RE: 3 approaches to structure lists, plus an analysis ofeach

From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@m...>
To: "'xml-dev@l...'" <xml-dev@l...>
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:58:11 -0500

Play the video



Thanks Ken, this is excellent. It will take me a while to absorb all this, but from a brief examination of your material I conclude that you recommend approach #3 - express a list as an XML instance document, using domain-specific terminology (i.e. do not express lists using a schema language). Is that what you recommend? 

/Roger 



> -----Original Message-----
> From: G. Ken Holman [mailto:gkholman@C...] 
> Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:22 PM
> To: 'xml-dev@l...'
> Subject: Re:  3 approaches to structure lists, plus 
> an analysis of each approach
> 
> At 2009-02-14 17:40 -0500, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
> >What are the different approaches to structure lists?
> 
> A.k.a. "controlled vocabularies"
> 
> >What are the pros and cons of each approach? Is there a way to 
> >structure lists to maximize their utility and minimize their 
> overhead?
> 
> Yes!
> 
> >The purpose of this message is to document and analyze several 
> >approaches to structure lists. I use "country list" to illustrate 
> >the different approaches.
> >
> >ASSERTION: LISTS THAT CAN BE USED FOR MULTIPLE PURPOSES ARE GOOD
> 
> There are three aspects of controlled vocabularies of interest to XML 
> documents:
> 
>   - list-level meta data - identifies the list as an entity
> http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/html/2008/Holman01/Balisag
> e2008-Holman01.html#codes
>   - value-level meta data - augments values with "meaning" by adding 
> information
> http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/html/2008/Holman01/Balisag
> e2008-Holman01.html#codesmd
>   - instance-level meta data - used in XML documents to associate 
> specified controlled vocabulary values with the particular list-level 
> meta data from which the value is obtained, thus disambiguating 
> values for applications when ambiguous in an element whose values are 
> from the union of two lists with overlapping values
> http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/html/2008/Holman01/Balisag
> e2008-Holman01.html#codesilm
> 
> Here is an excerpt of OASIS genericode 1.0 file for ISO country codes:
> 
> http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0-update/cl/gc/default
> /CountryIdentificationCode-2.0.gc
> 
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <gc:CodeList 
> xmlns:gc="http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/ns/genericode/1.0/">
>     <Identification>
>        <ShortName>CountryIdentificationCode</ShortName>
>        <LongName xml:lang="en">Country</LongName>
>        <LongName Identifier="listID">ISO3166-1</LongName>
>        <Version>0.3</Version>
>        
> <CanonicalUri>urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:codelist:gc:Co
> untryIdentificationCode</CanonicalUri>
>        
> <CanonicalVersionUri>urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:codelis
> t:gc:CountryIdentificationCode-2.0-update</CanonicalVersionUri>
>        
> <LocationUri>http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0-update/
> cl/gc/default/CountryIdentificationCode-2.0.gc</LocationUri>
>        <Agency>
>           <LongName xml:lang="en">United Nations Economic Commission 
> for Europe</LongName>
>           <Identifier>6</Identifier>
>        </Agency>
>     </Identification>
>     <ColumnSet>
>        <Column Id="code" Use="required">
>           <ShortName>Code</ShortName>
>           <Data Type="normalizedString"/>
>        </Column>
>        <Column Id="name" Use="optional">
>           <ShortName>Name</ShortName>
>           <Data Type="string"/>
>        </Column>
>        <Column Id="numericcode" Use="optional">
>           <ShortName>NumericCode</ShortName>
>           <Data Type="string"/>
>        </Column>
>        <Key Id="codeKey">
>           <ShortName>CodeKey</ShortName>
>           <ColumnRef Ref="code"/>
>        </Key>
>     </ColumnSet>
>     <SimpleCodeList>
>        <Row>
>           <Value ColumnRef="code">
>              <SimpleValue>AF</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>           <Value ColumnRef="name">
>              <SimpleValue>AFGHANISTAN</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>           <Value ColumnRef="numericcode">
>              <SimpleValue>004</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>        </Row>
>        <Row>
>           <Value ColumnRef="code">
>              <SimpleValue>AL</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>           <Value ColumnRef="name">
>              <SimpleValue>ALBANIA</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>           <Value ColumnRef="numericcode">
