Blogonaut

Big Blog in the Sky: Slashdot | Is RSS Doomed by Popularity?

Link: Big Blog in the Sky: Slashdot | Is RSS Doomed by Popularity?.

Are you so sure you still want to try and implement that RSS feed? ;) This Slashdot post provides some commentary that will make Dave Winer (and maybe Bud Gibson) squirm.

This issue has been circulating since last summer among RSS cognoscenti.  I think it points toward immaturity of the implementations and use scenarios for the standard.  For instance, if you use full-post feeds (ones that contain the whole post like what everyone in this class has), you are essentially having your whole website downloaded everytime someone updates the feed on their feedreader.  Now, people like full post feeds because they can just see everything in their feedreader.  But, it's a big performance hit.

Now, consider the feedreading model that a feedreader like sage suggests or even firefox's live bookmarks.  These are both models where people would get updated links and headlines and then go access the web page from the browser.  Personally, I find the second, lower bandwidth, model compelling.  You see the person's personal design, thereby not losing the information that comes from formatting and the personal touch.  it is also easier to do things like linking and trackbacks since you are at the actual permanent URL of the article.

frankcc: Oracle version

Link: frankcc: Oracle version.

are we using In Oracle9i Database Release 2?  I read it from somewhere that a new feature known as SQLX, or SQLXML is included which would be potientially easier for us to create the RSS feed.  by writing a simple SQL statement with a of of the SQLX calls, a piece of XML will be created.... ummmm...... sounds interesting..

I am aware of this but am not sure we have it enabled.  Note that it is an emerging standard and only works with sql databases.  Documentation is also currently very sparse.  Does this really look easier?  I do note that there is a worked example that you may have found for Tom's Hardware.  There is even a basic tutorial here.  It all involves programming.

Let me make this offer.  Figure out first how rss even the very simple rss 0.91 format could work for your project (i.e., you get to three points credit land), and I will spend up to one hour helping you figure out how to implement (i.e., a roadmap to 10 points credit land).

wizdumb: View Requirement

Link: wizdumb: View Requirement.

Do we have to use the views from project 1, or can we create completely different ones.

Feel free to create new ones.

 

Smiling_Chen: Question about "Comments"

Link: Smiling_Chen: Question about "Comments".

In the project description,  it emphasizes on how well other people can re-use our created .xml, .xsl.  So I think it will be better if we have the comments there so other people can have a better understanding and change the codes accordingly. Any opinion about my question?

Just to be clear, you want to comment your new stuff too so that we know what it does.  My previous post meant it was fine to leave in my comments.

tranquilidad: Comments?

Link: tranquilidad: Comments?.

The project 2 requirements description says we need to comment for our XSQL pages and XSLT stylesheets, but based on Bud's response  to  Smiling Chen's post, it doesnt sound like we need to worry about it at all.  I just want to make sure that I am correct in this interpretation.  Thanks!

I meant this in reference to my existing comments.  You should comment the new stuff you do.

Big Blog in the Sky: Autonumber difficulties?

Link: Big Blog in the Sky: Autonumber difficulties?.

The "not enough values" part makes me think there's a problem with passing the parameter, but I'm not sure where or how. I've checked the ordering in the SQL statement and it appears fine. I'm guessing the problem is somewhere on the XML side. Has anyone else experienced something similar to this? What steps did you have to take in order for your parameters to pass through properly as queries?

I'm not able to acces any of this stuff.  I assume you are working on it.

Big Blog in the Sky: Filling a dropdown list

Link: Big Blog in the Sky: Filling a dropdown list.

The SQL statement to fill the dropdown list only involved getting data from one field (select mission "mission" from org_missions) so I thought, "what if I repeated the mission part?"  Sure enough, select mission "mission", mission "mission from org_missions did the trick.  Why is this?  I tried this based on trial and error/dumb luck.  I imagine it has something to do with dropDown.xsl and relative locations/XPath therein, but I'm not completely sure.  The answer to this question isn't pressing but just a bit of a wonder.

Somebody else also posted about this (or mentioned it in class, maybe).  When we talked about this, I mentioned the first column is just used to create the identifier (not displayed).  The other columns are displayed.

So, an important question for you:  Is there no mission id, only a mission description (that acts as an id)?

Go Blue: Coming Along

Link: Go Blue: Coming Along.

Working  on this kind of stuff alone would be very frusterating as a lot of the things are just time-consuming and take a lot of playing around to figure out.

I couldn't agree more.  Studies show that all students benefit from working in groups for the reasons you state.

club306: XSLT templates

Link: club306: XSLT templates.

One requirement for the presentation on Dec. 9 includes "A brief discussion of how you are attempting to re-use XSLT templates." Does anybody have a clear understading about this requirement and know exactly what we have to present?

Well, we talked about this several times in class.  Basically, just discuss how you are using templates.  Are you re-using any?  My guess is that you are.

 

Smiling_Chen: Still puzzled about repeating problem

Link: Smiling_Chen: Still puzzled about repeating problem.

What confused me is that when I run the same queries in Oracle, it doesn't display any repeating enties. But it doesn't work in our views, how can I solve the problem?

It's impossible to figure this out without looking at the code. I'm not sure what's repeating. You should put in a URL that shows the problem and the files on your site (xsql and xslt) that are involved.