[ODE] ODE GUI Editor #2...

[Steve Baker]

William Denniss wrote:

>>But XML? Hmm... I don't know. Do I really need it? The only advantage I
>>see is that if you have a corrupt file you could fix it with a text
>>editor. But as long as there is GUI for all functions you'd never need
>>to edit the text, and then it'll only take more disk space. ?
> 
> 
> I was more thinking of here how to easily import the simulation into a
> custom ODE application :)  Being able to read some text format is nicer
> as (among other things) it can be self-documenting and easy to parse - 
> and XML is one such choice.

If you can both read and write an ASCII format then people can do certain
bulk changes using a text editor.  For example, if you need to change the
stiffness of 50 springs, it'll be a 10 second operation in a text editor - but
with most GUI's, it requires clicking on each one, popping up a dialog box,
changing the number and clicking OK.  That can change that 10 second job
into something unbearably tedious that could take you half an hour.

A second advantage is that it makes it much easier for you to change the
file format in the future.  XML files are inherently extensible - and
compatible readers know how to skip over things they don't recognise.

Doing that with a simple binary format can get quite painful.

---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
HomeEmail: <sjbaker1 at airmail.net>    WorkEmail: <sjbaker at link.com>
HomePage : http://www.sjbaker.org
Projects : http://plib.sf.net    http://tuxaqfh.sf.net
            http://tuxkart.sf.net http://prettypoly.sf.net
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
GCS d-- s:+ a+ C++++$ UL+++$ P--- L++++$ E--- W+++ N o+ K? w--- !O M-
V-- PS++ PE- Y-- PGP-- t+ 5 X R+++ tv b++ DI++ D G+ e++ h--(-) r+++ y++++
-----END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----