Is XML best for this job?

Ok. Firstly, I know only a little XML.

I'm a contract developer and have been given the task of writing a radio stations weekly time_sheet software. Basically, writing an application that allows presenters to grab their shows time_sheet and get on with their job.

The stations computers are not networked, and won't be for several months. What I planned on doing was using PHP and Apache to present the pages.

As for storing the content, I considered a database, but because they're not networked, this would lead to a lot of redundancy. This is where I thought XML may come in handy.

Using XML to store content, the administrator could write up the time_sheets and have them saved as XML documents. This XML document could be moved studio to studio on disk, as opposed to having several databases on each machine and having to remirror the data. All it would be a matter of doing then, is loading up the local page, loading the XML doc from the disk, parse it and display the oppropriate content.

If that sounds like a sound idea; is the following an ideal mark-up.

//--------------------//
<data>
<log_sheet id="1">
<show>Country Gospel>
<show_time>6:00am - 8:30am</show_time>
<head_notes>
Please turn on the external speakers before beginning
</head_notes>
<time_slot>
<slot_time>6:05am</slot_time>
<cass side="A" track="6">Station ID</cass>
<cd track="01">Advance Australia Fair</cd>
<live>
Welcome to Country Gospel. I'll be with you right through
to 8:30am playing the latest and crappiest Gospel Music known
to man-kind.
</live>
</time_slot>
<time_slot>
<slot_time>6:15am</slot_time>
<cass side="B" track="03">We desperatly need presenters...</cass>
<cd track="06">Heres the Boo-Ya tribe singing "blah"</cd>
<live>
Hello, world!
</live>
</time_slot>
</log_sheet>
</data>
//---------------//

Obviously, the dtd isn't present. Also note that the whitespace is missing. <log_sheet> and </log_sheet> is the time sheet for the presenter, so there will be many <log_sheets>'s in the document.

Theres probably a few errors in there, but that's the general jist of what will be displayed.

Any feedback would be seriously appreciated.

Yours,
Estron

Estron-

I think XML may be too complex for the problem you want to solve. I think a simple db with some entry forms would suffice. Have it set on the secretary's PC and have him/her print out the sheets for the day. Done and done.

When you get into the XML realm it's not just the data you have to worry about. The user interface to get the information into an XML format is a huge concern. If you don't mind creating some intelligent front end to accept valid values and then write out XML on the backside then your huevos are bigger than mine!! XML would work best in a networked environment where the data sat on a server and then each of the DJ’s could run a transformation against the doc using params for their name and/or time slot. They would each get a doc back to their screen with info specifically for their show. If the network is not going to happen then I would pick a different solution. I _LOVE_ XML, but it is not always the best solution.

Chinnman Out.

Thanks for the reply, and sorry for the slow response.

The reason why they want the application written is because they wish to avoid using paper. They spend approx. $6000 (AU) on paper per year and having a screen based time_sheet system would cut costs over the long haul.

Because databases aren't transportable, I figured i turn to another solution (XML). The document sizes would be small enough to fit on disk, thus allowing them to be moved studio to studio as needed.

The easiest solution I can find (aside from getting them on a network) would be to; create the time_sheets and store them in a db, DJ then logs in and gets his timesheet as a generated html doc (saves installing apache and php on all studio machines), dj saves html doc to disk and ships it about.

All the hard work would be done (and it 'aint that hard) on the mysql machine.

Sound like a viable solution?

yours,
estron