den4b Forum

Elektro

Senior Member

Registered: 2014-05-28

Posts: 76

[REQUEST] Export as XML

Hi

A simple idea, it would be nice to extend the Export feature to be able export as XML, its a very common format that can be "natively" read in much languages.

e.g. languages supported by .Net platform (C#, VC++, VB.Net, J#, F#) has a built-in XML parser (which also is the most sofisticated parser in the world. Sorry I have to say it.), Python too, Java too, etc.
Where is not the same for CSV format, at least the CSV built-in parser implementations that I'm aware of, are very poor and very incomplete in much languages (even for .Net, is a ridiculous and deprecated Class), and in other languages just does not exists a CSV parser so the end-user need to build a custom CSV parser by building an array from scratch splitting a string and all that.
I know that this is not a problem for an user that is just using an already made CSV-reader 3rd party program, but ...well, not everybody do that.

So, for a programmer, the XML export will bring us the opportunity to benefit of the programming languages that has a good built-in XML parser, still having the alternative to export as CSV having the benefit to use a programming-language with a good CSV parser.
And, for a common home user, maybe just it will bring the opportunity to make usage of 3rd-party XML-reader programs instead of CSV-reader programs (if the user is more in liked with XML syntax).

What do you think about this, Den4b?.

Thanks for read!

Last edited by Elektro (2016-03-26 00:30)

den4b

Administrator

From: den4b.com

Registered: 2006-04-06

Posts: 3,479

Re: [REQUEST] Export as XML

XML provides no advantages over CSV for the purpose of exporting the files table.

XML format is useful for storing data with a complex or dynamic structure, or when validation is required. XML parsers are significantly more complex and slower than CSV parsers.

CSV files are well suited for a table style data (fixed columns and textual cells). It is more compact, much faster to parse, and can be easily edited with any text editor or Excel style application.

---

A story of software development, and how it all evolves into Live vs Pro
Request a Wiki account | Reporting spam and abuse | Why did I get banned?