On 8/5/2017 5:54 AM, Ian Espie wrote:
> I do not understand why data from any source is exported to XML - what 
> is the advantage of this?

1. XML is human readable, and can be opened in Notepad. An XML file is 
plain text, with each datum surrounded by markup that looks like html 
markup.

2. If you can't find an existing XML standard that meets your needs, you 
can create your own.

3. XML allows 1:M relationships.

4. You can mix several standards into one XML file. In fact, you can 
nest data from one standard inside data from another standard.

5. You can use *any standard at all* (at least in theory). Every 
standard is (supposed to be) published to a publicly accessible web 
directory, and your xml parser will go to that directory and read its 
standard.

Example (pseudo-code):
Where dc and rdf are shorthands for two different sets of standards, one 
from w3.org and the other from purl.org:
<dc:subject>
    <rdf:bag>Keywords
       <rdf:li>Pioneer</rdf:li>
       <rdf:li>19th Century History</rdf:li>
    </rdf:bag>
    <rdf:bag>Location
       <rdf:li>Powell County</rdf:li>
       <rdf:li>Montana</rdf:li>
    </rdf:bag>
</dc.subject>
Examine this and you can see that it's 1:M:M, with rdf:li inside rdf:bag 
inside dc:subject. (This is based on Adobe's xml standard.)

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