> Eek!
>
> I've created a microsyntax within the XML syntax.
>
>I remember, long ago, Michael Kay advising people to avoid creating microsyntaxes.
Is
("large", "small")
microsyntax?
same question for
map { "large" : "small" }
And what about using functions, like:
replace( "large", "small")
It seems that in XSLT there are some attributes, such as the "select" attribute, whose value must be micro/macro/.../ syntactically correct. And the syntax of the "micro" syntax may even be changed/extended every time a new version of XPath becomes official.
As in the example with XSLT, I believe that there is nothing wrong if a system uses more than one language, if the rules for using these languages' constructs are well defined, concise and meaningful.
Leaving XML aside, almost every programming language uses micro-syntaxes, such as for RegEx, format specifications, etc.
Cheers,
Dimitre
Hi Folks,
I am creating a new language that will sit on top of the XML Schema language. That is, I am creating a set of attributes that will be inserted as foreign attributes into XML Schemas. The foreign attributes will be placed on element declarations. The foreign attributes are bound to the XYZ namespace:
xmlns:f="XYZ"
<xs:element name="dialog" type="xs:string" f:name="value" />
I want to create an attribute (or perhaps several attributes) that has this meaning:
If the XML element in the instance
document contains the string ____,
then replace that string with ____.
For example, consider this <dialog> element:
<dialog>That is a large mountain</dialog>
I want to substitute large with small.
Here is my initial thinking on how to express that:
<xs:element name="dialog" type="xs:string" f:substitute-A-with-B="A=large;B=small" />
You can see that I named the attribute "substitute-A-with-B" and its value is an encoding of the thing to be substituted (large) and the thing that is to replace it (small).
Eek!
I've created a microsyntax within the XML syntax.
I remember, long ago, Michael Kay advising people to avoid creating microsyntaxes.
That said, I rather dislike the idea of using two attributes to express substitution.
Is it possible to express substitution with one just attribute, without using a microsyntax?
What do you recommend?
/Roger
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