Re: XML and Objects

Bill la Forge (b.laforge@jxml.com)
Tue, 29 Sep 1998 12:27:09 -0400

>The second example above is ``internal'', the serialization uses
>class-specific elements, where class and member information are
>represented as XML elements. Internal serialization is generally done
>according to the class definition (reflection or IDL), and often
>requires a stub or class-specific behavior. Coins (if I understand
>correctly) is an example of the ``internal'' form.

I think there is a third possibility, where the objects in the DOM tree
are wrappers for application objects. These wrapper objects, then,
are responsible for connecting the data held by the DOM with the
processing capabilities of the application objects.

The wrappers serve as the glue that lets us preserve the reusability
of application components, allows them an independent inheritance,
and maintains their independence from the XML markup.

Creation of such wrappers could be driven by the XSchema for the
markup language and reflection on the application classes, but should
accept input to support non-obvious mappings.

This is what I'm trying to drive towards with coins.

Bill