XML forums - sample of basic forums system, based on XML

8/18/00

1. Why?

Few good reasons:

·        I wanted to test the performance of msxml object, the free threaded version, when placed in the application object

·         I got bored of storing data in db - there are so many times a man can do SELECT

2. How the system works?

The system consists of 3 parts:

·        ASP pages: not much here - just read the XSL pages, handles some replaces and some minor logic

·        XSL pages: Format the different pages

·        MainXML.xml file: This is the replacement to the DB - all the data is stored there.

 When the application is initialized, the data in the mainXML.xml file is loaded to the memory to a free threaded msxml DOM object, making the data access pretty fast. When a new data is added, the data in the DOM is stored on the disk, to enable persistence.
The persistence mechanism of course, is not very efficient - but it's good enough for testing - the system supposes to provide fast access for reading - not writing.

 3. Installation

Easy:

·        Make sure you have msxml on the server (if you have ie5 it should work)

·        Create a folder under wwwroot called "xmlforums"

·        Copy all files; make sure you keep the same directory structure

·        Point your browser to the http://[your web server]/xmlForums

 

4. License and stuff

I'm not sure there is much to do with this system, but if you find it useful, fell free to use it as you please. The only thing I ask is to send me a piece of mail so I’ll know someone is using this

 

 

Roey Ben-amotz
roey@benamotz.com