Re: [xml-dev] Re: determining ID-ness in XML

[Bob Hutchison <hutch@xampl.com>]

On 01/10/30 7:18 AM, "Don Park" <donpark@docuverse.com> wrote:

>> An alternative would be to have an attribute that declares the
>> name of the attribute that is an ID attribute, say xml:idatt.
> 
> Aye.  One more vote for xml:idatt.  I prefer its value to be a list of zero
> or more XML names.  Nested xml:idatt should override inherited list
> completely.
> 
> One serious problem is the namespace issue which is further complicated when
> dealing with a list of attribute names belonging to multiple namespaces.

I agree that xml:idatt is the best idea so far. However, I would prefer this
to be defined on a namespace basis. Something like ns:xml:idatt -- just like
regular attributes (an xml:idatt would apply to the unspecified namespace
namespace or whatever it is called and is would be equivalent to the
original proposal I think).

If this was the rule, then any attribute named would necessarily be in the
same (attribute) namespace. Adding/removing of attributes becomes localised
to a namespace, nobody has to know about anything other than their own
namespace. I'm a little concerned with the list manipulation requirements
being place on tools that generate XML -- the contents of an xml:idatt seems
to be seriously dependent on the document in question, the tools (and
humans) will have to consider attributes designated by other namespaces.

(Obviously I think the idatts in practice will be associated with
namespaces). 

> 
> Don Park