In the past, we used only one single navit.xml and it was good

But in presence, it turns out, that this approach causes some problems:
- bad to edit, esp on embedded devices (size and complexity)
- distribution of addons/replacements/changes hard to realize (automatism)
So there is the idea, to split this file up, to allow an easier customization. A easy way to realize this, is to use
XML inclusion that is already supported, but not really in use.
Code:
<mapset enabled="yes">
<xi:include href="$NAVIT_SHAREDIR/maps/*.xml"/>
</mapset>
This allows us to export XML sections to seperated files, for example:
- osd.xml
- vehicle.xml
- layout.xml
while keeping the very basic settings (mapset, ...) at the main navit.xml.
One step further, we could define a include chain, that can improve settings step by step. For example the map style:
- map_default.xml - make basic objects visible and define styling/generalisation
- map_DE.xml - offer colouring for Germany
- map_car.xml - filter objects/attributes that are important for car drivers
But we need to try to realise that with examples, to see if this forward inclusion is enough, or if we need to specify vars or patch already parsed XML elements. If it works well, we can offer much better outofthebox values for all options: settings = deviceclass x platform x defaults