LavishGUI:User Interface XML Files

Required Background

A basic understanding of XML or HTML is required. This quick run-down should get you going.

XML, simply described, is a way to arrange items. It is made up of XML tags and text. XML tags look like <Item>, and must be closed, which can look like </Item>. This sequence marks the beginning and end of an "Item". There can be any number of item types, such as <A> <B> <C> and so on. Each begin tag can have attributes. Attributes have a name, an equal sign, and a quoted value (either ' or " can be used), and are placed inside the begin tag like so: <Item Name="My Item">. Items can have text and/or more items contained between the begin tag and end tag. Items that have no text or items inside of them may be closed in the begin tag, like this: <Item Name="My Item" />. There can be multiple items of the same type within the same item.

Here is some sample XML:

<ISUI>
  <Window Name="My Window">
    <X>100</X>
    <Y>100</Y>
    <Width>300</Width>
    <Height>150</Height>
  </Window>
</ISUI>

In this example, there is ISUI, which contains a Window (which has an attribute called "Name" with the value "My Window"). X, Y, Width and Height are items inside Window, each of which contain a text value. X, Y, Width and Height are also referred to as Properties of Window.

Terminology

• Attribute: A name and value given in an XML "begin tag"
• Child
• Container
• Parent
• Property