with a description for each. Is it possible to use XML to do
this? And then I could teach my client how to use XML (maybe via MS
Word) just enought so she can change those three photos and
descriptions as wanted.

I know I can do this with a database and ASP, ColdFusion, PHP, etc.,
but if I can do it with XML, it won't matter to me what is installed
on the web server.

Thanks

 

[Gerald Aichholzer]

I know very, very little about XML. Is it possible to imitate a simple
database? I have a client who wants a web page that can display three
photos with a description for each. Is it possible to use XML to do
this? And then I could teach my client how to use XML (maybe via MS
Word) just enought so she can change those three photos and
descriptions as wanted.

I know I can do this with a database and ASP, ColdFusion, PHP, etc.,
but if I can do it with XML, it won't matter to me what is installed
on the web server.

Well, you cannot do this with XML alone, because XML is not a
web publishing framework, but with the proper tools you could
implement your requirements using XML technology.

If you already know PHP then you will want to throw a look at
the miscellanous XML-libraries for PHP, e.g. PEAR [1], Sablo-
tron [2] or DomXML [3]. There exist many more - just use Google.

A web publishing framework which makes heavy use of XML and
related technologies is Apache Cocoon [4]. Lenya is a content
management system based on Cocoon [5]. This might be useful
for you.

HTH,
Gerald


[1] http://pear.php.net
[2] http://www.gingerall.com/charlie/ga/xml/p_sab.xml
[3] http://www.php.net/domxml
[4] http://cocoon.apache.org
[5] http://cocoon.apache.org/lenya/

 

[clintonG]

Yes, XML can be used as a light-weight database but as
your circumstances are described using XML would IMO
be over complicating the development of a solution.

You can achieve your objective using Macromedia's Contribute
which I would suggest you evaluate.

 

[Berislav Lopac]

I know very, very little about XML. Is it possible to imitate a
simple database? I have a client who wants a web page that can
display three photos with a description for each. Is it possible to
use XML to do this? And then I could teach my client how to use XML
(maybe via MS Word) just enought so she can change those three
photos and descriptions as wanted.

I know I can do this with a database and ASP, ColdFusion, PHP, etc.,
but if I can do it with XML, it won't matter to me what is installed
on the web server.

Well, you cannot do this with XML alone, because XML is not a
web publishing framework, but with the proper tools you could
implement your requirements using XML technology.

If you already know PHP then you will want to throw a look at
the miscellanous XML-libraries for PHP, e.g. PEAR [1], Sablo-
tron [2] or DomXML [3]. There exist many more - just use Google.

Just a quick note: if going for PHP, I would strongly suggest you to use
PHP5. It has a native support for XML, much better than that of previous
versions; find more on http://www.zend.com/php5/

Berislav