Re: Using XML for audit trail

I was thinking of record delineation, parsing, etc.
-Mont


On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 10:28 AM, John Warner <[email protected]> wrote:

> Well, I imagine you are still creating your own DTD or schema so how would
> that be all that different from your own file format?
>
> John Warner
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Discussion of advanced .NET topics. [mailto:ADVANCED-
> > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Mont Rothstein
> > Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 1:13 PM
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: Re: [ADVANCED-DOTNET] Using XML for audit trail
> >
> > OK, thanks for the clarification.  It sounds like by using fragments I
> > should be safe and I can avoid creating my own record format (which is
> why
> > we have XML in the first place).
> > -Mont
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 1:59 PM, John Brett <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Perhaps I should explain. The server received fragments of text which
> is
> > > appended to and XML file. Sometimes the server hung and the log file
> was
> > > there for diagnosis but because and incomplete fragment had been
> written
> > out
> > > the file wasn't valid XML.
> > >
> > > I wish I'd known about XML fragment documents at the time.
> > >
> > > Sent from my iPhone
> > >
> > >
> > > On 27 Feb 2009, at 18:19, Mont Rothstein <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >  John,
> > >>
> > >> Thanks for the feedback and info.
> > >>
> > >> Do you have any insight into what was causing the failures?  Our logs
> are
> > >> unlikely to be anything close to 10 MB in size.
> > >>
> > >> Thanks,
> > >> -Mont
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:41 PM, John Brett <[email protected]
> > >> >wrote:
> > >>
> > >>  Hi Mont,
> > >>>
> > >>> I've just been through the same thought exercise.
> > >>>
> > >>> I concluded that xml simply isn't a good format to use for a
> continual
> > >>> logging system.
> > >>> My conclusions were, in part, based upon seeing an internal system
> > >>> that did pretty much what you're describing fail periodically,
> leaving
> > >>> behind a log file that was no longer valid xml (and therefore
> couldn't
> > >>> be parsed by all the standard tools we had in place). Trying to read
> a
> > >>> 10Mb sort-of xml document in a text editor to diagnose faults is
> > >>> pretty tedious.
> > >>>
> > >>> My solution was to use a different serialisation format (structured
> > >>> text) that was record-oriented, and then to have a separate phase
> > >>> which could convert a given snapshot of the log into xml.
> > >>>
> > >>> HTH,
> > >>> John
> > >>>
> > >>> 2009/2/27 Mont Rothstein <[email protected]>:
> > >>>
> > >>>> I want to use XML for an audit trail.  The problem I am having is
> that I
> > >>>> would like to only use append operations to write to the file.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> My thought had been to write an element to each line, with
> sub-elements
> > >>>>
> > >>> and
> > >>>
> > >>>> the end on the same line.  I could then parse each line when
> reading the
> > >>>> file.  The problem is I can't figure out how to get the XML for a
> > >>>> node/element/document, and all of the sub-elements, to write out as
> a
> > >>>>
> > >>> single
> > >>>
> > >>>> line.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Alternatively  I could use some other mechanism to parse the file
> and
> > >>>>
> > >>> read
> > >>>
> > >>>> each audit entry (xml element with sub-elements) in sequence.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Any suggestions on how to either write the XML as a single line or
> a
> > >>>> preferred method for parsing elements in a file one at a time?
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Thanks,
> > >>>> -Mont
> > >>>>
> > >>>> ===================================
> > >>>> View archives and manage your subscription(s) at
> > >>>>
> > >>> http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives
> > >>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>> ===================================
> > >>> View archives and manage your subscription(s) at
> > >>> http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >> ===================================
> > >> View archives and manage your subscription(s) at
> > >> http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives
> > >>
> > >
> > > ===================================
> > > View archives and manage your subscription(s) at
> > > http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives
> > >
> >
> > ===================================
> > View archives and manage your subscription(s) at
> > http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives
>
> ===================================
> View archives and manage your subscription(s) at
> http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives
>

===================================
View archives and manage your subscription(s) at http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives