xml-dev - Re: Does DTD validation work with namespaces?

[Jonathan Borden <jborden@mediaone.net>]

Joe,

> There have been proposals to extend DTDs to handle namespaces. The usual
> response is to refer folks to the newer schema languages. The sole
> justification for DTD syntax is compatability with SGML schemas; I don't
> think we can retain that while extending them to be namespace-aware, and
if
> we're going to give that up we might as well switch to instance syntax and
> simplify parsing.
>
    Why not simply extend the defintion of "valid" to "namespace valid" and
match element and attribute names based upon the expanded name rather than
the QName, that is suppose
<!ELEMENT doc (xxx:aaa)*>
<!ELEMENT xxx:aaa EMPTY>
]
<doc xmlns:xxx="http://whatever.org" xmlns:yyy="http://whatever.org">
    <xxx:aaa/>
    <yyy:aaa/>
</doc>

is "namespace valid" but not "valid".

All this would require is a change in the behavior of validators, not
syntax.

Jonathan Borden
The Open Healthcare Group
http://www.openhealth.org