xml-dev - QName interpretation [Re: Next Round]

[james anderson <James.Anderson@mecomnet.de>]

John Cowan wrote:
> 
> Tyler Baker wrote:
> 
> > Very true, but sometimes applications (or even the DOM) may want to preserve the exact
> > document structure in memory and be able to write out that exact document structure as
> > well.  That is the only reason for providing the prefix and qualified name methods.
> 
> Again: not so.  Interpreting QNames in unexpected positions is
> also sometimes necessary.

As well may be. It remains, however, that the only *time* when such an
interpretation has value is in the parser's dynamic context. Which means that
there are two options.
1. The parser offers an interface which enables a processor to map qualified
names to universal names within the parser's dynamic context. This is just the
same facility which the parser itself needs - exposed to the processor.
2. Cache the dynamic context in each *element*. Note - not each *name*. This
is possible. It is necessary if it is desired to retain the naming
implications of a given encoding in the face of side-effects in the DOM. (It's
the upward-funarg problem revisited.) Otherwise it is a waste of space and time.

Otherwise "interpreting QNames in unexpected positions" can be guaranteed to
produce "unexpected results".

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