On 8/12/07, DanTMan dan_the_man@telus.net wrote:
I was starting a new Wiki-Tools SVN repo to replace the in page code on our wiki you'd copy into files for extensions I've made. And I thought of throwing in some of the extra bits my ideas for a MediaWiki Extension manager extension would need. So I am thinking of putting together a Extension Manager. I thought of using INI files for the settings and throwing those through PHP's core ini parsing functions. But INI doesn't fit the multiple values and other things that would be used in the configuration data files for the Extensions read by the Extension manager. So I decided to use XML. But what code should I use to parse the XML files? Is there a standard PHP function set/class for parsing XML that is widely used on most servers (I don't want to require PHP to be reconfigured with another add on just to run the Extension Manager), some PHP library I could include in the manager, or some MediaWiki code for parsing XML? What would be the best thing to use? I'm not sure what PHP functions or anything are widely used and would be supported by most people. I just share JaeSharp's Virtual Hosting, so because we can recompile PHP with anything we need I don't know much about what php restrictions people may have being on a shared WebHost.
-- ~Daniel Friesen(Dantman) of The Gaiapedia, Wikia Graphical Entertainment Project, and Wiki-Tools.com
It is fairly simple to parse XML via PCRE, but I wonder what is wrong with using the database for the settings. The tables could be created on the fly so you wouldn't have to worry about schema changes. Also PHP code is a good way of storing settings, you can then use eval() to get back at them later. Regarding restrictions, generally all extensions except the most popular and those needed (e.g. mysql) aren't available. I made a phpinfo() on my shared host http://idkb.eu/phpinfo.php that should give you some help since it lists all extensions. MinuteElectron.