Children, that is the picture of “XML”. Document Markup Language. It was used by the end of the XX-th century.
This was a post from May 2015. Unfortunately, it is still actual in May 2021.
This probably applies to you. Especially if you are a Developer. Or if you suspect you might be a .NET Lemming? (A member of any large group following an unthinking course towards mass destruction)
.NET and SharePoint in particular are two likely offenders here. It is now 2021 (May) … Oops?
This subject (XML in software development) has been reiterated to death. And back.
It is 2021 and there are major development platforms with the massive following (hint: Node.JS), using just JSON. And there are tools (hint: Grunt, and everybody else) using JSON. There are global concepts and platforms (hint: npm), using just JSON .
It is 2021 and the software world has moved to JSON (no hints here). XML is invented (ages ago) and is designed to be used as Document Markup Language. Let me rephrase this: text format for describing document layout and content (hint: think of HTML). Did I already mention it is 2021? Well, perhaps MSFT / Visual Studio, decision-makers aka “star winners of legacy Olympics” need to be reminded what year this is. As a side note.
I think I can speak for a vast majority of developers when I say: Please do not make me “enjoy” Visual Studio and PLEASE, do not make me deal with configuration files like this one:
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<ItemGroup> <!---These references should be considered "infrastructure" references and should be used exactly as described --> <ReferencePath Include="C:\%ProgramFiles%\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\mscorlib.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\System.ComponentModel.Composition.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\System.Configuration.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\System.Core.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\System.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\Facades\System.Threading.Tasks.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\Facades\System.Runtime.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\Facades\System.Runtime.InteropServices.WindowsRuntime.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\System.Xml.dll" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.1\System.Data.dll" /> <!---These references allow usage of WinRT APIs and constructs (e.g. WinRT events and async). --> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\References\CommonConfiguration\Neutral\Windows.winmd" /> <ReferencePath Include="C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETCore\v4.5.1\System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.dll" /> </ItemGroup> |
I can not stand these little XML files dotted around Visual Studio projects. A long time ago, in Office 2003 this might have looked useful, but not anymore. It does not look useful, and we know now it never was useful. Yes, yes, I know, I already mentioned which year we live in.
It is not just Visual Studio’s fault. V.Studio already has a very good JSON editor and such. There are very large LOB platforms that MSFT makes which are still (yes in 2021) returning XML “nuggets” like this one:
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<feed xml:base="https://reports.office365.com/ecp/ReportingWebService/Reporting.svc/" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata"> <id>https://reports.office365.com/ecp/reportingwebservice/reporting.svc/StaleMailboxDetail</id> <title type="text">StaleMailboxDetail</title> <updated>2013-02-10T03:40:33Z</updated> <link rel="self" title="StaleMailboxDetail" href="StaleMailboxDetail" /> |
Above XML/Atom syntax, is a norm for Web Apps developed by MSFT in front of SharePoint. I am sick and tired of REST API’s returning XML. I really am. I want each of the REST APIs to return JSON.
And good old SharePoint is still one sorry mess of XML and XSL. Yes, you read this right, XSL is used all around the place in SharePoint in the year 2021. Ooops, 2021 … I said it again.
And the core argument is: This is because of Legacy clients (and servers)? Are we really to believe MSFT 2021 has no enough organizational and development resources to introduce JSON version for each Web Service and to mark XML “offenders” as deprecated? Truth be told they have deprecated some XML but, customers are not happy.
Darn, 2021 … I said it again…