I’ve had to write a few domain-specific-languages in the past. As per Remy’s Law of Requirements Gathering, it’s been mostly because the users needed an Excel-like formula language. The danger of DSLs, of course, is that they’re often YAGNI in the extreme, or at least a sign that you don’t really understand your problem.

XML, coupled with schemas, is a tool for building data-focused DSLs. If you have some complex structure, you can convert each of its features into an XML attribute. For example, if you had a grammar that looked something like this:

The Source specification obeys the following syntax

source = ( Feature1+Feature2+... ":" ) ? steps

Feature1 = "local" | "global"

Feature2 ="real" | "virtual" | "ComponentType.all"

Feature3 ="self" | "ancestors" | "descendants" | "Hierarchy.all"

Feature4 = "first" | "last" | "DayAllocation.all"

If features are specified, the order of features as given above has strictly to be followed.

steps = oneOrMoreNameSteps | zeroOrMoreNameSteps | componentSteps

oneOrMoreNameSteps = nameStep ( "." nameStep ) *

zeroOrMoreNameSteps = ( nameStep "." ) *

nameStep = "#" name

name is a string of characters from "A"-"Z", "a"-"z", "0"-"9", "-" and "_". No umlauts allowed, one character is minimum.

componentSteps is a list of valid values, see below.

Valid 'componentSteps' are:

- GlobalValue
- Product
- Product.Brand
- Product.Accommodation
- Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom
- Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Board
- Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Unit
- Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Unit.SellingUnit
- Product.OnewayFlight
- Product.OnewayFlight.BookingClass
- Product.ReturnFlight
- Product.ReturnFlight.BookingClass
- Product.ReturnFlight.Inbound
- Product.ReturnFlight.Outbound
- Product.Addon
- Product.Addon.Service
- Product.Addon.ServiceFeature

In addition to that all subsequent steps from the paths above are permitted, that is 'Board', 
'Accommodation.SellingAccom' or 'SellingAccom.Unit.SellingUnit'.
'Accommodation.Unit' in the contrary is not permitted, as here some intermediate steps are missing.

You could turn that grammar into an XML document by converting syntax elements to attributes and elements. You could do that, but Stella’s predecessor did not do that. That of course, would have been work, and they may have had to put some thought on how to relate their homebrew grammar to XSD rules, so instead they created an XML schema rule for SourceAttributeType that verifies that the data in the field is valid according to the grammar… using regular expressions. 1,310 characters of regular expressions.

<xs:simpleType>
    <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
            <xs:pattern value="(((Scope.)?(global|local|current)\+?)?((((ComponentType.)?
(real|virtual))|ComponentType.all)\+?)?((((Hierarchy.)?(self|ancestors|descendants))|Hierarchy.all)\+?)?
((((DayAllocation.)?(first|last))|DayAllocation.all)\+?)?:)?(#[A-Za-z0-9\-_]+(\.(#[A-Za-z0-9\-_]+))*|(#[A-Za-z0-
9\-_]+\.)*
(ThisComponent|GlobalValue|Product|Product\.Brand|Product\.Accommodation|Product\.Accommodation\.SellingAccom|Prod
uct\.Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Board|Product\.Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Unit|Product\.Accommodation\.Selling
Accom\.Unit\.SellingUnit|Product\.OnewayFlight|Product\.OnewayFlight\.BookingClass|Product\.ReturnFlight|Product\.
ReturnFlight\.BookingClass|Product\.ReturnFlight\.Inbound|Product\.ReturnFlight\.Outbound|Product\.Addon|Product\.
Addon\.Service|Product\.Addon\.ServiceFeature|Brand|Accommodation|Accommodation\.SellingAccom|Accommodation\.Selli
ngAccom\.Board|Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Unit|Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Unit\.SellingUnit|OnewayFlight|Onewa
yFlight\.BookingClass|ReturnFlight|ReturnFlight\.BookingClass|ReturnFlight\.Inbound|ReturnFlight\.Outbound|Addon|A
ddon\.Service|Addon\.ServiceFeature|SellingAccom|SellingAccom\.Board|SellingAccom\.Unit|SellingAccom\.Unit\.Sellin
gUnit|BookingClass|Inbound|Outbound|Service|ServiceFeature|Board|Unit|Unit\.SellingUnit|SellingUnit))"/>
    </xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:union>

There’s a bug in that regex that Stella needed to fix. As she put it: “Every time you evaluate it a few little kitties die because you shouldn’t use kitties to polish your car. I’m so, so sorry, little kitties…”

The full, unexcerpted code is below, so… at least it has documentation. In two languages!

<xs:simpleType name="SourceAttributeType">
                <xs:annotation>
                        <xs:documentation xml:lang="de">
                Die Source Angabe folgt folgender Syntax

                        source = ( Eigenschaft1+Eigenschaft2+... ":" ) ? steps

                        Eigenschaft1 = "local" | "global"

                        Eigenschaft2 ="real" | "virtual" | "ComponentType.all"

                        Eigenschaft3 ="self" | "ancestors" | "descendants" | "Hierarchy.all"

                        Eigenschaft4 = "first" | "last" | "DayAllocation.all"

                        Falls Eigenschaften angegeben werden muss zwingend die oben angegebene Reihenfolge der Eigenschaften eingehalten werden.

