[Asterisk-Users] What about a higher level configuration language

[Bill Seddon]

Yes, it's hard to imagine of the perceived difficulties that an XML schema
could not meet.  

XML schema elements would be required for the features used across all .conf
files and this would be tedious and potentially time-consuming but not
inherently difficult.  And both could exist side-by-side.

The benefit is that it then becomes possible to read and parse or to write
configuration file using what has become a standard technology and to
validate or write documents that are known to be conformant.

Moreover, it has the potential to give a user the option of using a single
file to hold all configuration information.

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Benjamin on
Asterisk Mailing Lists
Sent: September 27, 2004 3:04 AM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] What about a higher level configuration
language

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 11:50:55 -0500, Jay Milk <jay at skimmilk.net> wrote:
> XML isn't the magic answer to all questions.

I didn't say it was.

>  The configuration
> "database" for Asterisk is relatively flat while XML supports
> hierarchical data much better.  Asterisk's current config file are
> better suited to the task than XML inherently could be.

You are entitled to your opinion, but have you actually tried an XML
based configuration system to back this up?

I wouldn't be surprised if it comes down to innertia and the fear of
the unfamiliar. This is what I experienced when I started working on
MacOSX where all configuration is XML based. In the beginning I
thought "Oh, no, why didn't Apple just keep everything plain text".
Yet, after having got used to the XML based property list system on
MacOSX, I have to concede that my initial unease was unfounded.

>From the viewpoint of writing GUI tools to generate and modify
configuration files programmatically, an XML based system certainly
has tremendous advantages. I can tell you that from experience gained
from using both XML and plain text configuration bases in GUI
configuration tool projects.

And for those who prefer plain text configuration, there would be no
harm to have an XML based layer underneath their plain text layer.
They need not even be aware of the XML based layer.

rgds
benjk

-- 
Sunrise Telephone Systems, 9F Shibuya Daikyo Bldg., 1-13-5 Shibuya,
Tokyo, Japan.

NB: Spam filters in place. Messages unrelated to the * mailing lists
may get trashed.
_______________________________________________
Asterisk-Users mailing list
Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users