TML

Version 1.1 DRAFT
© Copyright 1999: All Rights reserved
agendra R Setty
nagendra@home.com

Overview:

TML (Tree Markup Language) is a general purpose Language to represent Hierarchical Structures in a markup language similar to HTML or XML, which is designed by keeping web applications in mind. It can be used for other purposes also. The design allows defnition of complex tree structures using a simple logic, without using any extra ids to assosciate the parent child hierarchy.

The TML should begin and end with <tml> and </tml> tags.

<tml>
<node>Root Node 1
    <node>Node11
        <node>Node21</node>
    </node>
</node>
<node>Root Node 2
    <node>Node11</node>
    <node>Node12
        <node>Node21</node>
    </node>
    <node>Node13</node>
</node>
<node iconcol=2 iconexp=3>Root node 3</node>
</tml>

will result in a tree like this:


Root Node 1
    |...Node11
         |...Node21
Root Node 2
    |...Node11
    |...Node12
    |    |...Node21
    |...Node13
[#] Root Node 3

Additional Syntax for Tags:

Node:

A 'Node' Tag can have the following parameters within its starting marker.

href : URL to be assosiated to the Node. Default is "" if not specified.
help : Additional information about the node. Default is "" if not specified.
iconcol : Index of Icon to be displayed when node is collapsed or URL. Default will be none.
iconexp : Index of Icon to be displayed when node is expanded or URL. Default will be none.
exp : can be 'true' or 'false'. Default is 'false'
Keywords : A comma separated list of words, which can be used for searching purposes.

Example:

<node href=http://www.india-today.com help="Portal Web site of India Today"
    iconcol=2 iconexp=3 exp=true>India Today</node>

or

<node href=http://www.indiatimes.com help="Times of India web site"
    iconcol=http://www.xyz.com/icon1.gif
    iconexp=http://www.xyz.com/icon2.gif exp=false>India Times</node>

tml:

The 'tml' tag encloses the representation of the tree. The  'tml' Tag can have the following parameters within its starting marker.

icons : a URL to a site where the icon images can be picked up from a single file. default is none.
iconwidth : width of individual icon in the image.
iconheight : height of individual icon in the image.

Note: Icons can be picked up from a single file over the web as this will download all icons in a Single HTTP connection, which makes it faster.

end.