Re: [cgmo-webcgm] ISSUE: is apsid an attribute?

[Lofton Henderson <lofton@rockynet.com>]

Expressing my own (mild) preference...

I guess I'd prefer that apsid is *not* included in the 'attributes' of the 
WebCGMNode interface of DOM.  Reasons:

-- myAps.apsId already gives quick and immediate access to the 
apsid.  ('apsId' is the attribute on the WebCGMAppStructure interface).

-- if we take the interpretation that apsid is *not* one of the attributes, 
myAps.hasAttributes() would return false unless there are **APS 
Attributes** (in the metafile sense) in the given target APS.  Otherwise it 
would always return true, and you would have to look at 
myAps.attributes.count to see if there are any APS Attributes -- if we were 
to take the interpretation that apsid is one of the 'attributes', then 
count is always at least 1, and you'd have to check for >1 to determine if 
there are any APS Attributes.

I'm having trouble thinking of any *strong* arguments one way or the 
other.  Does anyone see any strong arguments for having apsid be one of the 
'attributes' of the WebCGMNode interface?

Cheers,
-Lofton.

At 07:20 PM 7/7/2005 -0600, Lofton Henderson wrote:
>Source:  editors / test writers.
>
>ISSUE:  does the apsid parameter of the BegAps element show up as an 
>attribute in the DOM?
>
>DESCRIPTION:
>
>WebCGMNode contains a boolean method, hasAttributes(), and an attribute of 
>type node-list, 'attributes'.  What qualifies as an attribute is not 
>defined anywhere.  The obvious thing that comes to mind is APS Attributes 
>(on APS nodes).  The text says the value of 'attributes' will be null in 
>the case that the WebCGMNode has no attributes.
>
>WebCGMAppStructure, which inherits from WebCGMNode, has an additional 
>attribute, 'apsId'.  In metafiles, the apsid is a parameter on the BegAps 
>element (along with the 'type' and the 'inheritance flag' parameters).
>
>The initial code of the test Node-attr.html shows that the apsid is being 
>treated in the test as if it is an 'attribute'.
>
>So should DOM return the metafile apsid as an 'attribute' (WebCGMNode 
>interface), or only as the 'apsId' on the WebCGMAppStructure interface, or 
>both?
>
>It seems to me that the way we designed the interfaces and their 
>methods/attributes seems to hint at "only 'apsId'".  On the other hand, 
>Benoit seems to remember some past decision for 'attribute' or "both".  If 
>that is the case, note that hasAttributes() will always return true for an 
>APS node (by far its most usual usage, if not the only usage), and 
>'attributes' will always have a count of at least 1.  Also note that in 
>XCF, apsid is a required XML attribute on all the APS elements (and the 
>bindById, of course).
>
>It is not really critical *how* we answer it.  We have some freedom in how 
>we map the structured metafile instance onto an XML-like DOM tree.  But it 
>is critical that we have a clear answer and document it.
>
>ALTERNATIVES:
>Alt.1:  'apsId' only
>Alt.2:  'attribute' only (which would mean eliminate 'apsId')
>Alt.3:  both
>
>RECOMMENDATION:  none yet, TC should discuss.  Implementors, what have you 
>done?
>
>Regards,
>-Lofton.
>
>