All,
This is more of a design question. I have come up with a scenario where I
would really like to display my data in several different ways using various
xslt transformations. The various transformations together form a nice GUI
environment where I (and my team) can quickly access the information we are
most interested in. In addition, all of my data is on the client's computer
and no access is required across the internet.
For instance, suppose the data in the XML file looks something like this:
<obj>
<obj label="requirements">
<obj label="req_subset">
<obj label="req_a"/>
<obj label="req_b"/>
<obj label="req_c"/>
<obj label="req_d"/></obj></obj>
<obj label="various_reqs"/></obj>
<obj label="design">
<obj label="design_artifacts"/></obj>
<obj label="etc">
<obj label="moreElements"/></obj>
</obj>
I might want to display a menu (e.g. transform sampleFromAbove.xml using
menu.xslt) which creates a something of the effect:
- requirements
+ req_subset
* various_reqs
+ design
+ etc
I might want to display an index of the various items contained within the
nodes (i.e. index.xslt). I might also want to display the current path in
another portion of the view (i.e. path.xslt produces
requirements->req_subset->req_a). Another example may be that I would want
to create a small section of the web view where the data could be queried
for a particular label. The end result would be a compact, useful view that
all uses that original data file.
The question is where does it make sense to transform this data? Do I make
all of the transformations at the top node, and then, using <div> elements
produce my desired output? Do create the html page first, and then fragment
the xml data into the different types (i.e. menu, path, index, search, etc.)
with each producing its own html? If I do the latter method, does it make
sense to have embedded xml objects or iframes?
At a future point in time, I may wish to update the menu code so that I can
display either a vertical or horizontal display of the data. Perhaps I'd
like the index information to reference only the child nodes as opposed to
the entire tree. In other words, I want the environment flexible enough
that it can be extended (hence the various groupings of .xslt files). I
have noted that iframes allow me to produce a "space" on the screen where I
would have scrollbars (something that will become significant as my data
grows), allowing me to keep the displayed material compact, and yet still be
flexible to increased amounts of data.
Finally, is there any reference material that anyone might be able to point
me to for this type of design work?
Thanks in advance!
bix
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