Re: XML tools for Octave

[Andy Adler]

On Sat, 10 Jun 2006, Schloegl Alois wrote:
> This works very well. Although the OCT version is not as fast as the MEX 
> version, it works also for a case, were the MEX function causes a bad crash.
>
> Andy, what do you think about the solution?
> It does not recognize the example 1) as an invalid XML. How big of a problem 
> is this?

Alois,

It depends on what you want to do with it.

I did a comparison of the various XML tools for available for matlab,
and wasn't impressed with any of them; this one has at least the advantage
of being simple and robust.

However, it has a few defects:

1. Parses non-XML files ( <b><i>tag</b></i> )

2. These files are identical in the infoset, but are
    parsed differently

     <XML> <tag/> </XML>             vs <XML> <tag></tag> </XML>
     <XML> &quot; </XML>             vs <XML> " </XML>
     <XML> <![CDATA[ text ]]> </XML> vs <XML> text </XML>

3. Doesn't manage xml comments (<!-- -->)
4. Confused by processing instructions
     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>


Are these a big issue for you? I would suspect that 3 and
4 are probably quite important.

What features are you looking for in an XML parser?

--
Andy Adler <address@hidden> 1(613)562-5800x6218


APPENDIX: My comments on XML tools:

1. XML4MAT
   http://bioinformatics.org/project/?group_id=172
   LICENCE: GPL V2

   *.m code throughout
   Uses regexps to parse XML.
   Fails for many simple examples (ie <tag att="<<"/>)

2. XML Toolbox for Matlab
   http://www.geodise.org/toolboxes/generic/xml_toolbox.htm
   LICENCE: Custom (BSD with advertising)

   Output format looks interesting
   Appears to only offer p-code downloads and to link
   to Java xml parsers


3. XML Tree
   http://www.artefact.tk/software/matlab/xml/
   LICENCE: GPL

   Extensive use of Matlab classes

   BUGS:
   Doesn't record attributes
   Misses mixed contents:
    Misses <b to end:  <i> adsf <b/> asbf </i>
    Misses asbf:       <i> adsf <b> </b> asbf </i>

   Confused by Processing Instructions
   Confused by Entities
   Confused by CDATA

   Crashes with namespaces

   OK:
      XML procesing instructions
      XML comments
      XML entities

4. XML Tools
   
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=1742&objectType=FILE
   LICENCE: GPL

   BUGS:
     Parses non XML: <c t="C">F S</cd>
                     <b><i>tag</b></i>

     Infoset equivalent files aren't: <a></a> ~= <a/>

     Doesn't parse entities
     Doesn't manage comments
     Doesn't manage CDATA
     Confusted by <?xml ?>

   OK:
    Multiple attributes