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

[Norman Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com>]

/ James Robertson <jamesr@steptwo.com.au> was heard to say:
| Isn't the issue that namespaces allow you
| to mix information from a number of sources,
| however you see fit? Every document can have
| different elements, and yet still be considered
| OK according to well-formed and namespace rules ...
| 
| How do we handle _this_ behaviour, and still
| make some use of DTDs?

The only way that I'd consider such a document valid is if the (set of)
DTDs in question all referred to each other. I would expect the content
models of each DTD to specifically allow the mixtures. For example,
a DocBook+MathML DTD might allow:

  <!ELEMENT equation (alt?, (graphic+|mediaobject+|mml:math+))>

But to say that you can mix them "willy nilly" violates the principals
of validity at their core.

                                        Be seeing you,
                                          norm

-- 
Norman.Walsh@East.Sun.COM | The wonder is, not that the field of stars
XML Technology Center     | is so vast, but that man has measured
Sun Microsystems, Inc.    | it.--Anatole France