Dr Gerard Hammond wrote:
I am thinking of using the FTC to collect user information via a OSX and Win32 RB client app. The info will be stored in a database (perhaps after I BASE64 encode it)What I was wondering, would it be better to store the FTC info in the db as XML and then when I need it, transform that XML into RTF (when I print from the RB Clients) or XML-HTML when I access the data from a Web browser accessing the same info in the same central db.Or is it better to store it as RTF in the DB and transform RTF-> HTML when required?I seem to be leaning towards the XML in the DB, as XML->HTML and XML->RTF (and XML->PDF) are reasonably well-known transformations. Which would you use?
The XML format is a "lossless" format. You can lose information when you translate to RTF. For example, if you have custom objects, they will be converted to pictures if you store it as RTF. So the best thing you can do is store it as XML and this way you leave your options open in the future for the sake of flexibility. Personally, I would store it as XML. You could use a stored procedure on the server side to translate it to the desired format such as RTF or HTML or do it in the client application. FTC Website: www.truenorthsoftware.com/Realbasic/FormattedText.html Set List Options (digest and vacation modes): www.freelists.org/list/ftcdev List Archive: www.freelists.org/archives/ftcdev Unsubscribe: Send email to ftcdev-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the subject field.