OASIS Mailing List ArchivesView the OASIS mailing list archive below
or browse/search using MarkMail.

 


Help: OASIS Mailing Lists Help | MarkMail Help

dita message

[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]


Subject: Re: [dita] DITA v1.2 Review | Propagating attribute values


It's a function of how XML works per the XML standard: from the standpoint
of things that process XML *as parsed*, there can be no difference between
an attribute specified in the instance and one defaulted via a DTD or schema
(or any other method the parser wants to use).

In any case, DITA has to be defined so that it works identically for
documents with and without DTDs or schemas, so that would disallow any
processing that depended on the use of attribute defaults even if it
processors, in general, could detect their use.

Cheers,

Eliot

On 9/24/10 10:58 AM, "Tarun Garg" <tarung@adobe.com> wrote:

> Hi Eliot,
> 
> I am still unclear that whether such a behavior cannot be defined because of
> the processor not being able to distinguish between such values or some other
> reason.
> 
> In case, it is due to the processor, than I would say that is a
> implementation-level thing that a processor can take care of. Also, as you
> mentioned there are some that are able to do so now as well. Also, sometimes
> the need causes the implementations to happen :).  So if we define such a
> behavior, may be such implementations become common.
> 
> Regards,
> Tarun Garg | Adobe Systems | +91-120-2444711 | tarung@adobe.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eliot Kimber [mailto:ekimber@reallysi.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2010 4:36 PM
> To: Tarun Garg; dita
> Subject: Re: [dita] DITA v1.2 Review | Propagating attribute values
> 
> Tarun,
> 
> I think we've resolved the issue of attribute propagation by key definitions
> but I don't think we ever responded to the details of this specific note.
> 
> Namely, whether or not an attribute is specified in a document instance or
> is defaulted in a DTD or schema can have no effect on processing because
> after parsing the two cases are indistinguishable, meaning a processor
> either cannot know how the attribute value came to be (because the parser
> simply reports the attribute value, not how it was specified) or the
> processor can know (e.g., an XML editor) but must ignore that knowledge.
> 
> Thus it would not be possible for the DITA standard to define behaviors
> based on whether or not a given attribute was defined as a DTD- or
> schema-provided default.
> 
> Or said another way, all DITA processing must work for documents that have
> no associated DTD or XSD (or other form of document constraint
> specification) meaning that for such documents all attributes are either
> specified or not specified in the instance, because that's all you have.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Eliot
> 
> On 8/25/10 3:24 AM, "Tarun Garg" <tarung@adobe.com> wrote:
> 
>> The attribute values get propagated:
>> ·        For Keys ­ from key-defining element to key-referencing element.
>> 
>> ·        For Conref ­ from referenced element to referencing element.
>> 
>> 
>> An attribute value can be specified through two ways:
>> ·        In the DTD; as the default/fixed value.
>> 
>> ·        In the XML instance.
>> 
>> 
>> So, while propagating the attribute values, I think the values specified in
>> the XML instance itself shall only be considered for propagation. One of the
>> reason I think so, is that the value specified in the DTD is already
>> available
>> in most cases and need not be propagated. Apart from this, the value
>> specified
>> in the XML instance, indicates the user intention to assign a specific value
>> to an element & that needs to be propagated.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> One specific case for this relates to public review comment #C011
>> (http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/dita-comment/201007/msg00016.html).
>> 
>> For a <keydef> element the default value of @processing-role is define as
>> ³resource-only² through the DTD. Now, there is a possibility that a user
>> assigns value to @processing-role explicitly in the xml. These two cases are
>> different and I think the propagation of the value shall happen differently
>> for these two scenarios as follows.
>> ·        If the value is defined through DTD ­ It shall NOT be propagated
>> from
>> key-defining to key-referencing element.
>> 
>> ·        If the value is explicitly specified in the XML - It shall be
>> propagated from key-defining to key-referencing element.
>> 
>> This is so because, in general for key-defining element, the @processing-role
>> is controlled through DTD because, the purpose of the element is clear and
>> per
>> the standard. Now, if a user is specifying a value in the XML explicitly,
>> then
>> I assume the user wants some different behavior and hence, the value shall be
>> propagated.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Tarun Garg | Adobe Systems | +91-120-2444711 | tarung@adobe.com
> 
> --
> Eliot Kimber
> Senior Solutions Architect
> "Bringing Strategy, Content, and Technology Together"
> Main: 512.554.9368
> www.reallysi.com
> www.rsuitecms.com
> 

-- 
Eliot Kimber
Senior Solutions Architect
"Bringing Strategy, Content, and Technology Together"
Main: 512.554.9368
www.reallysi.com
www.rsuitecms.com



[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]