XML creation: Part 1

• December 25, 2007
• James Skemp
• tutorials / guides

In this guide, I'll be creating an XML file to store the Playstation games I own, and ultimately make the XML file 'pretty' for Web browsers. I've done this in the past, with my vehicle gas XML document.

The idea

The XML file that I want to create should be able to store all of my Playstation games. Since I own games for multiple generations of the Playstation, I'll want to be able to distinguish between them.

I also want to continue to store the information that I'm storing elsewhere, namely, the date I purchased the game, where I purchased it and for how much, as well as whether I sold the game, and, ultimately, whether I still own it.

The structure

Now that I have an idea of what I'll want to store, I can start digging into how the XML file should be structured.

First, since I'll be storing a number of games, I'll want to wrap them all.

Under that, I'll have each individual game.

For each game, there will be a title, as well as a system, purchase and sell information, including date and price, information about whether I still own it, and any notes.

We then have a basic structure something like the following.

• games
  • game
    • title
    • system
      • console
      • version
    • purchase
      • date
      • price
      • place
    • sell
      • date
      • price
    • own
    • notes
  • game ...
  • game ...

We'll start with this structure and start adding data, to see if it still makes sense.

• xml