April 19, 2005
@ 04:49 PM
Comments [12]
Ideas for my next Extreme XML column on MSDN

It looks like I didn't get an Extreme XML column out last month. Work's been hectic but I think I should be able to start on a column by the end of the week and get it done before the end of the month. I have a couple of ideas I'd like to write about but as usual I'm curious as to what folks would be interested in reading about. Below are three article ideas in order of preference. 

  1. Using Javascript, XMLHttpRequest and RSS to create an MSN Spaces photo album browser: The RSS feed for a space on MSN Spaces contains information about the most recent updates to a user's blog, photo album and lists. RSS items containing lists are indicated by using the msn:type element with the value "photoalbum". It is possible to build a photo album browser for various spaces by using a combination of Javascript for dynamic display and XMLHttpRequest for consuming the RSS feed. Of course, my code sample will be nowhere near as cool as the Flickr related tag browser.

  2. Fun with operator overloading and XML: This would be a follow up piece to my Overview of Cω article. This article explores how one could simulate adding XML specific language extensions by overloading various operators on the System.Xml.XmlNode class.

  3. Processing XML in the Real World: 10 Things To Worry About When Processing RSS feeds on the Web: This will be an attempt to distill the various things I've learned over the 2 years I've been working on RSS Bandit. It will cover things like how to properly use the System.Xml.XmlReader class for processing RSS feeds in a streaming fashion, bandwidth saving tips from GZip encoding to sending If-Modified-Since/If-None-Match headers in the request, dealing with proxy servers and authentication.

Which ones would you like to see and/or what is your order of preference?


 

Categories: XML
Tracked by:
"Fun with XMLHttpRequest and RSS: Browsing Photo Albums on MSN Spaces" (Dare Oba... [Trackback]
"RSS and AJAX as Disruptive Technologies" (Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life) [Trackback]
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Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:22:51 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
3,1,2... Though I think #1 would be really hot right now as that's the latest rage with the kids.
haacked@gmail.com (Haacked)
Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:41:39 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
I'd really love to see comparison of C-omega xml features, E4X, and XJ (http://www.research.ibm.com/xj/). Please :)
Gia
Tuesday, 19 April 2005 18:36:46 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
3, 1, 2.

I'm painfully aware of not knowing System.Xml.XmlReader well enough to use it properly.
Kevin Daly
Tuesday, 19 April 2005 19:26:32 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
Processing XML in the Real World article would be nice.
rogelio
Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:54:23 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
#1 with a bullet because it's all the rage, then #2 because it's interesting, then #3 because it's practical.
Rubikzube*
Tuesday, 19 April 2005 22:18:34 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
3, 2, 1

I'm really interested in how you handle:
"bandwidth saving tips from GZip encoding to sending If-Modified-Since/If-None-Match headers in the request"
Adnan Wasim
Wednesday, 20 April 2005 01:21:09 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
#3 with a bullet, baby!
Jason Kemp
Wednesday, 20 April 2005 01:22:29 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
#1, #3, then #2 is my vote.

Also, I can't find any documentation on the msn:type element (or anything else on the MSN namespace used in RSS). Can you direct me to more info about it.

(I'm trying to keep track of RSS namespaces in common usage, and whatever MSN is doing is something I think I should consider "common" ;-) TIA
Jay Fienberg
Wednesday, 20 April 2005 04:05:46 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
3, 2, 1. 3 Souds really useful. 2 Sounds really cool. 1 Sounds kind of tired due to all the recent hype.
cbilson@pobox.com (Chris Bilson)
Wednesday, 20 April 2005 09:18:49 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
3,1,2
Peter
Wednesday, 20 April 2005 12:47:25 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
2,3,1
Oleg Tkachenko
Thursday, 21 April 2005 12:17:21 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
I put my vote on :<br />"Processing XML in the Real World: 10 Things To Worry About When Processing RSS feeds on the Web".<br /><br />For those of us who have been spending most time in vb6 desktop applications, using Web Services from .NET, Visual Studio is the wrong way to start learning Web Services. Http and all the xml stuff is simply hidden from us and its no surprise that naive geeks like me writes slow and unreliable web service oriented applications. My eyes opened really wide when I started digging into RSS Bandit and the recent discussions about REST vs. SOAP. Although we would probably still be implementing Web Services in Visual Studio, but the way we design it and consume it will definitely benefit from your insights.
richard.hsu@gmail.com (Richard Hsu)
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