[Rails] Re: Rails magic for MySQL -> XML file -> MySQL and back again

[Stef Telford]

Hey Tony,
    Well, if  your wanting to read and write xml files from the file 
system, your best bet is -definitely- libxml. Unlike certain other 
products that I could mention, the documentation is really rather good, 
and gives working examples of how to do this. Url is 
http://libxml.rubyforge.org/doc/.

     Perhaps I am missing something, and thats always possible, but, 
unless your wanting to write an xml editor that fits -inside- the web 
browser, you have two ways that I see; xml-rpc (think WebDav sort of ;) 
or libxml and command line.

    Regards
    Stef

Tony Martin wrote:
> Steff,  thanks for your suggestion. however, I am wanting to save and reload
> xml files directly from the file system, so will be doing fileio not talking
> to another app.  My aim is to provide an xml format that can be accessed
> directly from PCs on the network and edited without going through the web
> server.  
>
> I am however making some progress.    this is my first development in both
> rails and Ruby so I am feeling my way here..  I am building a
> replacement/conversion of an existing MS Access database, and trying to
> emulate fairly closely the original database functionality an view and I am
> pleased to say that Rails is generally excelling iteslf.
>
> On the XML side, I notice from Bill's earlier posts that there is an issue
> if I use builder to create and render an rxml view  because after the
> render, i will not be able to redirect to a new page.  What I am proposing
> to do is use Builder to directly create an XML string within the controller,
> save it to a file and then redirect to a page that will display the xml from
> the file and allow for some editing.  If that sounds bizarre please let me
> know.
>
> If anyone has any pointers to xml file i/o and parsing I would be grateful.
>
> Thanks
> Tony
>