                        steps = oneOrMoreNameSteps | zeroOrMoreNameSteps | componentSteps

                        oneOrMoreNameSteps = nameStep ( "." nameStep ) *

                        zeroOrMoreNameSteps = ( nameStep "." ) *

                        nameStep = "#" name

                        name ist eine Folge von Zeichen aus der Menge "A"-"Z", "a"-"z", "0"-"9", "-" und "_". Keine Umlaute. Mindestens ein Zeichen

                        componentSteps ist eine Liste gültiger Werte, siehe im folgenden

                Gültige 'componentSteps' sind zunächst:

                        - GlobalValue
                        - Product
                        - Product.Brand
                        - Product.Accommodation
                        - Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom
                        - Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Board
                        - Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Unit
                        - Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Unit.SellingUnit
                        - Product.OnewayFlight
                        - Product.OnewayFlight.BookingClass
                        - Product.ReturnFlight
                        - Product.ReturnFlight.BookingClass
                        - Product.ReturnFlight.Inbound
                        - Product.ReturnFlight.Outbound
                        - Product.Addon
                        - Product.Addon.Service
                        - Product.Addon.ServiceFeature

                Desweiteren sind alle Unterschrittfolgen aus obigen Pfaden erlaubt, also 'Board', 'Accommodation.SellingAccom' oder 'SellingAccom.Unit.SellingUnit'.
                'Accommodation.Unit' hingegen ist nicht erlaubt, da in diesem Fall einige Zwischenschritte fehlen.

                                </xs:documentation>
                        <xs:documentation xml:lang="en">
                                The Source specification obeys the following syntax

                                source = ( Feature1+Feature2+... ":" ) ? steps

                                Feature1 = "local" | "global"

                                Feature2 ="real" | "virtual" | "ComponentType.all"

                                Feature3 ="self" | "ancestors" | "descendants" | "Hierarchy.all"

                                Feature4 = "first" | "last" | "DayAllocation.all"

                                If features are specified, the order of features as given above has strictly to be followed.

                                steps = oneOrMoreNameSteps | zeroOrMoreNameSteps | componentSteps

                                oneOrMoreNameSteps = nameStep ( "." nameStep ) *

                                zeroOrMoreNameSteps = ( nameStep "." ) *

                                nameStep = "#" name

                                name is a string of characters from "A"-"Z", "a"-"z", "0"-"9", "-" and "_". No umlauts allowed, one character is minimum.

                                componentSteps is a list of valid values, see below.

                                Valid 'componentSteps' are:

                                - GlobalValue
                                - Product
                                - Product.Brand
                                - Product.Accommodation
                                - Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom
                                - Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Board
                                - Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Unit
                                - Product.Accommodation.SellingAccom.Unit.SellingUnit
                                - Product.OnewayFlight
                                - Product.OnewayFlight.BookingClass
                                - Product.ReturnFlight
                                - Product.ReturnFlight.BookingClass
                                - Product.ReturnFlight.Inbound
                                - Product.ReturnFlight.Outbound
                                - Product.Addon
                                - Product.Addon.Service
                                - Product.Addon.ServiceFeature

                                In addition to that all subsequent steps from the paths above are permitted, that is 'Board', 'Accommodation.SellingAccom' or 'SellingAccom.Unit.SellingUnit'.
                                'Accommodation.Unit' in the contrary is not permitted, as here some intermediate steps are missing.

                        </xs:documentation>
                </xs:annotation>
                <xs:union>
                        <xs:simpleType>
                                <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                                        <xs:pattern value="(((Scope.)?(global|local|current)\+?)?((((ComponentType.)?(real|virtual))|ComponentType.all)\+?)?((((Hierarchy.)?(self|ancestors|descendants))|Hierarchy.all)\+?)?((((DayAllocation.)?(first|last))|DayAllocation.all)\+?)?:)?(#[A-Za-z0-9\-_]+(\.(#[A-Za-z0-9\-_]+))*|(#[A-Za-z0-9\-_]+\.)*(ThisComponent|GlobalValue|Product|Product\.Brand|Product\.Accommodation|Product\.Accommodation\.SellingAccom|Product\.Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Board|Product\.Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Unit|Product\.Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Unit\.SellingUnit|Product\.OnewayFlight|Product\.OnewayFlight\.BookingClass|Product\.ReturnFlight|Product\.ReturnFlight\.BookingClass|Product\.ReturnFlight\.Inbound|Product\.ReturnFlight\.Outbound|Product\.Addon|Product\.Addon\.Service|Product\.Addon\.ServiceFeature|Brand|Accommodation|Accommodation\.SellingAccom|Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Board|Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Unit|Accommodation\.SellingAccom\.Unit\.SellingUnit|OnewayFlight|OnewayFlight\.BookingClass|ReturnFlight|ReturnFlight\.BookingClass|ReturnFlight\.Inbound|ReturnFlight\.Outbound|Addon|Addon\.Service|Addon\.ServiceFeature|SellingAccom|SellingAccom\.Board|SellingAccom\.Unit|SellingAccom\.Unit\.SellingUnit|BookingClass|Inbound|Outbound|Service|ServiceFeature|Board|Unit|Unit\.SellingUnit|SellingUnit))"/>
                                </xs:restriction>
                        </xs:simpleType>
                </xs:union>
</xs:simpleType>
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