Re: [dita] Key scopes for subjectdef versus controlled attribute values

[Kristen James Eberlein <kris@eberleinconsulting.com>]

I agree. However, I think we need to decide exactly what the spec needs to say and where.

I've just re-read through the subjectScheme content as it currently exists in SVN. (PDF attached). We don't mention key scopes anywhere in it.

I think that perhaps the relevant place is the following topic (specific content highlighted in bold):

----

Processing controlled attribute values

An enumeration of controlled values can be defined with hierarchical levels by nesting subject definitions. This
affects how processors perform filtering and flagging.

The following algorithm applies when processors apply filtering and flagging rules to attribute values that are
defined as a hierarchy of controlled values and bound to an enumeration:

1. If an attribute specifies a value in the taxonomy, and a DITAVAL or other categorization tool is configured
with that value, the rule matches.
2. Otherwise, if the parent value in the taxonomy has a rule, that matches.
Subject scheme maps
3. Otherwise, continue up the chain in the taxonomy until a matching rule is found.

The following behavior is expected of processors:
• Processors SHOULD be aware of hierarchies of attribute values that are defined in subject scheme maps for
purposes of filtering, flagging, or other metadata-based categorization.
• Processors SHOULD validate that the values of attributes that are bound to controlled values contain only
valid values from those sets. (The list of controlled values is not validated by basic XML parsers.)
• Processors SHOULD check that all values listed for an attribute in a DITAVAL file are bound to the attribute by
the subject scheme before filtering or flagging. If a processor encounters values that are not included in the
subject scheme, it SHOULD issue a warning.

----

Maybe we need to add "If the @keyscope attribute is set on the root element of the subjectScheme map or any of the elements that it contains, the attribute is ignored for the purpose of validating the controlled values" ?

Best,
Kris

Kristen James Eberlein
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)

On 4/3/2015 11:22 AM, Eliot Kimber wrote:

My understanding of our decision was that attribute value validation is
always in terms of the unqualified values.

If value validation included scope values it would require map authors to
always use the same scope hierarchy for a given subject scheme map in
every map that included it. In addition, the scope qualification might not
make sense for some values.

So I think the only right answer is that value validation is done with
respect to the unqualified @keys values in the subject scheme map.

Cheers,

E.
—————
Eliot Kimber, Owner
Contrext, LLC
http://contrext.com




On 4/3/15, 10:13 AM, "Robert D Anderson" <robander@us.ibm.com> wrote:

While working through action items about keys in the spec, I realized I'm
still unclear on one thing about key scopes and subject schemes.

Assume that I have my taxonomy and controlled values in a subject scheme
map. The map is pulled into my root map with the key scope set to "tax".
The scheme is used to set up all my taxonomy subjects, and to set
controlled values for @audience, @platform, and @product.

I can use the <subjectref> element to reference subjects. In this case I
think it's clear that I should include the scope, because these keys
resolve just as any other keys:
<subjectref keyref="tax.myproduct"/>

I'm not clear what we determined for attribute values. Assume the subject
scheme defines the keys "user" and "admin", then restricts @audience to
just those values. Looking at the subject scheme in isolation, it appears
I'm restricting @audience to the literal values "user" and "admin", which
are also key names.

The question is - in the broader context of the root map, where I've put
my subject scheme into the key scope "tax", what values are valid for
@audience? In topics referenced from my map, is @audience restricted to
"user" and "admin", or is it restricted to "tax.user" and "tax.admin"? I
think we decided it's the former because doing otherwise will be
difficult (if not impossible) to manage. But, I feel we've gone around on
these issues enough that I need to double check before moving forward.

Thanks -

Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit (http://www.dita-ot.org/)

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Attachment: subject-scheme-maps.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document