Ethereal-dev: RE: [Ethereal-dev] Info-column in PDML

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From: "Fulvio Risso" <fulvio.risso@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 14:59:35 +0100
Hi.

When I defined PSML and PDML, I spent several days on the question "better
having packet details and packet summaries in the same file, or better
having two different files"?
I came out with the answer that it was better having two files. That's
because you may want a lot of different outputs from the same packet:
- a detailed view of the packet (currently PDML)
- a summary view of the packet (currently PSML)
- a list of fields that contain some errors in the packet (e.g. checksums,
or values that are not allowed in some fields) (this is currently on my long
todo list)
- and more

So, I believe we should create different files that contain a single type of
output. If a tool needs more than one file (e.g. Analyzer uses both PDML and
PSML to create its output), the syncronization has to be made by the tool
itself.

For instance, a network analyzer needs probably both PDML and PSML. However,
we're developing an application that needs to extract some fields from the
packet. Such an application does not need the PSML output. So, I presume it
is better to have different files.

That's my point of view (and that's why currently we have PSML and PDML).
Cheers,

	fulvio

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ethereal-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:ethereal-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Carsten Buchenau
> Sent: giovedi 5 febbraio 2004 13.04
> To: Ethereal development
> Subject: Re: [Ethereal-dev] Info-column in PDML
>
>
>
>
> Martin Regner wrote:
>
> >It could be possible to produce both  PDML file and a PSML file and read
> >both of them in order to get both details and
> >the Info-column things, but I was thinking that it might be good
> to have the
> >Info-column data in PDML.
> >
> >
>
> Having the info column in PDML output as well would enable
> post-processing applications to display the summary of one packet, in
> addition to the details (e.g. as heading), with just one (t)ethereal
> call. This is especially useful if post-processing is designed, e.g. for
> performance reasons, to do just one call and receive just one output file.
>
> greetings,
> carsten
>
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