FlatXml

What is FlatXml?

• XML for people who doesn't like XML
• XML for flat people

Why use FlatXml instead of XML or JSON?

• Because is new, and using new things is fun!

How to write a fxml file

FlatXml can be explained in a few recipes.

First recipe: Use </> no more

Write

filter include="*.class" exclude="*.html"

instead of

<filter include="*.class" exclude="*.html" />

Second recipe: Use {}

Write

task name="createFile"
{
	create filename="newfile.txt"
}

instead of

<task name="createFile">
	<create filename="newfile.txt" />
</task>

Third recipe: Use the value attribute

Write

property name="base.dir" value="/home/user"

instead of

<property name="base.dir">/home/user</property>

Fourth recipe: Define properties with $

Write

$base.dir /home/user

as a shortcut for

property name="base.dir" value="/home/user"

Fifth recipe: Define meta attributes with @

Write

@author Noel
@version 0.1
@draft

or

meta-attr name="author" value="Noel"
meta-attr name="version" value="0.1"
meta-attr name="draft"

to define meta attributes.

Sixth recipe: Comment your code

# This is a comment

Last steps

• Mix it during a few hours
• Add some tomato sauce
• Bake it on the oven
• After 30 minutes you'll have a fxml file ready to eat. Enjoy it!

Serialization and deserialization

How to deserialize?

string inFilename = "input.fxml";
Deserializer d = new Deserializer();
IEnumerable<FXmlElement> elements = d.Deserialize(File.OpenRead(inFilename));
if (elements == null)
{
	PrintErrors(d.Errors);
	return;
}

How to serialize?

IEnumerable<FXmlElement> elements;
...
string outFilename = "output.fxml";
Serializer s = new Serializer();
Stream stream = s.Serialize(elements);
using (FileStream file = File.OpenWrite(outFilename))
{
	stream.CopyTo(file);
}