[Pipet Devel] from Justin

[Humberto Ortiz Zuazaga]

> Related to this, I have been thinking about the different XML's needed to markup
> all sorts of biodata.  Should Loci have a static set of DTD's for biodata?  What
> if someone is working in a more unusual area of biology?  Can new DTD's/XML's be
> "plugged" into Loci?

I think Lincoln Stein's boulder file format is a good example here. In
the documentation he suggests that programs doing io on boulder files
should ignore and pass through any records it doesn't understand.

In the same vein, loci should just operate on the parts of a stream
they understand.

> I think if individual loci are responsible for supplying or identifying their
> own XML translators, Loci will be much more flexible.

an analysis locus should say "I need v3.2 foo objects as input" or
return a list of acceptable input formats. If your local locus can't
export that format object it should request the services of a
translator. The locid can perhaps modify the dialog if it already has
translators available.