Incremental Hierarchical File Parser for XML
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hierarchical data storage systems, such as XML files, face challenges with incremental updates and error handling, where direct edits can break the file structure, leading to time-consuming reloading and parsing issues due to the fragility of large files and the complexity of maintaining hierarchical integrity.
Innovation Solution
An incremental hierarchical file parser is developed to create a tree representation of the file, allowing updates to be processed incrementally, with intelligent error handling to maintain the file's integrity by appending mismatched tags and updating only affected nodes, enabling continuous parsing without requiring a full reload.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the entire XML file is loaded into memory before querying, then querying can be as fast as the processor can handle, but the cost of loading the XML file in memory is high and reloading is time-consuming for frequent modifications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the XML file into multiple segments or chunks that can be loaded and processed independently. Instead of loading the entire file into memory at once, the system loads only the necessary segments required for the current query operation, thereby reducing memory usage and loading time while maintaining fast querying performance on the loaded portions.
2Ease of operation
If direct edits are made to large XML files, then modification is simple, but the file structure can be broken and parsing fails
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary validation and structure verification before allowing direct edits to the XML file. The system checks the file structure, identifies safe edit regions, and prepares the necessary contextual information in advance, enabling users to make modifications with confidence that the overall structure will remain intact and parseable.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer or wrapper that mediates between direct file edits and the XML structure. This intermediary monitors and manages edit operations, ensuring that modifications maintain proper hierarchical structure and syntax, thereby preventing file breakage while allowing straightforward editing operations.
3Manufacturing precision
If the entire file is reparsed after modification, then the tree structure is updated accurately, but the process is time-consuming for frequent updates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the modified portions or affected segments from the XML file for reparsing, rather than reparsing the entire file. By identifying and isolating the specific changes, the system updates the tree structure with high accuracy for the modified areas while skipping the processing of unchanged portions, dramatically reducing reparse time for frequent updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different processing quality levels to different parts of the file based on their modification status. Highly accurate complete reparsing is applied only to modified segments where structure accuracy is critical, while unchanged segments are updated through faster incremental methods or cached from previous parses, optimizing the balance between accuracy and speed.
Data Source
AI summary
An incremental parser for hierarchical files is provided where the file can be parsed into a tree representation. Changes to the file can effectuate incremental changes to the tree such that the whole hierarchical file need not be reparsed; the incremental change modifies the necessary portions of the tree, not necessarily the entire tree. Moreover, the incremental parser can intelligently handle errors related to modification of the hierarchical file, such as unmatched tags corresponding to unmatched nodes in the tree. Such error handling provides operability with the malformed hierarchical file rather than providing an error and/or rejecting the file as modified.