Re: [xml-dev] The text illusion

[Ghislain Fourny <g@28.io>]

Hi Roger,

I'd mention XBRL, which standardizes exactly that on top of XML... in XBRL values are associated with units and contexts (using XML), names are defined in taxonomies (it's actually XML Schema) and can be associated with types and even documentation, references, links to literature, etc.

It would look like so:

_______

<xbrli:xbrl...>

  <xbrli:unit id="feet">

    <xbrli:measure>utr:ft</xbrli:measure><!-- standard units are standardized in a registry -->

  </xbrli:unit>

  <xbrli:context id="mean-sea-level">

    ...

  </xbrli:context>

  <myns:altitude

    unitRef="feet"

    contextRef="mean-sea-level"

    decimals="0"

  >10</myns:altitude><!-- element myns:altitude is defined in the taxonomy -->

</xbrli:xbrl>

_______

Kind regards,

Ghislain

Dr. Ghislain Fourny

Chief Scientist

g@28.io

28msec, Inc.

Menlo Park CA | Zurich, Switzerland

http://www.28msec.com/

On Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 3:32 PM, Costello, Roger L. <costello@mitre.org> wrote:

Michael Kay wrote:

 

Ø  you don't know the meaning of a piece of XML

Ø  just by looking at it; you need to know the

Ø  representation conventions

 

What is the best way to inform users of an XML document of its representation conventions? One approach is to inform users by adding more stuff to the XML document, e.g.,

 

<altitude units="feet" reference="mean sea level">10</altitude>

 

But now we’ve got to inform users of the representation conventions of the new stuff.

 

Yikes! We’ve entered an infinite regress.

 

Adding more stuff to the XML document doesn’t seem to be the best way to inform users of its representation conventions.

 

What is the best way to inform users of the representation conventions used by an XML document?

 

/Roger