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Re: Dilemma: dot notation or attribute

• To: Dare Obasanjo <dareo@m...>
• Subject: Re: Dilemma: dot notation or attribute
• From: Autumn Cuellar <a.cuellar@a...>
• Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 17:30:21 +1200
• Cc: xml-dev@l..., XML-L@L...
• Organization: Bioengineering Research Group, University of Auckland
• References: <8BD7226E07DDFF49AF5EF4030ACE0B7E07A97283@r...>
• User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.2a) Gecko/20020910

Would you mind providing an example?  I'm afraid I don't follow.

Thanks.

Regards,
Autumn

Dare Obasanjo wrote:
> Why don't you use namespaces? This seems to be exactly what they were designed for. 
> 
> 	-----Original Message----- 
> 	From: Autumn Cuellar [mailto:a.cuellar@a...] 
> 	Sent: Sun 9/22/2002 10:16 PM 
> 	To: xml-dev@l...; XML-L@L... 
> 	Cc: 
> 	Subject:  Dilemma: dot notation or attribute
> 	
> 	
> 
> 	Hello,
> 	
> 	I'll try to explain my dilemma as briefly as possible and maybe you
> 	could offer suggestions.  I want to be able to import one document with
> 	the root element <model> into another document with the same root
> 	element and then access element content in the imported "model".  We've
> 	considered two ways of doing this.
> 	
> 	The dot notation method:
> 	<model>
> 	   <import_model name="example"
> 	        uri="http://www.example.com/sample_model.xml" />
> 	
> 	   <variable name="A" units="example.meter_per_cm2"/>
> 	</model>
> 	
> 	The above method effectively aliases "example" to the sample model uri,
> 	and then the variable can reference units defined in another model by
> 	listing the model nickname and the units separated by a dot.
> 	
> 	The attribute method:
> 	<model>
> 	   <import_model name="example"
> 	        uri="http://www.example.com/sample_model.xml" />
> 	
> 	   <variable name="A" units="meter_per_cm2" units_model="example" />
> 	<model>
> 	
> 	The attribute method is similar, however, the imported model is
> 	referenced via a specific attribute.
> 	
> 	Neither method is exactly XML-happy.  You expect the attribute value to
> 	be a literal value with no hidden meaning for a processor to detect, as
> 	would be necessary with the dot notation.  However, there have been
> 	instances where groups give certain meaning to parts of an attribute
> 	value.  XML Schema uses the xsd: namespace prefix in attribute values to
> 	indicate that data types have already been defined by the XML Schema
> 	language.  And the attribute method bothers me because the "units_model"
> 	attribute is qualifying another attribute instead of the element it's
> 	placed on.  I've never seen another XML language do this before.  Does
> 	anyone know of a standard case in which an attribute describes another
> 	attribute?
> 	
> 	Do you have a preference of one method over the other, and why?  Can you
> 	think of another approach that I've missed?
> 	
> 	Thanks for your time!
> 	--
> 	Autumn A. Cuellar
> 	Bioengineering Institute
> 	The University of Auckland
> 	New Zealand
> 	
> 	
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  • RE: Dilemma: dot notation or attribute
    • From: "Dare Obasanjo" <dareo@m...>

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