File Structure

Like many XML formats the order of items is relatively loose as long as it sticks to the overall plan. In a UMarks file everything is nested within the root element <umarks>. The running order of the sub elements is as follows:

1. Global timestamp
2. Containers
3. Separators
4. Links

Within each of these groupings the elements can be listed in any order. For example, as long as the <link> tags are grouped together, at the end after all other elements, they can be added in any order as they contain location information within each individual <link> tag itself i.e. the location of the link in the user’s overall bookmark hierarchy. The same goes for containers and separators.

An example

Take a look at this simple bookmark collection:

And in its expanded form:

The elements in bold are containers, and the strings of dots are separators.

This would be listed in a UMarks file as follows:

Therefore, we list the global timestamp followed by containers, then separators, then links.

As noted, the running order within groups – such as all the links – needn’t be preserved. Each container, separator and link contains independent location information. So the links above could be listed like so:

This means new links, for example, can just be added to the end of the file.