GSoC Update: Week 4: GXml

[Richard Schwarting <aquarichy gmail com>]

Good evening.

Here is my fourth status report for GXml (formerly GDom) in the Google
Summer of Code.

=This past week=

* implemented an iterable NodeList to simplify the Xml.Node* and
Xml.Attr* wrappings' children handling
* completed attribute test
* rebranded files and stuff from GDom to GXml.  We're still only
implementing the DOM Level 1 Core API this summer, but preparing for
the future.  Also renamed DomNode to XNode.
* devised a way to read files from GInputStream.  Originally, I was
going to read the whole stream into memory and then use libxml2's
functions to parse that, but then discovered xmlReadIO, which lets you
provide IO functions that map well to GInputStream's functions.
However, this has hit the hiccough that xmlReadIO itself isn't bound
for Vala, so I'm making a mess of things right now with an
xmlTextReader
* updated http://live.gnome.org/XML finally.
* obtained a bugzilla product!  You can find as gxml on bugzilla, and
I put a couple bug reports in already for items I have had to work on
* decided to use WAF for building and setup after all.  I tried to get
that finished for today after the other things, but I am struggling a
little with it, so I'll try to finish it on Saturday.

=Issues=

* was frustrated a few times in trying to figure out how to handle
GInputStreams given the libxml2 bindings for Vala.  After I work on
saving next week, I'll probably file bugs and maybe change things a
little.  At least I'm learning things.
* WAF has been interesting to learn.  The templates I'm using don't
exactly do everything my petty makefiles currently do, so I'm still
trying to figure out how to do it cleanly.  I'll be glad for a code
review from Alberto after our first release.

=Next Week=

* save XML documents and test for fidelity.  There's a chance that I
might handle things erroneously (like attributes) and the backing
libxml2 structures won't save as I want them to.
(* finish WAF script tomorrow)
* migrate to git.gnome.org
* push a release
* look at the other classes that I haven't touched too much (most of
them are actually pretty simple and are largely implemented through
their superclass already)
* write a blog post before Sunday.  I know I'm aiming to have them
done on Friday, but I just end up programming until its so late, and
they take so much time :)

Cheerio,
   Richard