XML definitions best practices

Question

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I have a block of data that represents a location on a map
It has the following fields:
X, Y, Index.
The xml will be used in C# App
What is the best practice way
to define this data in xml:
1.

XML

<location>
  <X>
    100
  </X>
  <Y>
    200
  </Y>
  <Index>
    4
  </Index>
</location

2.

XML

<location>
   X=100
   Y=200
   Index=4
</location>

Posted 6-Jun-13 4:02am

dj4400

Updated 6-Jun-13 5:53am

StM0n

v2

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fixthebugg · Answer 1 · 2013-06-06T04:42:00

Solution 2

Have a look at xml-attributes-vs-elements[^]

Posted 6-Jun-13 4:42am

fixthebugg

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Jun-13 12:18pm

OP does not consider attributes vs. element. Take a look at the question again: it's elements vs. unstructured trash. :-)
—SA

Amol_27101982, India · Answer 2 · 2013-06-06T04:08:00

Solution 1

I think the first approach is best. This will make your xml parsing easy as well.

<location>
<X>100</X>
<Y>200</Y>
<Index>4</Index>
</location>

Posted 6-Jun-13 4:08am

Amol_27101982, India

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 3 · 2013-06-06T06:17:00

Second one it simply unacceptable, period. Do you want to parse the single text node you demonstrated into three parameters? And what do you think, what the XML parser is used for? (However, such practice is sometimes used, if the text is really big, and the parser is already available…)

—SA

**Zoltán Zörgő** · Answer 4 · 2013-06-06T08:03:00

I would suggest the third approach in this scenario: attributes. Look at the following sample:

XML

<locations>
 <location index="1" x="100" y="200" />
 <location index="2" x="10" y="20" />
 <location index="3" x="40" y="50" />
</locations>

It looks clearer, doesn't it?
Of course there can be considerations where this isn't the good practice (I suggest you look at the thread linked by learner'sbug, and the articles referred there). But as in this situation we have a simple list of elements with fixed and really simple structure, it might be considered.

XML definitions best practices

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