[gurps] Building a VehicleML

[Thomas Thrien]

----------| Am 17.02.2009 21:21 schrieb Onno Meyer: |----------
>> So, when you say it can be processed by computer, how are you looking for
>> it
>> to be processed?  Entry into a database of some sort?  Some means for the
>> HTML readers to be able to process the data in the file?  
>>     
>
> Three options. 
>
> I could make the VehicleML file(s) available, as Roger 
> suggested, so you could do all sorts of things at home,
> like "list all TL8 ground vehicles over $1M". Pro: you
> can do all sorts of things with the file. Con: I can't
> control what you do with it. While I've already given 
> permission for non-commercial use of my work, there 
> are other peoples' vehicles in the collection ...
>
> I could build a web interface into my homepage which 
> allows you to do all sorts of things. Pro: I have more
> control. Con: I have to do all the work myself.
>
> I could do the transformation at home and put only the
> result online. Pro: Easy to do, and easy to proof-read.
> Con: you cannot do specific searches or exports.
>
>   
Ok Onno, that's what *you* can do/want to do.

But such a VehicleML could be also the format to exchange vehicle
definitions; it could be used to set up a commonly accessible vehicle
database on the web; perhaps it could be also the new storage format for
the official GURPS vehicle builder.

I understand that your primary goal was to have something that helps you
to give your vehicle library a new, better, more flexible format. That's
a good and valid intention. But then you started a public discussion
about that format. About something that seems to be great idea, a nice
thing for all of us, but you always limit your vision to what it can do
for *you* only.

Obviously there is some interest in that topic here in this group, and I
assume that there are some more people here knowing more about XML than
just that it is something related to  computers. Perhaps a broader
vision of the possibilities of a VehicleML could motivate some more of
them to enter the discussion and helping you to create a common, a
universal format for vehicle write-ups and perhaps even the necessary
tools to handle it.

thr

-- 
Thomas Thrien
Geo 51° 28' 12" N 7° 32' 17" E