[XML-SIG] Mixed encodings and XML

uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com
Wed, 13 Dec 2000 17:18:49 -0700


> This is not really related to text encodings, but somewhat similar:
> 
> Is there a standard way of including binary data in XML files ?

No.

> I would like to put a complete web-site into a (large) XML file.
> The XML file should ideally contain not only the structure 
> information, attributes, etc. but also the HTML files, the images
> and maybe even sound files or flash apps.

Ah.  This is similar to what the ebXML folks and the SOAP folks were at odds 
over.  Not, this is a well-known deficiency in XML.  The most common 
suggestion is: put it all into one file, separate them with form-feeds, and 
have the application process each bit separately.  Clearly this doesn't suit 
your needs, but there's not much more to go on right now.

> Is something like this possible or will I have to use some
> other storage method for the binary parts and reference these
> from within the XML file (I would prefer not to, so that I can
> include e.g. the HTML file content in XML searches) ?

Could you expand on this last bit about the searches?  It hints at what might 
be a work-around if that's your main concern.


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                               Principal Consultant
uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com               +1 303 583 9900 x 101
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