Re: [ubl-ndrsc] Removing use of "-" in element and type names

[Tim McGrath <tmcgrath@portcomm.com.au>]

In London, we also asked the NDR to add "no punctuation" to the UBLName 
rule.  We encountered this when we discovered the current script/Perl 
has issues with the use of apostrophes.  it just shows that we need to 
avoid technologically sensitive features in tag names.

As far as the Dictionary Entry Names goes, i believe, the CCTS rule on 
this states we can use "-" when they do not conflict with the OED 
(Oxford English) entry.  in london we agreed to remove "-" (and other 
punctuation such as apostrophes) if not required by the OED (a bit 
stronger than CCTS against their use).  however, if for example, we find 
a property term that the OED says needs a hyphen we must use it. 
 hopefully, this will be rare but not guaranteed.  the use of hyphens is 
generally an interim phase before two words become one, so they dont 
last and can normally be used without the "-".

So, given this all happens, what end up with is UBLNames that have no 
punctuation (only boring a-Z) BUT Dictionary Entry Names (and their 
composite parts) that may have things like "-".  Hopefully, this is good 
enough for Java and Perl ;-)


Chin Chee-Kai wrote:

>Is it possible for NDR to rule for removing the use of hyphens
>"-" in element and type names?
>
>A bit of trial experience with transforming UBL schema element
>names and types to Java classes revealed that the existence
>of hyphens in element names and types introduces programming
>decisions to "deal with" the hyphens.  
>
>As you know, hyphens are not acceptable as variable or type 
>names in Java (or for that matter, C, Perl and most programming
>languages) though they are fine as XML names.  During the
>transformation, developer will need to make a decision of
>how to map the hyphens into the programming language's 
>name space.  For e.g., map "-" to nothing (squeezing the
>hyphens out), map "-" to underscore "_", or mapping it to
>some other infrequently used string combinations.
>
>For instance, "CountrySub-Entity" may be mapped in various
>ways into:
>   CountrySubEntity
>   CountrySub_Entity
>   CountrySub_____Entity
>   ...
>
>There aren't too many names with hyphens, fortunately.
>However, these create exceptions that will require documentation.
>Such requirement will not be necessary if NDR could rule to
>not use hyphens.
>
>Thanks.
>
>
>
>Best Regards,
>Chin Chee-Kai
>SoftML
>Tel: +65-6820-2979
>Fax: +65-6743-7875
>Email: cheekai@SoftML.Net
>http://SoftML.Net/
>
>
>  
>

-- 
regards
tim mcgrath
phone: +618 93352228  
postal: po box 1289   fremantle    western australia 6160