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Re: Structured attributes

• From: Steve Schafer <pandeng@t...>
• To: "XML Developers' list" <xml-dev@x...>
• Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 07:51:11 -0600

On 02 Mar 2000 22:40:58 +0000, you wrote:

>Why not structured attributes in XML?  _Why_ structured attributes?
>Well, we all know the comparison between elements and attributes as
>they stand:
>
>Elements      Attributes
>ordered       unordered
>non-unique    unique
>structured    unstructured
>
>There are a lot of contexts in which the first two properties of
>attributes are desireable, but the third is a serious constraint.

Since the structured element syntax already exists, wouldn't it make
more sense for an attribute to _reference_ a hierarchy of attributes,
expressed in element syntax, elsewhere in the document? Given your
example:

>  <person age='49'>
>   <.name>
>    <.first>Henry</.first>
>    <.last>Thompson</.last>
>    <.middle>Swift</.middle>
>  </.name>
>  <children otherParent='p33'>
>   . . .
>  </children>
> </person>

I would do it like this:

 <person> age='49' name-ref='xqz4834'>
   <children ...>
     ...
   </children>
 </person>
 ...
 <names>
   <name ID='xqz4834'>
     <first>Henry</first>
     <last>Thompson></last>
     <middle>Swift</middle>
   </name>
   ...
 </names>

No new syntax required.

-Steve Schafer


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    • From: ht@c... (Henry S. Thompson)

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