Dear TC members,
we are currently using the a:defaultValue attribute specified by the
Relax NG DTD Compatibility specification[1] to define the default values
of many attributes. We recently received a comment from Murata Makoto
that the use of a:defaultValue attributes in the ODF schema causes a
ambiguity problem in the schema[2]. In addition, we currently do not
explicitly state whether the ODF schema shall conform to the Relax NG
DTD Compatibility attribute default value feature, or whether our use of
a:defaultValue has only documentation purposes. The later I think is
what actually was intended.
However, I would like to propose that we follow the proposal that
Murata Makoto has made in his comment. That means that we remove all
a:defaultValue attributes from the schema, and instead add a sentence
like the one below to the sections that describe the attributes:
"If the attribute is not specified, conforming applications *should*
behave as if the attribute has the value "[default value]".
This sentence is only a suggestion. Alternative suggestion are welcome.
I further would like to suggest that we don't change the schema and
specification manually, but by an XSLT stylesheet. If the TC accepts
this proposal, I volunteer to develop this stylesheet.
If we adapt the schema as proposed, we may either explicitly state that
the ODF schema conforms to the attribute default value feature defined
by the Relax NG DTD Compatibility specification, or we may omit the
reference to the Relax NG DTD Compatibility specification for default
values (We may however want to reference it for ID/IDREF behavior. I
will cover that by a different mail next week. What I want to say here
is that if we only look at the default value topic, both would be possible).
Best regards
Michael
P.S.: I have written this proposal as plain mail. If the TC follows
Rob's suggestion for using the Wiki instead, I will move this proposal
to the Wiki.
[1] http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/relax-ng/compatibility.html
[2] http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/office-comment/200805/msg00014.html
--
Michael Brauer, Technical Architect Software Engineering
StarOffice/OpenOffice.org
Sun Microsystems GmbH Nagelsweg 55
D-20097 Hamburg, Germany
http://sun.com/staroffice +49 40 23646 500
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS
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Geschaeftsfuehrer: Thomas Schroeder, Wolfgang Engels, Dr. Roland Boemer
Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrates: Martin Haering
