Re: [Sax-devel] Re: SAX survey: expected local name for non-namespace qualified elements

At 08:12 AM 6/1/2002 -0700, David Brownell wrote:
>Hmm, in that case it might also be worth just stipulating that the URI
>and localName must always be reported as empty strings when namespace
>processing is disabled ... as it stands today, processors are allowed
>to report them in that case (but not required).  That is, if that
>processing is turned off ("out of that context"), it's really off.

I disagree completely.  I write all of my filter code to rely on localName 
and URI - with no ill-effects when there is no URI - see below for more on why.


>On the other hand, I don't think I've heard anything but agreement to
>the notion that qName should always be reported ... at least when
>processing "real XML" instead of something that already discarded
>the prefixes being used.

If "namespace processing is off and we've never heard of namespaces", then 
we've never heard of QNames either.  If you insist on going this route, 
you'd better change the API to remove the notion of QName when namespace 
processing is off.  "Local name" might at least mean "the name local to the 
element" in cases without any understanding of namespaces.

>Those are both categories of implementation variance that the current
>SAX spec allows, though which (thankfully) not many implementors have
>taken advantage of.  In the interest of application portability, I'd
>be glad to see them removed in a SAX 2.1 release.

In the interest of application portability, I'd recommend requiring 
reporting the name of the element as localName when namespace processing is 
turned off.

Simon St.Laurent
"Every day in every way I'm getting better and better." - Emile Coue