I have two complaints with the XML-file approach to webapp configuration approach that
Jeff and
Matt have been discussing (and the one that Roller currently uses):
- It does not work well in a distributed situation. If my application is distributed across multiple servers, then app instances cannot easily share one XML file. In that case, I'd need to copy the XML file to every server. If I want to make configuration changes while the app is running then I'm are out of luck. A better approach would be to store this type of information in a database, not a file.
- There is no meta-data. I would rather not have to write a configuration UI for every webapp that I write. But, to write a generic configuration editor UI, I need to have meta-data about each configuration property. For strings and string-list properties, I'd want a list of possible values. For integer properties , I'd want a range. For a real configuration API, I need meta-data about properties and acceptible values.
Is there a configuration or preferences API that supports meta-data? I don't believe that the Java 1.4 preferences API does this. I wonder why not? Maybe Sun was just trying to replicate the Windows Registry.
Posted by Matt Raible on December 08, 2002 at 03:00 PM EST #
e.g. you could have a web application generating your configuration information dynamically from a database, a web service, some template mechanism etc.
Posted by James Strachan on December 09, 2002 at 03:54 PM EST #
Posted by Mike Cannon Brookes on December 10, 2002 at 06:18 AM EST #
Posted by Fabian Crabus on December 10, 2002 at 11:12 AM EST #