FW: [topicmapmail] stupid question?

[Daniel Rivers-Moore]

At RivCom, we are also using XSLT with XTM, on real world topic maps for
real world clients. There are performance issues, but these can be
reduced, as far as speed is concerned, by using xsl:key. We also deliver
the topic map to the XSLT processor in multiple input files, using the
xsl:document capability, driven by a configuration file which references
the documents.

We run a pipeline of XSLT transformations, using NewsML as an
intermediate form. NewsML was designed to be topic-map compliant, but
adopts the approach of expressing topic associations through Properties
of the various topics involved in the association.

The first transformation resolves the topic associations and groups the
data required for publishing into a NewsML document. All the topics
associated with a given topic are referenced via NewsML <Property>
subelements of the NewsML <Topic> element (one Property for each member
of the association). [For more information about NewsML, you can visit
the International Press Telecommunication Council's website at
www.iptc.org.]

The second transformation converts the NewsML representation to HTML for
publication to the website.

This approach makes the final XSLT reasonably simple and easy to
maintain in the face of changing user-interface requirements. We modify
the first XSLT transform rarely, usually when the underlying data model
is changed or extended.

We modify the second XSLT transform if different data needs to be
presented to the user, or a new website "skin" (functionality and
navigation) is required based on the same topic map subset. Look and
feel is handled as far as possible in CSS.

We currently run the transformations in batch mode, creating a static
HTML website. We have have found the approach works reasonably well on a
dataset of about 3,000 topics. Other than processing time, the main
limitation would seem to be memory - instant Saxon handles the
processing OK, but the Java version gives memory errors with the large
files.

We have done some quite promising prototyping using Cocoon to do the
same thing dynamically, although performance is still an issue here, and
more critically so in a dynamic environment ... watch this space.

Daniel Rivers-Moore
Content Development Director, RivCom Ltd
Editor, NewsML version 1.0

t: +44 (0)1793 792004
f: +44 (0)1793 792001
e: daniel.rivers-moore@rivcom.com
<mailto:daniel.rivers-moore@rivcom.com>
w: www.rivcom.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Nikita Ogievetsky [mailto:nogievet@cogx.com]
Sent: 03 September 2002 14:15
To: topicmapmail@infoloom.com
Subject: Re: [topicmapmail] stupid question?


Hmmm... For some time I was not receiving emails
from this list and was actually wondering why it is so silent... :-)

I hope that it is not too late to jump into the discussion about XSLT
applicability for the XTM processing.
My problem is that I am a practitioner, not a theorist.
I loved XSLT and I just did it. And actually more than two years ago
[1].
The solution scales up to 10,000 topics.
As Jack  had mentioned, samples of my work are in the XML Topic Maps
book
[2].
Some more information, tutorial synopsis and source code are available
online[3].
For publicly available large scale production implementation of this
approach see Kodak's digital products and accessories web site [4],
a work reported by Terry Badger and myself at  Extreme conference this
year.

The main advantages of XSLT in application to Topic Maps (as well as to
many
other things) are:
1) It is powerful.
2) Given a right processor, it scales.
3) It is ubiquitous.
4) Most of XSLT processors are free.

If you already know XSLT, it might be worth exploring this technology in
application to Topic Maps.

[1] http://www.cogx.com/Extreme2000/
[2] XML Topic Maps: Creating and Using Topic Maps for the Web. ISBN
0-201-74960-2.
[3] http://www.cogx.com/ctw/default.html
[4] http://www.kodak.com/global/en/digital/accessories/accessories.jhtml

--Nikita.

  Nikita Ogievetsky,             Cogitech Inc.
  Topic Maps Tutorials and Consultancy
  nogievet@cogx.com   --   (917) 406-8734
  http://www.cogx.com     Cogito Ergo XML



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