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At 05:19 PM 4/2/2003 -0500, Chiusano Joseph wrote: >APPROACH #1: Element-based approach > >- One long-named element that represents the entire "concept": > ><CurrentYearBudgetFinalEstimatedAmount>999.99</CurrentYearBudgetFinalEstimatedAmount> > >APPROACH #2: Attribute-based approach > >- One short- and simply-named element that represents the most basic >concept, with multiple attributes to "fill in the meaning": > ><Amount yearType="CurrentYear" amountType="Budget" >finalIndicator="Final" estimateIndicator="Estimated">999.99</Amount> > >APPROACH #3: Combined approach > >- One more "fully-named" element with several attributes to "fill in the >meaning": > ><FinalEstimatedAmount yearType="CurrentYear" amountType="Budget"> >999.99</FinalEstimatedAmount> Hi Joe, The overall information model is more important than the decision whether to use elements or attributes - a simple-valued element and an attribute are not that different. More important, I think, is understanding the relationship between years, budgets, estimates, etc. For instance, the concept "current year" does not apply to data for more than a year - do you really want it used everywhere? Which means that it is dangerous for me to try to answer your questions. Also, what kind of processing are you doing? Design is a kind of optimization, as Tommie Usdin likes to point out, and until you know how you are using the markup, it is hard to know what to optimize. I like to mock up some data and try a bunch of queries on it. And then there's a lot of taste. I often use an approach like your #2: <final-estimate year="2003" type="budget">999.99</final-estimate> But....is this a final estimate whose type is budget, or a budget whose type is final estimate? In my models, I would think the latter: <budget year="2003" type="finalEstimate">999.99</budget> Whatever design you choose, create sample data and play with it - how hard is it to create in your environment? How hard to query? How hard to write stylesheets for? Have you captured the relationship between the different "atoms" well? Jonathan
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