My own tag, which way is better?

[winix]

Hi all,

I am currently trying to make a php page that loads HTML from a MySQL Database, however, I would like to have some custom tags such as <NAME> so I can replace <NAME> with something I would like in place. Should I go in the approach of XML, which I break down everything in elements, process and then rebuild the processed pieces of HTML? or should I go and develop or use some other people's code and find, process and replace the tag? If I need to write my own code, what is the best way in searching for these custom tags?

Thanks

[Mordecai]

XML's crap--do it the way you want. I prefer to use [[name]] or something similar and replace that, but <NAME> would work just as well.

[Weedpacket]

I'd suggest <!--NAME--> or <!--[[name]]--> myself. Then the templates can be edited in HTML-aware editors, and pass validation, even before the slots are filled in.

[winix]

But how about picking out the content? for example, if I use <!-- --> pair, and there is something like <!--[funcLoadPage,contentBeingLoaded]--> what is the best way to pick out "funcLoadPage,contentBeingLoaded" and replace the whole <!--...--> with corresponded processed text?

Here is an example:

<B> I would like to share my work </B><!--[funcLoadPage,contentBeingLoaded]--> <I> and please look at the following table</I><!--[funcLoadTable,tableBeingLoaded]-->

if I detect the first bit before the "," is funcLoadPage, then I will have code to replace the whole <!--[...]--> with some content with the data from the database like "This is my work, please enjoy!". This is similar to "funcLoadTable,tableBeingLoaded"

What is the best approach to do this? If there is some example would be very great!

Thanks