John Salerno wrote:
> Hi everyone. I thought I might do a little experiment with XML and type 
> up some rules for syntax formatting for a programming language. But I'm 
> a little confused about how to format the XML file. My first thought was 
> I might do this in HTML instead, and I think I sort of wrote the XML 
> file with HTML syntax in mind. Needless to say, nothing is nested properly:
> 
> <?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
> 
> <category>Code Layout</category>
>     
>     <subcategory>Indentation</subcategory>
>     <rule>Use 4 spaces per indentation level.</rule>

This is generally counterproductive. XML works on the basis of 
hierarchies and containers (think DIVs), so better would be

<subcategory>
   <name>Indentation</name>
   <rule>Use 4 spaces per indentation level.</rule>
</subcategory>

However, if you want to use the XML in processing, rather than just
document things, you need to phrase it so a machine can read it:

<subcategory>
   <name>Indentation</name>
   <rule class="textindent" lang="css" value="4" units="em"/>
</subcategory>

[...]
> My question is, how do I have text within an element like <category>, 

Just type it. But in practice, for an XML document going to be used as
data, mixing text and markup is A Bad Idea. It's normal for text
documents (eg HTML) but for XML-used-as-data is will only lead to tears
and recriminations.

> which should actually be the entire parent node of the file? Am I not 
> supposed to have text in it? What would be the proper way to do this?
> 
> I am thinking of something like this:
> 
> <h1>Code Layout</h1>
>   <h2>Indentation</h2>
>     <p>Use 4 spaces per indentation level.</p>

Not useful.

///Peter
-- 
XML FAQ: http://xml.silmaril.ie/