[ODE] GUI Editor, to XML or not?

[Frederic Marmond]

I do agree that XML is very open and so on...
But:
- to introduce a big overhead in file size
- load/save time may be long (parser)

So, It would be nice to have a XML<->binary converter.
I mean:
In a simulation, you may have lot of objects that all contains their own 
physics data -> a lot of XML code.
When you have designed it (using XML), you may convert xml files into 
binary ones.
Then, you use it (runtime performances will be greater...)
And if you want to re-change some parameters, you can come back to XML 
by converting bin->xml files.

That was just my comment... ;)

Fred


Jani Laakso wrote:

> My opinion for an export goes still for XML, if you know basics of XML 
> (and XSL), you get things done very quickly. And in bonus, structures 
> tend to be well defined even when things later grow more complex.
>
> For developers this would mean that everyone can then use XSL (like 
> xpath expressions) in any imaginable way to extract simulation parts 
> or modify simulation data before inserting it to my application.
>
> Here's couple important points more imho:
>
> 1. Integration to custom applications
> -I would not like to construct totally custom parsers from ground up 
> to read editor data into my application, I'd exploit existing XML 
> tools here (XSL, DOM or even SAX).
>
> 2. Transforming
> -I would not like to programmatically convert one simulation format to 
> another, I'd use XSL here.
> -Example, transform simulation X to simulation Y: increase all jeep 
> cars geoms mass by %12 and extract only basic simulation parameters + 
> jeep cars. I'd use XSL here than to create custom converters. Add 
> lot's of custom examples here.
>
> 3. Debugging
> -problems are easier to solve, xml is easier to comphrehend
>
> This format is meant for developers on development stage, so it should 
> be extensible and easy to use in all kind of situations. On production 
> platforms one can convert XML files into developer's own custom format 
> if needed.
>
> A physics editor that is meant for constructing complex simulation 
> setups for ODE, Novodex.., I'd go for XML when exporting / importing 
> e.g. bodies definitions to / from a file. I do not know how similar 
> these two are but there could be possibility to do one XML 
> implementation for an physics editor and then use plain XSL to export 
> simulation data to ODE, Novodex.. users. It might be that this is not 
> suitable but author's of physics editors know this better than me.
>
> The first impression for XML world can be quite disturbing, but once 
> you get into it and know where it's suited best, you'll love it. 
> Learning basic XML and XSL (+XSLT) is simple.
>
> Summary, there exists this XML/XSL and bunch of other tools for 
> various platforms, let's exploit them :)
>
>
> Comments are welcomed, Jani.
>