Re: [xml-dev] life support for DTDs? was RE: [xml-dev] misprocessing namespaces)

[Ronald Bourret <rpbourret@rpbourret.com>]

Rick Jelliffe wrote:

> Actually, it does not even need any change in DTD syntax AFAIK.
> It just needs a change in the way that validation is performed using DTDs.
> 
> The validator needs to understand that given
>     <!ATTLIST x   xmlns CDATA "123">
> or
>     <!ATTLIST x   xmlns CDATA #FIXED "123">
> etc. that an instance with
>     <y:x   xmlns:y="123">
> is correct.

Funny. MSXML implemented this a while back and Microsoft was pilloried
for not being standards compliant :) Personally, I always thought it was
a good way to resolve the namespaces / DTD dilemma.

> You would also need the rule that an unprefixed element name
> could only be declared once per DTD, which is not particularly
> objectionable.

Another possibility is that any element in a namespace would have to
declare that namespace, regardless of whether it was the default
namespace or a namespace using a prefix. Some sort of restriction along
these lines is necessary anyway, since element declarations form a
(possibly cyclical) graph and the notion of "earlier in the graph" is a
bit tenuous.

-- Ron