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This is a remark that has been made in comp.text.xml
Unlike schematron, ASL computes content models, which allow
tools such as editors to predict which element is allowed ; schematron
is not predictive, it can only warn that a rule has not been followed
AFTER the user has made the mistake, for example by inserting an element
that is not allowed.
There is a great difference between a tool such as schematron that
checks if everything is right in the XML document, and other schema
technologies (DTD, RelaxNG, WXS, ASL) that are able to draw up a
contextual list of XML material (attributes, elements, text) that is
legal to use. You can consider that the Active Schema Language is like a
deep integration of known schemata (DTD, RNG, WXS) with an assertion
language such as schematron ; a deep integration goes further than using
schematron in WXS or RNG because even if they are located in the same
XML instance, they are processed separately.
Here is a mix of RNG + schematron :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<grammar ns="" xmlns="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0";
xmlns:sch="http://www.ascc.net/xml/schematron";>
<start>
<element name="table">
<oneOrMore>
<element name="column">
<sch:pattern name="Check to have the same number of cells in
each column" id="cells">
<sch:rule context="column">
<sch:assert test="count(../column[1]/cell) =
count(cell)">The number of cells in this
column should be the same as in the firtst column,
expected <sch:value-of
select="count(../column[1]/cell)"/> but got
<sch:value-of select="count(cell)"/>.
</sch:assert>
</sch:rule>
</sch:pattern>
<oneOrMore>
<element name="cell">
<empty/>
</element>
</oneOrMore>
</element>
</oneOrMore>
</element>
</start>
</grammar>
Anyway, another point that is not covered by schematron is the
capability to design smart data types such as semantic data types, as
shown in this example :
http://reflex.gforge.inria.fr/tutorial.html#N800F69
This is a very basic problem that known schematas can't resolve.
I think that neither WXS nor schematron could perform the same result
(just tell me how if I'm wrong)
bryan rasmussen wrote:
> In Schematron - however going for xslt implementation of schematron by
> using the current function:
>
> <sch:rule context="table/column[1]">
> <sch:report
> test="following-sibling::column[count(cell)>current()[count(cell)]]"
> >cells need to be the same number per column
> </sch:report>
>
> </sch:rule>
>
> Cheers,
> Bryan Rasmussen
>
>
>
>
> On 2/9/06, Philippe Poulard <Philippe.Poulard@sophia.inria.fr> wrote:
>
>>hi,
>>
>>IMHO, the main difficulty that schema technologies encounter is their
>>poor capabilities to express constraints because they are hard-coded in
>>the schema. This is the case for occurrence constraints and content
>>model definitions.
>>
>>I have experimented a schema language that allows to compute the
>>occurrence constraints dynamically and that allows to switch from a
>>declarative language to an imperative one, which increases dramatically
>>the expressiveness of the schema. The idea is to push back the limits of
>>the declarative language when they are reached.
>>
>>An example :
>>a RelaxNG user was complaining about a constraint that he couldn't
>>express : he had to design a <table> with any <column>s but <column>s
>>should have the same number of <cell>s
>>
>>I respond that he could consider an alternative schema technology, such
>>as these that I designed :
>><asl:element name="column">
>> <asl:sequence>
>> <xcl:if test="{ asl:element()/preceding-sibling::column }">
>> <xcl:then>
>> <asl:element ref-elem="cell" min-occurs="{
>> $asl:max-occurs }" max-occurs="{ count( asl:element()/../column[1]/cell
>> ) }"/>
>> </xcl:then>
>> <xcl:else>
>> <asl:element ref-elem="cell" min-occurs="1"
>> max-occurs="unbounded"/>
>> </xcl:else>
>> </xcl:if>
>> </asl:sequence>
>></asl:element>
>>The full schema and the running results are available here :
>>http://groups.google.com/group/comp.text.xml/browse_thread/thread/d97cd4adf1964fdb/2f92e65b7ad48dff?hl=en#2f92e65b7ad48dff
>>
>>This demonstrates that a simple if-then-else statement allows to build a
>>made-to-measure content model with dynamic occurrence constraints.
>>
>>I named that schema language the Active Schema Language and I have an
>>almost full implementation of it in Java, called RefleX :
>>http://disc.inria.fr/perso/philippe.poulard/xml/active-tags/active-schema/active-schema.html
>>http://reflex.gforge.inria.fr/
>>You can read the examples, download the tool and play with it.
>>
>>Moreover, ASL allows to design smart data types ; there is a tutorial in
>>the RefleX web site that shows a semantic data type : the "temperature"
>>data type, which is able to parse "32°F" and "20°C" ; as this type is
>>used to augment the amount of information of the XML document, we can
>>sort a list of attributes of this type not on the string values but on
>>the typed values
>>http://reflex.gforge.inria.fr/tutorial.html#N800F69
>>
>>It is worth seeing because all the problems you consider in your message
>>are pointed out and solutioned in ASL.
>>
>>Michael Champion wrote:
>>
>>>I think the reality is that lots of people flipped the Bozo Bit on the
>>>XSD spec in 1999-2000. They went in different directions, however:
>>>Some to alternative schema languages, some to radical simplification of
>>>XML to de-emphasize schemas altogether.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>In hindsight, had people foreseen today's reality that we're stuck with
>>>XSD as what the mainstream user thinks of as the "real standard",
>>>clearly the energy would have been better spent debugging the wretched
>>>thing rather than trying to pretend it doesn't exist or trying to drive
>>>a stake thru its heart. I'm more interested in discussing what to do
>>>going forward given the current mess. The problems I see are:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>- The W3C is more interested in moving the XSD spec forward than fixing
>>>its numerous ambiguities. (Their pushback is that the people who want
>>>to fix it are not represented on the WG, and the people who have skin in
>>>the game want to move forward).
>>>
>>>- RELAX NG is clearly "better" for textual documents but doesn't have
>>>much support for the data-oriented use cases. (Sure you can plug in the
>>>XSD type system, but that's a big part of the problem). We now have an
>>>unpleasant situation of fragmentation where there's little mainstream
>>>tool support for RELAX NG due to lack of demand, exploitation of its
>>>geek chic (partly to strike a blow against the empire, I suppose), with
>>>the result that the normative definitions of Atom and ODF can't be used
>>>with most commercial XML tools. Maybe a good guerilla tactic in the
>>>open source wars, but for the moment it's the innocent who suffer the
>>>collateral damage.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>- Schematron is moving forward as an ISO standard and has some good
>>>implementations but has few normative references in vertical industry
>>>standards nor mindshare. (Correct me if I'm wrong about the normative
>>>references).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>- Lots of people complain about the limitations of XSD that Schematron
>>>addresses and the W3C doesn't plan to, especially the lack of occurrence
>>>constraints.
>>>
>>>The best way forward that I can see is to encourage end users to
>>>employ XSD + Schematron as necessary, and encourage W3C to address XSD's
>>> bugs and ambiguities before adding more onto an unstable foundation.
>>>What does that miss that the world actually values? (as much as it
>>>depresses me to say it, the world doesn't seem to value RELAX NG's
>>>elegance and mathematical foundation very much).
>>>
>>
>>--
>>Cordialement,
>>
>> ///
>> (. .)
>> --------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------
>>| Philippe Poulard |
>> -----------------------------
>> http://reflex.gforge.inria.fr/
>> Have the RefleX !
>>
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>>
>
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>
--
Cordialement,
///
(. .)
--------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------
| Philippe Poulard |
-----------------------------
http://reflex.gforge.inria.fr/
Have the RefleX !
|
