[ic] *ML to transmit an entire catalog, ECML

[cfm@maine.com]

On Tue, Mar 06, 2001 at 12:26:29PM -0500, Mike Heins wrote:
> Quoting cfm@maine.com (cfm@maine.com):
> > 
> > re: *ML to transmit an entire catalog and ECML, two questions
> > 
> > 1)
> > I'm looking for a *ML schema suitable for transmitting an entire
> > catalog.  There must be such (or more than one) thing.  Can anyone
> > suggest what to look at?
> 
> Not the foggiest idea what you are talking about. What is *ML?

Why does that happen to me?  Makes perfect sense to **me**.  :-)

We're looking at ways clients and other sites can transmit their 
catalog data to us.  The analogy would be RDF/RSS for articles.

Mostly now we ftp various database structures.  I'm wondering if
there is some standard XML, SGML, (*ML) markup (and there are probably
many) that clients or sites so inclined might use.  We upload some
of our catalog data to other vertical sites and it seems to me that 
we could receive such uploads ourselves.

It's the mall thing again.  :-) 

> > 2)
> > Along the path I looked at ECML, a wallet API.  If we converted
> > our checkout forms as they suggest, does this mean that any ECML
> > wallet would just work with our catalogs?  I note that Yahoo 
> > wallet is not on the list at www.ecml.org.
> > 
> > This would be a painful transition, mapping and reorganizing all those
> > fields, but my experience is that any solid standard is almost always
> > better than the results of many years of ad hoc evolution.  :-)
> 
> Have you looked at Vend::ECML? It remaps the field names to Interchange
> names and vice versa for sessions....

Yes.  We'd aim at aligning our field names with it long term.  But
only IF it actually works.  That's the real question.  I guess it
must or that module would not have been written, no?

cfm

-- 

Christopher F. Miller, Publisher                             cfm@maine.com
MaineStreet Communications, Inc         208 Portland Road, Gray, ME  04039
1.207.657.5078                                       http://www.maine.com/
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