D, so it happend...

[BCS]

Reply to Baas,

>> But if your parser isn't already using a tree-like structure
>> internally, you're doing something wrong.
>> 
>> And if it is, there's absolutely no reason to use XML as some weird
>> sort of intermediary stage.
> 

[...]

I saw nothing in your description that in any way would be made simpler by 
using XML. A properly done tree structure can do (or be used to do) everything 
you described with ease. If you are mucking with XML as text, they you are 
just flat crazy and if you are not then you are using a tree structure anyway 
and even one that is not specialized for your cases at that.