Re: [provision] Spec issue #10: Reference capability declaration withno reference definition.

[Gary P Cole <Gary.P.Cole@Sun.COM>]

I agree with Martin on both counts:
1) A reference capability declaration must contain at least one 
<referenceDefinition>.
2) Normative text in the spec is the easiest way to handle this.

Raepple, Martin wrote:

>Assuming that any schema entity on any target is a valid option for an
>empty reference capability declaration doesn't seem reasonable to me.
>Unfortunately, there is no mechanism in XML schema to enforce the
>occurence of a subelement (referenceDefinition) based on a parent's
>attribute value (identifier="...:reference") to the best of my knowledge
>(only other schema languages like Schematron provide support for so
>called conditional elements).
>If we want to provide a schema-based solution for this issue, one option
>(may be the only one?) is to define separate types for each capability
>type (BulkCapabilityType, SearchCapabilityType ...), each with its own
>element structure. Since this is not an elegant solution and XML schema
>seems to lack support of this issue, we may add an additional normative
>section in the Reference Capability chapter that defines that an "empty"
>reference capability with no reference definiton is simply invalid (and
>implementations need some custom validation here ...) 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Gary P Cole [mailto:Gary.P.Cole@Sun.COM] 
>Sent: Donnerstag, 12. Mai 2005 22:54
>To: PSTC
>Subject: [provision] Spec issue #10: Reference capability declaration
>with no reference definition.
>
>10. What if reference capability declaration contains no reference 
>definition?
>
>In the spec's listTargets example, the listTargetsResponse contains two 
>targets.
>Within target2's declaration of the Reference Capability for Person, the
>
>provider declares that a Person on target2 may own an account on 
>target1. (That is, an instance of Person on target2 may use an "owns" 
>type of reference to refer to an instance of Account on target1.)
>
><listTargetsResponse status="success">
>...
><target targetID="target2">
>...
><capabilities>
>...
><capability identifier="urn:oasis:names:tc:SPML:2.0:reference">
><appliesTo entityName="Person"/>
><referenceDefinition typeOfReference="owns"/>
><schemaEntity entityName="Person"/>
><canReferTo entityName="Account" targetID="target1"/>
></referenceDefinition>
></capability>
></capabilities>
></target>
></listTargetsResponse>
>
>Since the reference definition is *open content* of the <capability>,
>nothing requires a declaration of the reference capability to contain a 
><referenceDefinition>.
>This raises the question of what a declaration of the reference 
>capability would mean
>if no <referenceDefinition> were present.
>
>In the listTargetsResponse example above, what would it mean if the 
>provider omitted the <referenceDefinition>? Would this mean that an 
>instance of Person on target2
>may use *any* type of reference refer to an instance of any schema 
>entity on any target?
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe from this mail list, you must leave the OASIS TC that
>generates this mail.  You may a link to this group and all your TCs in
>OASIS
>at:
>https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/portal/my_workgroups.php 
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe from this mail list, you must leave the OASIS TC that
>generates this mail.  You may a link to this group and all your TCs in OASIS
>at:
>https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/portal/my_workgroups.php
>
>  
>