xml-dev - Re: Requirements for making DTD validation work with namespaces

[Wayne Steele <xmlmaster@hotmail.com>]

Thank you for your input.
I have revised my requirements to be clearer, at the risk of belaboring the 
obvious.
Requirement 0 is new, and 3 has been split into 3.1 and 3.2.
Please let me know what you think.
====================

Background:

XML 1.0 [XML1.0] created the categories of "Well-Formed", "Valid", and 
"Invalid" xml documents.

Processors reject documents which are not "Well-Formed".

IF (and only if) a document meets all the validity constraints in XML 1.0, 
it is deemed "Valid". Otherwise it is "Invalid".

The Namespaces REC [NSREC] introduced a new category of "documents which 
conform to this specification" in section 6; hereafter called "NSConformant" 
documents.

As these requirements are actually quite modest, many processors reject 
documents which are not "NSConformant".

[NSREC] also allows for use of "universal names" in documents, if a 
processor allows and provides this information.

As a customer and user of XML Technologies, I find it useful to mandate that 
certain documents be "Valid". I also wish to make use of "universal names", 
as described in [NSREC].

The recommended use of "universal names" is frequently not compatible with 
the validity constraints in [XML1.0].

This has lead many people to choose:
      do not use "universal names", or
      do not distinguish between Valid and Invalid documents.

Problem:

How can I use "universal names" in my document, and still benefit from the 
concept of "Valid" and "Invalid" documents?

There are many solutions to this. To help select a widely useful solution, I 
propose the following requirements.

Requirements:

0.  All non "Well-formed" documents are rejected.
1.  The precise meaning of "Valid", as per [XML1.0], must be retained.
2.  The precise meaning of "Invalid", as per [XML1.0], must be retained.

3.1 "Universal names" are defined and used, and ONLY defined and used, as 
per [NSREC]. This requirement only applies to XML elements and attributes, 
not to DTDs and declarations.

3.2 All non "NSConformant" documents are rejected.

It may be useful to define a new category of documents.
For now, I will call these categories "Splunged" and "Unsplunged".

4.  ALL "Valid" documents are automatically assumed to be "Splunged".
5.  Documents which are "Invalid" are assumed to be "Unsplunged", unless 
otherwise specified.

The interesting problem is how to define "Splunged" vs. "Unsplunged" 
documents, using the "Valid" vs. "Invalid" distinction as a guideline.

===================

(Question | Comment)* are welcome.

-Wayne Steele


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