Namespace prefixes

[Juha Ikävalko <juha.ikavalko@tieke.fi>]

Hello all,

 

I got a question regarding namespaces. In all XML examples namespace prefixes (e.g. xmlns:cac="...") are defined in a root element. 

However, is't ok if these definitions are given in each element:

 

<Order xmlns="...">

  <cbc:ID xmlns:cbc="..."></cbc:ID>

  <cbc:IssueDate xmlns:cbc="..."></cbc:IssueDate>

  <cac:BuyerCustomerParty xmlns:cac="..."></cac:BuyerCustomerParty>

 ...

</Order>

Of course, it's rational to to define namespaces only in a root element but some systems seems to output XML with namespaces defined in each element. At first, I thought that this is just a waste of bytes, but recently I got feedback that it might produce some extra work for message convertions if prefixes can be defined either in a root element or separately in each element.

I didn't find any recommendations or rules regarding this issue from NDR. Is it possible to add a recommendation that namespace prefixes should be defined only in a root element?

Regards,

Juha Ikävalko

TIEKE Tietoyhteiskunnan kehittämiskeskus ry 
TIEKE Finnish Information Society Development Centre 
Salomonkatu 17 A, 10th floor FI-00100 Helsinki 
Tel +358 9 4763 0410 Fax +358 9 4763 0399 
juha.ikavalko@tieke.fi http://www.tieke.fi <http://www.tieke.fi>