xml-dev - Re: Newbie Q

["Samuel R. Blackburn" <sblackbu@erols.com>]

My rule of thumb is attributes contains data that is unique to that
particular object.

Let's say you have a database of people. You output a list of
names from that database in XML (this could be the result
of a database query such as "show me a list of people
between the ages of 18 and 24").

This list may contain duplicates. For example:

<PERSON>
   <LASTNAME>Smith</LASTNAME>
   <FIRSTNAME>John</FIRSTNAME>
</PERSON>
<PERSON>
   <LASTNAME>Smith</LASTNAME>
   <FIRSTNAME>John</FIRSTNAME>
</PERSON>

How do you tell them apart? You could use an attribute:

<PERSON id="44909">
   <LASTNAME>Smith</LASTNAME>
   <FIRSTNAME>John</FIRSTNAME>
</PERSON>
<PERSON id="90322">
   <LASTNAME>Smith</LASTNAME>
   <FIRSTNAME>John</FIRSTNAME>
</PERSON>

Now you can tell them apart.

HTH,

Sam
-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Blau <fblau@nina.snohomish.wa.gov>
To: xml-dev@ic.ac.uk <xml-dev@ic.ac.uk>
Date: Monday, August 24, 1998 5:30 PM
Subject: Newbie Q


>Is there a formal rule for the use of Atrributes vs Elements? The
>assumption I am going on (per The XML Primer) is that Attributes are
>best used to communicate information to the browser/application, and
>Elements are best used for actual Data. Is this a valid assumption?
>
>In an EDI transaction, I was going to put the Header and Trailer
>information in attributes, with the actual Detail Segments as
>Elements...
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>Frank
>
>
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