[BioPython] Robustness of parsing

[Stephan Damen]

Dear sir / madam,

I have a question about the robustness of parsing in my case the UniGene at NCBI. I have been assigned to write a parser to put the UniGene flat files into an existing database structure, before starting writing code I thought I'd better search the web to find some existing solutions. This is when I opened your site and found a parser for the UniGene.
At my work we already have a parser for these flat files written in C, the only problem with this parser is, is that it will not run anymore if the structure of the UniGene changes. For instance if a new field is added or if relations change from a 1-to-1 to 1-to-many.
My question about biopython; has it the same problems? If that is the case; in what timespan are updates available?
If biopython is also lacking these problems I want to write a more generetic solution, perhaps in python.

Kind regards,

Stephan Damen
Project leader at UL