Re: [xml] Re: [gnomemm] ANNOUNCE: libxml++ is now sane.

[Stefan Seefeld <seefeld sympatico ca>]

Paul Davis wrote:
> > libxml++ was a mess in the past but it has been overhauled recently. The
> > new 0.16.0 release is now organised and usable. I invite you to try it 
> > and help us to improve it by submitting patches (to the sourceforge
> > patch manager).
>
>
> if you're going to try to improve it, i would pass on one
> recommendation. this API:
>
> const Node * add_child (const std::string &name) 
>       Node * add_child (Node *node) 
>
> has caused dozens of stupid bugs in my code, because it doesn't make
> it clear whether the added child is copied or not (its not).

A good way to make the intention clear would be to pass 
'std::auto_ptr<Node>' instead of raw pointers, whenever you want it
to be adopted.

I, too, have an API enhancement suggestion: Please consider a method
'Node::lookup(const std::string &xpath)' that does an xpath lookup
(surprize !) and returns a NodeSet. I'v written my own C++ wrapper
around libxml2 and this method is incredibly useful in my work...

Stefan