[Zope] Can Zope act as an XML capable http client?

[Karl Anderson]

"Schmidt, Allen J." <aschmidt@nv.cc.va.us> writes:

> I too have a need for this. We have sample URLs from a group offering data
> to us. They are basically standard URLs with various arguments attached to
> the ends. The data returned is all tab delimited text and not structured at
> all on the browser. A quick view source shows all the field names at the top
> with a <COLUMNS> field1, field2, etc. </COLUMNS> and then the data values as
> <DATA> value1, value2, etc. </DATA>
> 
> I have been told the result of the query is a pure XML stream and need an
> XML parser to be able to use it. 
> Will ParsedXML handle this? 

You and Chris both have two needs, to get the XML into Zope and to do
something meaningful with it once it is in there.

ParsedXML parses and stores XML as a DOM tree, currenlty the standard
object API for XML, and gives you a Zope management interface for
that.

Your other problem is getting the XML from the external HTTP server
into Zope.  There are simple ways to do this in Python, you might
have more complex needs that would require more thought.

> Is it relatively straightforward to use?

I think so!

> I tried
> installing on a Win98 test Zope 2.3.1 and got a variety of errors and have
> not had time to go back to it.

No windows release yet, we need to compile the parser there, which is
slow going for me because I'm not experienced in windoes.  Duncan
Booth made a MSVC project for an older version, if anyone has updated
this for the parser in ParsedXML 1.0 and can get me the library, I can
release a windows binary.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Beaumont [mailto:cbeaumon@msri.org]
> Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2001 4:42 PM
> To: zope@zope.org
> Subject: [Zope] Can Zope act as an XML capable http client?

> Can I use Zope to connect to this DB and download the XML via regular
> HTTP, and then parse it?
> Id like to then be able to write it to *my* database using a ZSQL method..
> 
> Is this feasible?

If you are familiar with DOM, this sounds feasable.

-- 
Karl Anderson                          karl@digicool.com