batch wizard reports in xml?

[jeroenvg]

i'm looking for a way to change the structure/ presentation of batch wizard reports - server or client side - and i'd like to change more than is possible with style sheets.

if batch wizard results for validation, links and spelling would be more like 'data' - xml for example - and less 'structured and styled reports', that would be a good starting point.

from reading the help and forum, i believe this is possible for one or more validations in the editor or from the command line, but not for a whole website in the batch wizard.

did i get this right?

[Albert Wiersch]

Hello,

Yes, you are right. XML output is currently available for single documents only and not through the Batch Wizard.

Would you like to see one large XML file with all the data from a Batch Wizard run?

[jeroenvg]

hello!

yes, one big xml file per tool (validator, link check, spell check) would be good.

it'd even be better if the batch wizard and validator configuration would work for the xml output too, but that wouldn't have priority as long as it's possible to recognize report source html/ messages/ groups/ sections by their element name, so they can be included/ excluded or showed/ hidden.

[Albert Wiersch]

Thanks for the feedback. I've made a note of the suggestion. It is something I would like to do but because there doesn't seem to be too much desire for this feature, it is not a high priority.

If anyone else could use this and is reading this, then please reply to this thread and mention it so I can get a better idea of the demand for this functionality.

[MikeGale]

I think this is a great idea.

I would use it, probably via LINQ rather than XSLT.

[mhutchis]

XML output (or any database importable output) from the batch wizard would be fantastic. To be honest, I thought this was already in the product when I read that XML output was an option. If anyone else would like this feature, please post a message to indicate your interest.

[Albert Wiersch]

I will investigate this for v11. I could just change the output format of the Batch Wizard report pages to XML. The pages would basically be the same and contain the same content, but it would be formatted in a more parser friendly way with XML. Would this be useful? Thank you.

[MikeGale]

On maybe a longer time scale I'd recommend output/s which retain more of the meaning than you can put into a web page.

Outputs like that would appeal to existing and new audiences, but I don't know what the uptake would be. The new audiences would potentially include, corporate users who automate processes and the current crop of developers who are experimenting with (and sometimes using) Facebook, twitter, bitly... API's.

The idea I'm thinking of here is to have additional "serialisers/serializers" in addition to the existing web page serialiser. (In the work I do this might be a call to an uber-serialiser that then fires off parallel serialisations, maybe implemented as stringwriters...)

Two come to mind. An XML and a JSON. From what I've seen the JSON might be more popular, though an XML serialisation, with a few supplied XSLT's would be very easy to use (even directly into a browser!).

One use would be customised "bad link" reports which could be distributed to suit the situation. (email, RSS, blog, messaging...)

A simple file drop output would do the job, but if there were also a way to directly fire a handler program that would be more useful to some. Maybe the "call" would be a configurable external program with a signature something like.

<drive:\dir1\...\Handler.exe> (String-With-XML-OR-JSON, ConfigParameter)

(Pure fire and forget, no callbacks/return values.)

Where the single ConfigParameter gives options to handle things differently, if you want. (i.e. different targets from different batch runs!) If you wanted to ignore the config, your own handler would accept it then ignore it!

That's a quick brain dump of an idea that sprung to mind when I read this. If it isn't clear just ask...

[mhutchis]

Thanks Albert,

Yes changing the html report to XML would be helpful. Or you could possibly use the existing XML output format with multiple document nodes within the documentlist node.

I also like MikeGale's idea.

[Albert Wiersch]

Thanks Albert,

Yes changing the html report to XML would be helpful. Or you could possibly use the existing XML output format with multiple document nodes within the documentlist node.

I also like MikeGale's idea.

Thanks. I will definitely look into this soon, especially since it has been something I've been thinking about for awhile now. It sounds like a good option to add to the enterprise edition. Would you be interested in testing a v11 BETA with Batch Wizard XML output when it's ready?

I like Mike's suggestion as well (thanks Mike), but it is more involved so I would want to be more sure that there is enough demand for it before I put it ahead of other features that I'd like to add to CSE HTML Validator.

[Albert Wiersch]

I've added XML output to the Batch Wizard in the latest v11 BETA build (enterprise edition only). If anyone is interested in testing this, then please send me a PM (private message). Thanks!