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Peter,
Here's how VAM works in CAM right now. We have a simple precedence sequence.
Again - in order to remain sane - and to allow implementers of CAM engines and
writers of CAM templates - to do stuff that does not require Teraflops of
processing power or excessive tearing of hair out!
Anyway - the VAM is this - base rules are those in-line rules embedded into
structure members, (or included via an included structure). These are
overridden by any rules that match the same XPath target(s) that are declared
in the the <BusinessContext> section of the template. Third - the
<ContentReference> section provides default rules (typically retrieved from the
central registry, but can be in-lined too) - that provide rules if neither the
structure or context section provides any. Last but not least there is the
<DataValidation> section - this is mostly for external calls to webservices -
and so again - anything failing these checks will be rejected with an
appropriate error - this section is optional though - an intended for backend
internal integration needs against the actual data content - rather than
structural checks.
VAM is certainly a key thing to have explicit.
Thanks, DW
Quoting "Hunsberger, Peter" <Peter.Hunsberger@STJUDE.ORG>:
> w3c@drrw.info writes:
>
> > Thomas,
> >
> > When I read this I feel good about how we have engineered CAM.
> >
> > These real world examples show that we have it right - since
> > it can handle all of this in its stride. 3 different ways of
> > looking at one value? No problems. And context driven - yes!
>
> I don't think it can be emphasized too much how important context
> sensitive validation is required. The real world requirements are
> simultaneously local and global. Two main issues arise:
>
> 1) what is best practice for determining context? A simple hierarchical
> mapping works for only some subset of the problem. A complete rules
> engine is complex and expensive. Similarly, an Ontological traversal is
> complex and expensive.
>
> 2) Normalization. Static XML templates don't easily provide a useful
> degree of normalization. Given the lack of a clear path for my first
> issue this may not seem like a real problem yet, but we're already
> running into it. Our business analysts have dumped many requirements on
> us to allow them to reuse already existing template fragments (we use
> them for presentation, styling and validation) across multiple contexts
> when a portion of the template is identical.
>
> Currently for 1) we use a simple XSLT based rules engine traversing
> multiple XML hierarchies. I know where I want to go with this and I
> believe I can keep the processing costs reasonable and get an 80%
> solution. The solution to 2 is joined at the hip with 1. As you
> traverse the rules graph you locate pointers to the template fragments
> needed to create the entire template; start globally, traverse to local,
> (recursively use rules to determine how to combine the results).
>
> The implication for CAM is that, long run, you also need a VAM: a
> Validation Assembly Mechanism. This may seem like overkill, but I
> really think this is a multiple dimensional problem with the same
> solution over each dimension: triples driven graph traversal.
>
> An interesting side effect of looking at the problem this way is that it
> gives you a precise definition of ambiguity. Ambiguity arises when the
> traversal over each dimension does not arrive at a single point but
> rather some higher order space (be it 2D, 3D, or whatever). If you
> arrive at such a space you have to either have defaults or a way to
> alert some portion of the organizations involved that they have not yet
> agreed on a workable solution; (local augmentation of the rules graphs
> is likely the near term fix...). Now if only we really knew what each
> dimension was (Zachman's architecture framework anyone ?:
> http://www.zifa.com/). Clearly, MVC only captures a small portion of
> the problem.
>
> >
> > Sure people can bitch about this not being 'simple' - but the
> > kind of use cases you have shown only proves you need strong
> > adaptability and flexibility to solve these real world needs.
> >
> > Fortunately - unlike Tim's thoughts on XQuery - I feel very
> > confident that CAM has managed to address the needs.
> >
>
> It appears you're doing very good work on one portion of the problem.
> However, watching the various standards chasing each other in circles
> around the world, feeding on vast amounts of human resources, growing
> ever fatter, and continually failing to simplify my life doesn't make me
> have quite your confidence.
>
>
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