Re: [xml] using large binary chunks / binary XML?

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From: Daniel Veillard (Daniel.Veillard@w3.org)
Date: Wed Jan 03 2001 - 14:25:15 EST

On Fri, Dec 15, 2000 at 02:11:42PM -0600, Timothee Besset wrote:
>
> I'm looking for a solution to handle binary objects in an easy to
> manipulate file format. I like the chunk-based approach of XML and would
> want something similar.
>
> To give an idea, I would like to do something similar to tar archives, but
> benefit from the XML API (doing SAX parsing for streaming applications for
> example). (and also benefit from all the processing tools that rely on XML)
>
> I know that it is possible to include binary data into an XML file by
> encoding it like it's done for mail attachements. But I want to avoid the
> overhead of having to convert back and forth to getter best performances.
>
> I also know that libxml supports gzipped streams, so my natural idea would
> be to extend this mechanism and be able to store the binary objects "as-is"
> in the "binary" XML file.
>
> Maybe there are projects that I don't know of which provide this binary-XML
> feature already (under LGPL licensing preferably). Or maybe you don't think
> this is the right way to go, or even you'd like to give me a few hints on
> how to proceed..

  I think this is a packaging format problem. I have already suggested
a format (in other forums), basically it's the following:

  - a ZIP file encapsulating a set of files
  - the first file is in an XML format and provides metadata
    (filename, URL, mime type, ...) for the content of the archive
  - the other elements in the archive can be either XML or binary

 binary blurbs *within* XML files don't fit well at all.
I will probably add native support for this package format in
a not too distant future version of libxml, I suggest you look at
the discussion taking place in the OpenOffice XML devel list
  http://xml.openoffice.org/

Daniel 

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