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

[David Carlisle <davidc@nag.co.uk>]

>   Again, what 
> does an XPointer do with a PDF document? 

Nothing,  but a URL ending in a fragment id _does_ do something, or can
at least, for a PDF document as PDF files have a consistently defined
(for pdf) internal id notion, so if you have internal named labels in
the pdf then 
http:......xxx.pdf#foo
can work as desired and xxx.pdf can load into your pdf browser, scrolled
to show the location marked with the label foo.

Within the specifc domain of XML documents, saying "Xpointer" and "URI
fragment identifier" is supposed to be the same thing, but for pdf they
are quite different. Surely the trouble that we're trying to address is that 
http:......xxx.xml#foo
doesn't reliably work, and PDF doesn't have that problem, does it?

Of course even if we get something specified for XML the problem doesn't
go away, it just shifts around a bit, in particular many XML files will
have a xml-stylesheet PI specifying a transform, and then you have to
decide whether the #foo means an ID from the XML document or in the
generated HTML (or PDF or whatever else is generated). If it means the
latter, much of the current discussion is moot. (If the transform is
happening on the client then I think that the #foo is supposed to be
the fragment identifier of the mime type received (ie XML so Xpointer)
although in practice IE at least treats it as a name in the generated
HTML, which can be useful sometimes...

David


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