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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: Compound Documents? RE: Announcement of the NVDL
Hey Roger,
On Thu, Jan 27, 2005 at 04:37:19PM -0500, Roger L. Costello wrote:
> <Book xmlns="http://www.books.org">
> <Title>The First and Last Freedom</Title>
> <HTML xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xhtml">
> <BODY>Hello World</BODY>
> </HTML>
> <Author>J. Krishnamurti</Author>
> <Date>1954</Date>
> <ISBN>0-06-064831-7</ISBN>
> <Publisher>Harper & Row</Publisher>
> </Book>
>
> And the NVDL Processor will sort out the two components (the Book component
> and the HTML component) and validate each individually.
>
> Normally, with the above instance document a schema validator would
> complain, saying that "the HTML element is unexpected, Expecting the Author
> element".
>
> So, what does this "component insertion" capability buy me? Murata calls
> this a "compound document". What exactly is a "compound document"? /Roger
I believe a compound document is a document whose semantics span
multiple independent specifications. Some have referred to them
(including myself, in the past) as multi-namespace documents, but I
don't think that quite captures the essence, since a single
specification could conceivably prescribe behaviour for how multiple
namespaces are to work together (e.g. XML Schema). No, the hard part of
compound documents, and where IMO the primary value is found,
is in a generic framework for supporting, at least in theory, any past,
present, or future format.
FWIW, the W3C kicked off a compound document activity[1] and WG[2] late
last year, and I'm representing a client there, Justsystem. As you
might expect, we're talking about a lot of the issues you run into when
combining formats that weren't designed to be combined. I'd like to be
able to say more, but unfortunately the group does its work in private.
Hopefully we'll get something published soon though.
If you're interested in "trying out" compound documents, Justsystem
released a technology preview of their "xfy"[3] ('eks-fi') platform last
year at XML 2004 that's available for download. Let me know what you
think.
Cheers,
[1] http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/Activity
[2] http://www.w3.org/2004/CDF/
[3] http://www.xfytec.com
Mark.
--
Mark Baker. Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA. http://www.markbaker.ca
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