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Re: Convert one XML format to another and verify theconversion

• From: Norm Tovey-Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com>
• To: Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org>
• Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2024 17:16:15 +0100

> 1. What does it mean to “verify the conversion”? Does XSD validation constitute verifying the conversion?

At some level, what it means to verify the conversion is a business rule, something to be negotiated with the person or organization contracting you to do the work. If they don’t know what it means, then it can probably mean anything you like it to mean.

I think schema validation of the output is part of the story. If they don’t have a schema for the old format, beware that it probably contains markup errors and you probably don’t want to take on the responsibility for fixing those.

If they do have a schema for the old format, validate the old files!

> My sense is no. My sense is that each action taken during the conversion must be verified. Do you agree with that?

That might be a good approach, but it’s not one that seems obviously useful to me. If you generate a bunch of metadata describing each action then use some mechanical process to validate that the metadata describes a valid transformation, be careful not to implement mechanical validation that is a direct translation of the original transformation.

What I mean is, if the stylesheet generates a Y for an X and metadata that says that Y was generated from X, if you mechanically check that each X transformed into a Y is associated with metadata that says the Y was generated from the X, I think there’s some risk that your metadata validation process is vacuous.

Are there 10 elements in the old/new formats, or 100, or 1000, or 10,000? Does the format include mixed content?

I think I’d be tempted to say that a schema validation of the output and a substantial collection of XSpec tests validating that each part of the transformation does what’s expected for a representative selection of input values is sufficient. As a starting point for the negotiation, anyway.

                                        Be seeing you,
                                          norm

--
Norm Tovey-Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com>
https://norm.tovey-walsh.com/

> One of my most productive days was throwing away 1000 lines of
> code.--Ken Thompson

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• References:
  • Convert one XML format to another and verify the conversion … how to “verify the conversion”?
    • From: Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org>