[CQ-Contest] XML File conversion for Contest Software

[Doug Smith W9WI]

On Tue, 2004-04-13 at 09:13, Ward Willats wrote:
> want to export my log to LOTW (say) I have to write my own MySQL to 
> ADIF routines (which I have almost completed and will make available 
> shortly).

I've already done this for my homebrew general QSO logger.  Of course,
it's a lot easier to write an ADIF export routine than it is to do ADIF
import!  (I have, however, successfully done ADIF import too.  At least
it works with the ADIF that LogWindows creates.)  
 
> Plus, when you actually try to code to the ADIF "spec" you realize it 
> is a half-specified hack that everyone interprets different subsets 
> of. You wind up wishing for the XML-style "grammar" provided by a 
> DTD, Schema or Relax spec so completeness and correctness can be 
> verified _automatically_.

ADIF - so close to XML and so far away...

I wonder how most ADIF parsers treat invalid tags?  If you were to do
something like:

<QSO>
	<CALL:4>W9WI</CALL>
	<BAND:3>20M</BAND>
	...
</QSO>
<EOR>

would ADIF upchuck?  Would most XML parsers ignore the unmatched <EOR>? 
(I don't have either standard immediately in front of me)  

I suppose an ADIF=>XML converter would be relatively easy to write in
Perl.  
 
> As it is, ADIF and Cabrillo are ridiculous 
> provincial walled-gardens.

In their defense, IIRC ADIF was created before XML achieved any
popularity; and Cabrillo was created for a specific limited purpose and
to interface with logchecking software.  

Incidentially, I can recommend the URL VE5ZX suggested for reading up on
XML.  
-- 
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN  EM66
http://www.w9wi.com