On Tue, 2005-01-18 at 09:20 +0100, Henrik Stoerner wrote:
I've had some requests for generating reports in CSV (comma-separated values) format. That is one option; a more flexible solution would be to export the report data in an XML format - since everybody seems to be adopting XML as a universal data exchange format, I think that would make the most sense.
Suggestion: make it modular! There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of formats out there. Do The Right Thing (tm) and simply make an API so others can tack on a report writer that outputs their favorite format. That way, you're not pulling your hair out trying to keep up with format changes, requests for new formats and such. Provide a basic report writer to get people started (to pull data out as an an example of writing a report writer). A text-delimited writer would be ideal, then people can output a comma/tab/pipe/slash/carrot/whatever delimited ASCII file to get started.
Others can then add more, like an OpenOffice.org writer, GNUPlot, Postscript, PDF, HP OpenView, GNUCash (why not) or whatever their hearts desire
-- --Jeff
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