xml-dev - Re: Embedding Content as Element Content or As An Attribute Value

["Eve L. Maler" <elm@arbortext.com>]

I wonder if CDF is designed this way simply to make the channel metadata be
invisible in browsers.  Existing browsers ignore unknown tags, display
element content, and don't display attribute values.

	Eve

At 03:56 PM 1/8/98 -0500, Chris wrote:
>Also, it seems that using an <Author> tag without a VALUe attribute
>makes sense if Mr. Baker isn't converting back and forth to objects at
>all, but is just doing something simple with authors - which I have a
>sneaking suspicion is all he's trying to do.
>        
>Jonathan Robie wrote:
>> 
>> At 09:17 AM 9/30/97 -0400, Tyler Baker wrote:
>> 
>> >I would think that in these cases an "author" tag should embed its
>> >content as follows <author>Mr John Smith</author>, rather than how
>> >Microsoft CDF embeds its content which is <author VALUE="Mr John Smith"
>> >/>.
>> 
>> I can't speak for Microsoft, but my guess is that they are simply using XML
>> in the manner most analogous to objects in object oriented systems. In an
>> object, the attributes are the data values:
>> 
>> class Author
>> {
>>         String name;    // e.g. "Mr John Smith"
>> };
>> 
>> Here they have used the name VALUE in a similar way:
>> 
>> class Author
>> {
>>         String VALUE;  // e.g. "Mr John Smith"
>> };
>> 
>> One very easy way to change objects into XML elements is to use one element
>> for each object, and use attributes to model the data members:
>> 
>> <author VALUE="Mr John Smith"
>> >/>
>> 
>> The reason attributes are better for this is that an object may have many
>> data members, and these are distinguished by names. The element content
>> only has one place to put things, and there is no name associated with it.
>> 
>> >Is this simply just a design preference, or else is there a concrete
>> >reason why what seemingly is content should be embedded as an attribute.
>> 
>> To me, Microsoft's method makes sense if what you are doing is converting
>> objects to XML, but your preferred method ("<author>Mr John
>> Smith</author>") makes more sense if you are converting objects to XML and
>> back.
>> 
>> Jonathan
>> 
>> 
>> jonathan@texcel.no
>> Texcel Research
>> http://www.texcel.no
>> 
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