XML is so picky!

The reason my blogroll wasn't hot is because I forgot that XML is so picky. 
Here's what happened.  I have been using Newsgator, and since it exports in OPML
I decided to export, do a little massaging, and then use it in BlogX.  Cut and
paste and there it was in my blog in all it's glory.  And I forget to test it. 
(Bad Laura, Bad!)  Once I get to work this morning, I look and look at the OPML
and it looks fine to me.  I reduce it down to one entry.  Still not hot. 
Simplify that entry down, still not hot.  Finally I give up and ask Andy Oakley
for a sample from a BlogX blog that works.  He generously sends me the starting
point file (the one that has ChrisAn in it, surely you've seen it), and mentions that
it might be a case sensitivity problem. 

And there it was.  Duh. BlogX wanted htmlUrl and xmlUrl and Newsgator exported
htmlurl and xmlurl. What a pain. Why is there case sensitivity in XML? 
I just don't get it.

Comments

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2003
  Why is there case sensitivity in XML?Because XML is Unicode based, and (apparently) not all languages have the simple model that English/ASCII has for mapping lower-case to upper-case.Look at the "XML handbook", written by Goldfarb, one of XML's creators.www.xmlhandbook.com
• Anonymous
  November 07, 2003
  A better question than "why is XML so picky" would be: "Why is OPML so under-spec'd"?You've encountered one of the biggest confusions in the OPML world. If I remember correctly, part of the spec used htmlurl, but the samples that accompanied it said htmlUrl, or maybe it was the other way around. It's been a continuing source of frustration in the OPML world.I don't even remember anymore which way is considered the most-correct. But it doesn't matter if you have tools that disagree.
• Anonymous
  November 07, 2003
  You forgot to test? Shame! Shame!