Re: [xsl] Question on storing Dates for Calendar Items

[David_Marston at lotus dot com]

Brian Gollwitzer wrote:
>I'm currently using ODBC and ASP to serve up calendar information
>in a table/list format.  The table consists of two columns,
>Event Description and Event Date and is sorted by Event Date.
>The Event Date is stored in the DB as a Date Data Type.
>...
>Using ASP I create the XML file and it looks like below.
>...<date>12-Feb-01</date>
>...What I'm wondering is
>1. What is a good way to store this date information so it can be
>easily sorted.

In terms of current technology, you could use the "Dublin Core"
representation, described at
http://purl.org/DC/documents/rec-dces-19990702.htm
which I believe harmonizes with ISO-8601 (yyyymmdd).

>I know I could just sort the data server-side before writing it to the
>XML file and xsl:for-each running through them in order knowing they
>are already sorted...

This looks like a great idea to me, since the RDBMS suppliers have
extensive experience in query/retrieval optimization.

XML Schemas should provide more options for you. Start looking into
schemas now if you want to be on the laeding edge.
.................David Marston


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