xml: is it useful to organize my personal data collection?
ProgrammingThis forum is for all programming questions.
The question does not have to be directly related to Linux and any language is fair game.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
xml: is it useful to organize my personal data collection?
In my job, I have to collect a heterogeneous set of files. Among the different types of files, I have spreadsheets, word processor documents in proprietary and open formats, pdfs, images in various formats and also my notes as text files.
My goal is to organize all this mix of data into a systematic set, easy to search and easy to reclassify and to keep.
Hopefully, I would like to set this up soon, in a matter of weeks.
I'm beginning to develop interest in xml and its potential. I have the feeling that it could meet my needs to handle different types of documents, create new ones, in a more organized fashion and consolidate my data. So far I'm reading some introductory material and I also understand that there are databases that handle xml natively.
My question at this point are:
1) Am I going in the right direction? Should I persist learning xml for this purpose? And if it is the case, what sequence of reading/training/tutorials do you recommend so that I develop some fluency with the tools?
2) Should I look into other tools/ways to efficiently handle my diverse/heterogeneous data?
XML is a format for transferring data between applications - so yes, continue on. As a start take a look at w3schools, their lessons are short and easy to follow, you may also want to look at XSLT for transforming your data
In your case the data is based on the same type of object (files) so it will be fairly straight forward to generate the XML
The defining question would be, how much does data need to be shared by common applications? If the answer is 'a lot', then converting it to a common file format makes some sense. If not, then it is probably a waste of time. If your objective is purely a matter of organization, then either a document management system or content management system probably make more sense.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.