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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Desktop Entry Standard / XML
From:       Mats Loman <lom () wombat ! ludvika ! se>
Date:       1999-05-16 13:05:54
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On Sat, 15 May 1999, Andreas Pour wrote:

> pbrown@redhat.com wrote:
> 
> > Several people have suggested to me that the new Desktop Entry Standard
> > define the on-disk file in XML.  What we really care about is the actual
> > keys and values, the on-disk format isn't nearly as important.  XML would
> > give us a clearly defined, hierarchical system (something the current
> > ini-like format lacks) which we already have a parser for in Qt 2.0.
> >
> > The GNOME guys are in favor of "fixing this" as well.  They would have to
> > go through the same sort of pain as us in switching to this new file
> > format, as their on-disk format currently is INI-like as well.
> >
> > Comments welcome.
> 
> Although this is theoretically nicer, one of the nice things about
> KDE configuration files has been you can edit them by hand.  Using XML, even
> if pretty-printed, is basically going to prevent non-programmers from
> editing these files by hand, since XML is significantly more complex that
> "key=value".
> 
> You guys may think XML is trivial, but my sister won't :-).
> 
> I'm not saying not to use XML, I'm just making a comment.  Personally, I
> think as long as you can right click on the kdelnk icon and get a nice
> GUI interface to edit it, and this GUI is smart enough to recognize all
> entries, that's fine.  For that to work, the XML would need to include some
> meta-data explaining to the GUI editor what each field is.  Perhaps and
> "editor-comment" field, as well as an "editor-type" field that can have an
> enumerated list of permitted options or an indicator like "path", "string"
> or "integer".  This way, when a program adds a new configuration field, the
> editor can handle it.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Andreas Pour
> 
> 

I would vote for XML files for booth configuration files and desktop
entries. I see a big benefit in the long run. I think it would make
easier to make general configuration programs. Imagine xml file that
contains the configuration and annother containing the  GUI description.

//Mats Loman

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