Endeca dimension specifications

The next post is about some trivial XML parsing. Since it is uses Endeca definitions, which is not Google friendly perhaps it is useful.

Endeca spec

When using Endeca for search and guided navigation it of course often happens that Endeca is implemented and the specification is trundling behind.

During discussions with business representatives about Guided Navigation (aka dimensions and precedence rules) a bit of documentation is definitely necessary due to the dynamic behaviour of Endeca. That dynamic behaviour can be a tough cookie to demo. So a functional description becomes necessary.
Especially so when a test team comes along and wants the specification in a human readable form, perhaps to write the test scripts.

So I wrote a little Ruby script which parses the Endeca dimension files as produced by Endeca Developer Studio and dump them as a tab separated dimension hierarchy.

This produces

like structures.
A bit of extra text and you are good to go.

I wonder

Will the test show a difference between the specification and the implementation? This can be a nice test of the test script.