From: martinl_at_talk21.com
Date: Fri Jan 19 2001 - 16:55:37 CET
Received: (from mdom_at_localhost) by karto.ethz.ch (8.9.3/8.9.3/SuSE Linux 8.9.3-0.1) id QAA16921 for cavexml-outgoing; Fri, 19 Jan 2001 16:59:03 +0100 Received: from t21mta00-app.talk21.com (mta00.talk21.com [62.172.192.40]) by karto.ethz.ch (8.9.3/8.9.3/SuSE Linux 8.9.3-0.1) with ESMTP id QAA16917 for <cavexml_at_cartography.ch>; Fri, 19 Jan 2001 16:59:02 +0100 From: martinl_at_talk21.com Received: from t21mtaV-lrs ([10.216.84.18]) by t21mta00-app.talk21.com (InterMail vM.4.01.02.27 201-229-119-110) with SMTP id <20010119155716.YEPJ15069.t21mta00-app.talk21.com_at_t21mtaV-lrs> for <cavexml_at_cartography.ch>; Fri, 19 Jan 2001 15:57:16 +0000 X-Mailer: talk21 v1.12 - http://www.talk21.com To: cavexml_at_cartography.ch X-Talk21Ref: none Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 15:55:37 GMT Subject: Re: <Comments> Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Message-Id: <20010119155716.YEPJ15069.t21mta00-app.talk21.com@t21mtaV-lrs> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by karto.ethz.ch id QAA16918 Sender: owner-cavexml_at_karto.baug.ethz.ch Precedence: bulk
I think the answer is yes, you can
> .... have text (PCDATA) inside the <Instrument>
> block, but outside of the any other blocks, such that untagged text is
> just assumed to be text that goes with structure the text is in
The problem is that you are just ASSUMING that the text is 'only' a comment. If the particular XML vocabulary (say CaveXML in our case) takes this as an axiom, then it may be seen as a feature, but it's not as bombproof as explicitly naming every bit of data you interchange.
For more food for thought, I think all these are valid:
a)
<compass>Jim's Suunto had a 2<unit="mm"/> bubble in it
</compass>
b)
<compass ident="Jim's Suunto" comment="had a 2mm bubble in it" />
c)
<compass ident="Jims' Suunto" >had a 2<unit="mm"/> bubble in it
</compass>
d)
<compass>Jim's Suunto
<comment>had a 2<unit="mm"/> bubble in it
</comment>
</compass>
e)
<compass ident="Jim's Suunto">
<comment text="had a 2mm bubble in it" />
</compass>
f)
<compass ident="Jim's Suunto" />
<!-- had a 2mm bubble in it -->
a) is simple, but mixes the identity of the compass with a comment on it at a particular time
b) is simple and uniquely identifies each unit of data
c) is simple and seperates the data units, but leaves the identity of one of them to be assumed
d) is longer, seperates and identifies the data units
e) is longer, seperates and identifies the data units, but can't show that mm is a unit
f) uses an 'XML comment'
I prefer b), unless it is useful to mark the fact that mm is a unit, when d) would be needed.
If a comment element also had a made_by attribute and a date sub-element (to allow for
different date formats) it might be even more useful. eg:
<compass ident="Jim's Suunto" serial_no="52431" >
<comment made_by="Jim" text="had a bubble in it"
<date day="1" month="2" year="2001" />
</comment>
<!-- this comment might be in version 2 of the notes
or in a document logging equipment usage
-->
<comment made_by="Andy" text="bubble removed"
<date day="10" month="2" year="2001" />
</comment>
<!-- later irrelevant comment in a different language -->
<comment xml:lang="es" made_by="Jose" text="que significa?"
<date month="3" day="2" year="2001" />
</comment>
</compass>
> Is it any more or less complex to deal with a series of <Comment> blocks?
There are 2 viewpoints:
a) complexity of input
i) if everything is being typed into a text editor, the briefer the better;
otherwise, you should only be entering the text/values, not the tags
ii) if an XML editor is being used, the less elements the faster and the less attributes, faster still;
iii) if a dedicated survey input front end were to be used, it should have been optimised.
b) complexity of processing - shouldn't really concern us, but I don't think there is much to choose between the different approaches
> What role does the Comment tag serve? What role could it serve?
The Comment tag should be used to catch any information not catered for by the definitions of any standard tags. If comments are used very much, it would tend to indicate that the standard might need updating with additional tags defining the content of the comments ...
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