Re: Schema localization? *Newbie alert*

[Rick Jelliffe <ricko@allette.com.au>]

 > Is
> >there a mechanism which will allow 'localization' (1:1 mappings)of the
> >tagnames in Dutch, Portugese, Chinese etc. ?

In general, the answer is no.  XML schemas provides no mechanism by which
you can take an arbitrary schema and localize it to another language. You
have to take the schema, and edit it by hand, and give it a new namespace.

This is less important for element and attribute names (which end-users are
often gidden from) but there is a mechanism (substitution groups) that can
help here if the original DTD used them.

It is more of an issue for localised data values (e.g.  enumerations, local
dates, etc.)  XML Schemas tries to implement the design policy fo "single
lexical representation' for all datatypes; this in  effect means that the
client and server must perform localization based on transnational
semi-standard datatype values.

Does this is a negative impact on thin clients?  IMO yes.   Does this make
XML Schemas 1.0 better for backend data rather than front-end data?  IMO
yes.  The bottom line is that if you need localized datatypes, you probably
have to declare them as kinds of strings and just perform lexical validation
rather than being able to take advantage of value-space typeing.  For
example, it you want to markup currency with a $ sign, you cannot use
numbers but treat it as a string.

Cheers
Rick Jelliffe


Cheers
Rick Jelliffe