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- From: Steve Schafer <pandeng@telepath.com>
- To: "XML Developers' list" <xml-dev@xml.org>
- Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 07:51:11 -0600
On 02 Mar 2000 22:40:58 +0000, you wrote:
>Why not structured attributes in XML? _Why_ structured attributes?
>Well, we all know the comparison between elements and attributes as
>they stand:
>
>Elements Attributes
>ordered unordered
>non-unique unique
>structured unstructured
>
>There are a lot of contexts in which the first two properties of
>attributes are desireable, but the third is a serious constraint.
Since the structured element syntax already exists, wouldn't it make
more sense for an attribute to _reference_ a hierarchy of attributes,
expressed in element syntax, elsewhere in the document? Given your
example:
> <person age='49'>
> <.name>
> <.first>Henry</.first>
> <.last>Thompson</.last>
> <.middle>Swift</.middle>
> </.name>
> <children otherParent='p33'>
> . . .
> </children>
> </person>
I would do it like this:
<person> age='49' name-ref='xqz4834'>
<children ...>
...
</children>
</person>
...
<names>
<name ID='xqz4834'>
<first>Henry</first>
<last>Thompson></last>
<middle>Swift</middle>
</name>
...
</names>
No new syntax required.
-Steve Schafer
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