BRANCHINFO.txt

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$Id$

                     COMMONS SCXML
                   BETWIXT_IO BRANCH

                    -- PURPOSE --

To set up the Commons SCXML IO using betwixt.

                    -- STATUS --

This branch is dormant. Ping the Commons dev list for any discussion.

                    -- DETAILS --

Tim O'Brien suggested on the commons-dev mailing list that Commons SCXML
might be better served using betwixt rather than raw digester.

<TIM-QUOTE>

1. SCXMLSerializer

Right now the code to serialize an SCXML object is a Visitor pattern
that constructs XML using a series of StringBuffers.  The code to read
this XML document alrady uses a straightforward set of Digester rules
and the project already depends on commons-digester.

*Alternative: Add a dependency to commons-betwixt, map the model package
to XML.  Instead of writing Digester rules for reading and constructing
Strings for writing, use the betwixt mapping files as a single point of
translation.

The current SCXMLDigester isn't trivial by any means, but I think it would
be easy to implement the external source rule.  The current SCXMLDigester
plays two roles, first it sets up the Digester rules and "Digests" the XML,
but it also does a bit of post-processing in updateSCXML.  I think the
component would be well served to separate everything that has to do with
serialization to/from XML into a separate package and to move some of this
postProcess that happens in updateSCXML somewhere else.


</TIM-QUOTE>

                  -- CHOSEN APPROACH --

Let us attempt to set up a betwixt mapping for Commons SCXML IO.