RE: [xml-dev] Re: ASN.1 is an XML Schema Language (Fix those list s!)and Binary XML not needed

["Alessandro Triglia" <sandro@mclink.it>]

Pete Kirkham wrote:
> 
> How would you specify an XER encoding to XMI (http://www.omg. 
> org/technology/documents/formal/xmi.htm)? For example, an 
> instance of the example 
> PersonnelRecord at 
> http://asn1.elibel.tm.fr/en/xml/ASN1-as-an-XML-schema-notation.
> htm could be encoded in XMI as:
> 
> <PersonnelRecord dateOfHire="19710917">
>   <PersonnelRecord.title>Director</PersonnelRecord.title>
>   <PersonnelRecord.name>
>     <Name>
>       <Name.givenName>John</Name.givenName>
>       <Name.initial>P</Name.initial>      
>       <Name.familyName>Smith</Name.familyName>
>     </Name>
>   </PersonnelRecord.name>
>   <PersonnelRecord.nameOfSpouse>
>      <Name givenName="Mary" initial="T" familyName="Smith"/>
>   </PersonnelRecord.nameOfSpouse>
>   <PersonnelRecord.children>
>     <ChildInformation dateOfBirth="19571111">
>       <ChildInformation.name> 
>         <Name givenName="Ralph" initial="T" familyName="Smith"/>
>       </ChildInformation.name>
>     </ChildInformation>
>     <ChildInformation>
>       <ChildInformation.name> 
>       <Name givenName="Susan" initial="B">
>         <Name.familyName>Jones</Name.familyName>
>       </Name>        
>       
> <ChildInformation.dateOfBirth>19590717</ChildInformation.dateOfBirth>
>     </ChildInformation>
>   </PersonnelRecord.children>
>   <PersonnelRecord.number>51</PersonnelRecord.number>
> </PersonnelRecord>
> 
> The XMI encoding allows MOF-attributes to be either 
> XML-attributes or XML-child 
> elements whose tagnames use a dot notation; normally you 
> produce one form but you 
> have to read either. Would there be XER rules that map this 
> encoding to and from 
> the example ASN.1 type definition? 


In ASN.1/XER there is no way of saying that a given component of a SEQUENCE
may be encoded "either as a child element or as an attribute".  The only way
to achieve this is by defining two components with the same type, both
marked OPTIONAL, but then there is no formal constraint that can say
"exactly one of them two must be present":

	Name ::= SEQUENCE {
        givenNameAsElem [NAME AS "Name.givenName"] UTF8String OPTIONAL,
        givenName [ATTRIBUTE] UTF8String OPTIONAL,
        initialAsElem [NAME AS "Name.initial"] UTF8String OPTIONAL,
        initial [ATTRIBUTE] UTF8String OPTIONAL,        
        familyNameAsElem [NAME AS "Name.familyName"] UTF8String OPTIONAL,
        familyName [ATTRIBUTE] UTF8String OPTIONAL
	}

The same limitation exists in XML Schema.  If I am not mistaken, even in
RELAX NG (where it is possible to specify a choice between an element and an
attribute), you still need to include both in the pattern (so they aren't
really the *same* component).

Alessandro



> 
> Pete 
> 
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