More RDF/XML encoding...

["Florian Reuter" <freuter@novell.com>]

More RDF/XML encoding...

1. Use RDF/XML for generic parts

The metadata SC already agreed to use an RDF/XML syntax for the manifest.xml file. There are at least to other part of an OpenDocument file where the same statement would be usefull: the <office:meta> stream and <style:style> content. Both already use a structure compatible with RDF/XML.

Since the <office:meta> stream encoded meta data of the document use of RDF/XML should be clear.

The reason to restrict content of the <style:style> element to an RDF/XML syntax is to allow ODF1.2 application to easily preserve unknown child elements of the <style:style> element.

Consider the following example:
<style:style style:name="SampleStyle" style:family="paragraph">
  <style:paragraph-properties fo:margin-top="0.212cm" fo:margin-bottom="0.212cm"/>
  <style:text-properties style:font-name="Times New Roman" fo:font-size="12pt" />
  <ext:paragraph-properties ext:property=”value” ext:intprop=”123”>
</style:style>

which would be equivalent to
<style:style style:name="SampleStyle" style:family="paragraph">
  <style:paragraph-properties fo:margin-top="0.212cm" fo:margin-bottom="0.212cm"/>
  <style:text-properties style:font-name="Times New Roman" fo:font-size="12pt" />
  <ext:paragraph-properties>
    <ext:property>value</ext:property>
    <ext:intprop>123</ext:intprop>
  </ext:paragraph-properties>
</style:style>


2. Make use of rdf:datatype

It is very important to give ODF processing entities information about the data type of unknown elements. This will allow the application to perform a better validation and provide better APIs.
The following style fragment for example contains information about the types which allows the application to perform a validation and provide a typed API:
<style:style style:name="SampleStyle" style:family="paragraph">
  <style:paragraph-properties fo:margin-top="0.212cm" fo:margin-bottom="0.212cm"/>
  <style:text-properties style:font-name="Times New Roman" fo:font-size="12pt" />
  <ext:paragraph-properties>
    <ext:property rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string”>value</ext:property>
    <ext:intprop rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#int";>123</ext:intprop>
  </ext:paragraph-properties>
</style:style>
We should define a list of datatypes to be understood by every ODF1.2 compliant application.

~Florian