RE: [xsl] General Searching query

[Wendell Piez <wapiez at mulberrytech dot com>]

Andrew,

At 12:01 PM 12/18/01, you wrote:
>Ive had a look at dbXML and it looks good... however, it uses JDK1.3 and a
>requirement is we must use the Microsoft VM that ships with IE. (we cannot
>add anything that alters the clients setup)
>
>The XML files are simply in a folder, and not in any kind of database.  So I
>guess Im now asking:
>
>-Is it possible to search a standard folder on a clients hard disk of around
>10,000 XML files (10k each), using the Microsoft VM and MSXML2.5 (possibly
>3) in a reasonable amount of time?
>
> >>If the source is marked up sufficiently well, you could index off it.
>
>The XML is generated from SGML... if that is sufficiently well(?)

It all depends on how well designed the SGML was! (and how lossy the 
conversion may have been).

>If you do have any ideas, please be give me a good start :)

Other answers to this thread have already suggested that the basic problem 
you are facing is not an XSLT issue as such, but one that has to do with 
the limitations of your storage model (files on a Windows system), and 
searching across that. A pure XSLT solution (I can't speak to MSXML2.5) is 
possible (making heavy use of document() and some kind of driver file), but 
no one seems to imagine it's going to perform very well. Pre-digesting the 
data in some form to create an index or hash of some kind should help, but 
that gets into other questions of your design such as how the data is 
updated, etc., that we haven't really addressed.

But basically, you're kind of asking whether you can take your touring bike 
across an unpaved mountain pass. We're not saying you can't, just that ... 
your mileage may vary. An all-terrain vehicle, or investing in some 
road-building, might be called for.

I hope that clarifies,
Wendell




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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@mulberrytech.com
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