How about breaking up the sections a bit, like HTML <head><body> sections?
Putting card-catalog information up top in it's own section would speed
indexing and searches. Like this:
<archive image file version="1.0">
<catalog>
<definitions>
a place to put whatever relevant information is needed about the format or
achive
or your favorite poem or joke
</defintions>
<archiver>Pete Smith</archiver>
<method>ROM Dumper V4.12</method>
<recdate>02004-02-02</recdate>
<title>Omega Race</title>
<author>Midway</author>
<platform>
<mfg>Commodore</mfg>
<system>VIC-20</system>
</platform>
<archivetype>
<fmtcategory>ROM</fmtcategory>
<fmttype>Game Cartridge</fmttype>
</archivetype>
</catalog>
<format>
<default-sector-data value="$AA"/>
....
</format>
<data>
....etc
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Thatcher" <melamy_at_earthlink.net>
To: <cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 7:11 AM
Subject: archive file format exmaple
> here is a "crude" example of what I was talking about.
>
> try:
>
> <archive image file version="1.0">
> <definitions>
> a place to put whatever relevant information is needed about the format
or achive
> or your favorite poem or joke
> </defintions>
> <target system>Tandy Model 100</target system>
> <author>Ian Blindly</author>
> <media>
> <format>5.25" floppy</format>
> <default-sector-data value="$AA"/>
> <encoding>MFM? RLL? something ... </encoding>
> <tracks>35</tracks>
> <heads>1</heads>
> <sectors size="256">18</sectors>
> <wordsize>8</wordsize>
> </media>
> <datamap>
> <head physical="0">
> <track physical="0">
> <sector logical="1" physical="4" datablock="DB1"
> dataitemid="SB1" />
> <sector logical="2" physical="8" datablock="DB2"
> dataitemid="SB1"/>
> <sector logical="3" physical="12" fill="$00"
> />
> <sector logical="4" physical="16" fill="$00"
> />
> ...
> </track>
>
> <track physical="1">
> <sector logical="1" physical="4" fill="$FF"
> />
> <sector logical="9" physical="12" datablock="DB3"
> dataitemid="SB1"/>
> </track>
> <track physical="22" datablock="DB3" dataitemid="SB2"
> />
>
> </head>
> </datamap>
>
> <datablock id="DB1" type="boot">
> <dataitem id="SB1" encoding="HEX"
crc="1234">456789ABCDEF...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB2" encoding="HEX" crc="2341">1234567890A...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB3" encoding="HEX"
crc="3412">890ABCDEF01245...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB4" encoding="HEX"
crc="4123">456789ABCDEF...</dataitem>
> </datablock>
>
> <datablock id="DB2" type="OS">
> <dataitem id="SB1" encoding="HEX"
crc="1234">456789ABCDEF...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB2" encoding="HEX" crc="2341">1234567890A...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB3" encoding="HEX"
crc="3412">890ABCDEF01245...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB4" encoding="HEX"
crc="4123">456789ABCDEF...</dataitem>
> </datablock>
>
> <datablock id="DB3" type="file" name="DUMP.ASM">
> <dataitem id="SB1" encoding="HEX"
crc="1234">456789ABCDEF...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB2" encoding="HEX" crc="2341">1234567890A...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB3" encoding="HEX"
crc="3412">890ABCDEF01245...</dataitem>
> <dataitem id="SB4" encoding="HEX"
crc="4123">456789ABCDEF...</dataitem>
> </datablock>
>
> </archive image file>
>
> please don't get hung up on names, etc, The basic structure is what I have
been
> talking about. A utility can go into the archive file, find a <datablock>,
> know what it is and extract it without having to know anything about the
OS. Another
> utility can read the media, datamap, and datablocks to re-create tracks in
memory
> to then write out to disk. There was earlier talk about years from now
being able
> to still re-create disks. I think that is a fine ambition, but that still
requires
> all the hardware and intimate OS knowledge to still be around. My idea was
to at
> least be able to extract the data without having to have ANY knowledge of
the OS.
>
> best regards, Steve Thatcher
>
>
Received on Thu Aug 12 2004 - 09:04:16 BST