>              <SimpleValue>008</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>        </Row>
>        <Row>
>           <Value ColumnRef="code">
>              <SimpleValue>DZ</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>           <Value ColumnRef="name">
>              <SimpleValue>ALGERIA</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>           <Value ColumnRef="numericcode">
>              <SimpleValue>012</SimpleValue>
>           </Value>
>        </Row>
>        ...
>     </SimpleCodeList>
> <gc:CodeList>
> 
> An OASIS context/value association file (CVA file) is used to 
> describe which document contexts are associated with which genericode 
> files of controlled vocabularies.  A diagram is here:
> 
> http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/html/2008/Holman01/Balisag
> e2008-Holman01.html#cva
> 
> An excerpt of a UBL CVA file associated the country identifier with 
> the country code list is:
> 
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
> <ValueListConstraints 
> xmlns="http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/ns/ContextValueAsso
> ciation/cd2-1.0/" 
> xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Common
> BasicComponents-2" 
> xmlns:ext="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Common
> ExtensionComponents-2">
>     <ValueLists>
>        <ValueList xml:id="AccountingCostCode" 
> uri="../../cl/gc/default/AccountingCostCode-2.0.gc"/>
>        ...
>        <ValueList xml:id="CountryIdentificationCode" 
> uri="../../cl/gc/default/CountryIdentificationCode-2.0.gc"/>
>        ...
>        <ValueList xml:id="UNDGCode" 
> uri="../../cl/gc/default/UNDGCode-2.0.gc"/>
>     </ValueLists>
>     <Contexts>
>        <Context item="cbc:AccountingCostCode" 
> values="AccountingCostCode"/>
>        ...
>        <Context item="cbc:IdentificationCode" 
> values="CountryIdentificationCode"/>
>       ...
>        <Context item="cbc:UNDGCode" values="UNDGCode"/>
>     </Contexts>
> </ValueListConstraints>
> 
> >Lists should be structured in a way that they can be used for 
> >multiple purposes. For example, a country list may be:
> >
> >     - used as values in an XForms pick list.
> >
> >     - transformed into a document that contains, for each country,
> >       sales figures (or death rates, births, political leadership,
> >       religions, etc).
> >
> >     - used to validate an element's content, e.g. The value of the
> >       <country-visited> element must be a country.
> >
> >Those are only a few of the myriad uses of a country list. A 
> >well-designed country list should support all of them.
> 
> Specifications and implementations to do this are found here:
> 
>    genericode 1.0 - lists of codes with list-level and 
> code-level meta data
> 
>       http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/genericode
> 
>    context/value association using genericode 0.5 draft 1
>                   - contextual code list usage and 
> instance-level meta data
> 
>       
> http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=29990
> 
>    There is a Schematron-based implementation of validation 
> using CVA files
>    available from Crane's web site and being donated to the Schematron
>    project:
> 
>       http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/resources/ubl/index.htm#cva2sch
> 
> As cited by Mike, the code list committee is here:
> 
>    http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/codelist
> 
> I hope this helps.
> 
> . . . . . . . . . . . Ken
> 
> --
> Upcoming hands-on XSLT, UBL & code list hands-on training classes:
> Brussels, BE 2009-03;  Prague, CZ 2009-03, http://www.xmlprague.cz
> Training tools: Comprehensive interactive XSLT/XPath 1.0/2.0 video
> Video lesson:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrNjJCh7Ppg&fmt=18
> Video overview:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTiodiij6gE&fmt=18
> G. Ken Holman                 mailto:gkholman@C...
> Crane Softwrights Ltd.          http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/x/
> Male Cancer Awareness Nov'07  http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/x/bc
> Legal business disclaimers:  http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/legal
> 
> 
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Follow-Ups:
- RE: 3 approaches to structure lists, plus an analysis of each approach
  - From: "G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@C...>

References:
- 3 approaches to structure lists, plus an analysis of each approach
  - From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@m...>
- Re: 3 approaches to structure lists, plus an analysis of each approach
  - From: "G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@C...>

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