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On the one hand you've got the job-specific approach, and it sounds like the flat file & unix toolbox (regex, perl) method offers a quick way of achieving this. On the other hand, the XML/XSLT approach sounds like more hard work (and possibly less robust) but is potentially more open to extension. Each has it's pros & cons. More : A rather convincing argument against the unix approach could be - my server isn't running unix. An argument against both approaches that I personally would use is that I don't know enough about regex or XSLT. However, I do have an seriously versatile toolbox in the form of Java and I don't need another skill set for this application or virtually any other you care to mention. It might take longer than 10 minutes (but not very much longer) as I can reuse components I have on the shelf for the processing (SAX etc, and I have a little CSV-XML-CSV converter that might even be useful ;-), and the comms/form handling parts are already there in the form of servlets/JSP. It will run on my unix/ms/netware/whatever box, if I use XML it's easy to pass the data on to third parties, and the guy that inherits my job (after the unix-centric boss sacks me) will be able to maintain and extend the app with minimal effort. Horses for courses. --- Danny Ayers http://www.isacat.net
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