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amyzing@talsever.com (Amelia A Lewis) writes:
> xsi:type is a scab.
>
> If the union of instances agrees to a contract (the schema) with management
> (the parser), xsi:type is the badge of the scab.
>
> For example, suppose that a system is designed such that a few thousand
> licensed franchisees are going to collect some information, which they are
> going to submit (over secured, authenticated links) to a battery of one
> hundred validating servers, which in turn all feed into a single process
> server. The idea is to offload validation from the main processing server,
> but still have control over the input, to guarantee its correctness.
>
> Imagine, then, that a portion of the schema which is to be used for
> submission looks like this:
>
> <xs:element name="registrant" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1">
> <xs:complexContent>
> <xs:sequence>
> <xs:element name="personalName" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1"
> maxOccurs="1" minLength="2" />
> <xs:element name="familyName" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1"
> maxOccurs="1" minLength="2" />
> <!-- more information here, also very strongly typed -->
> </xs:sequence>
> </xs:complexContent>
> </xs:element>
<snip/>
> And here's an excerpt from a valid instance:
An invalid instance, see below.
> <registrant xsi:type="xs:string">No information provided</registrant>
>
> I hope that my understanding is incorrect, and someone can point out that
> one or more of the following are true (or that there is some other saving
> grace somewhere in the system):
>
> 1) xsi:type must always be a "narrowing cast"
False -- it can extend by adding more, but cannot remove required parts.
> 2) xsi:type cannot replace a complex type with a simple one
False, but only if the complex type is 'mixed' and _all_ its element
content is optional.
> 3) xsi:type overrides can be disabled in the parser
False.
> But I don't think that they are true, which means that validation is
> effectively worthless, because no matter how complex the schema created, I
> can always replace it with:
>
> <rootElement xsi:type="xs:string">Neener, neener! Look, ma, I'm
> valid!</rootElement>
Invalid, see above
Hope this helps.
ht
--
Henry S. Thompson, HCRC Language Technology Group, University of Edinburgh
W3C Fellow 1999--2002, part-time member of W3C Team
2 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LW, SCOTLAND -- (44) 131 650-4440
Fax: (44) 131 650-4587, e-mail: ht@cogsci.ed.ac.uk
URL: http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~ht/
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