Re: chaining serializer calls

Stefan Haustein wrote:

> > when i was using XmlSerializer i have realized it would be very handy to
> > be able to chain serialization calls by returning this XmlSerializer instance
> > from all void serialization calls, ex:
> >
> >  ser.startTag("", "foo");
> >  ser.text("test");
> >  ser.endTag("", "foo");
> >
> > would could be written as:
> >
> >  ser.startTag("", "foo").text("test").endTag("", "foo");
> >
> > what do you think about it?
>
> In my opinion, it does not buy too much, and the chain would be
> broken where methods have "real" return values. So I think it
> would create more confusion than really help.

the only methods that return value:
    public String getPrefix (String namespace, boolean generatePrefix);
    public Object getProperty(String name);
    public boolean getFeature(String name);
are not used to write output.

this is just sugar syntax - it has no other justification then
to make easier to write XML serialization code
but still if we can make it easier why not do it?

thanks,

alek