XML Link Questions (again)

[Eve L. Maler]

(I apologize if this is a re-send.  I keep getting bounce messages from
xml-dev, so I'm not sure if this has gone through.)

>At 02:52 PM 10/01/98 +0000, Neil Bradley wrote:
>>In both the XML Language and XML Link schemes, a target element can be
>>identified by its ID value. Is it possible using XML Link to target an
>>element in a document that does not have a DTD, and if so, how is the
>>target attribute identified, by a fixed attribute name of 'Id'?
>
>There's no way to know something is an ID element without access to
>a DTD or 'inside knowledge' about that particular document type.
>This is a problem.

There is an issue in the XLL Issues List (at
<http://www.w3.org/XML/Group/9712/xll-issues-19971203>, which
requires a W3C member password) on this topic.  We'll be returning
to XLL work Real Soon Now.

>>Does STRING(1,'testing',0) only select the first character of 
>>'testing', or the whole word. If the first character, can DITTO() be
>>used to specify a range from 't' to 'g', and is DITTO() assumed to
>>start from the enclosing element or from the first character of
>>testing, in which case can DITTO() actually find it?
>
>It indicates the *point* in the document where the 'T' starts; it
>does not select any characters.

Actually, the current understanding of the editors is that STRING
selects a single character, and that DITTO cannot be used usefully
to select a multiple-character string.  The XLL Issues List also
has an issue about this, with some suggestions.  Basically, STRING
currently isn't optimized to select a whole string, which is a likely
thing to want to do.

My XML tutorial at SGML/XML '97 covered the state of the XLL and
XPointer art in some detail (though it will no doubt be obsoleted
soon).  If you want to check out my slides (currently PowerPoint
'97 is what's available), you can get them from the XML Resources
area of <http://www.arbortext.com>.

>>What impact does case-sensitivity have on the default and replacement
>>attribute names and values. Is 'HREF' or 'href' the default resource
>>locator name, and must 'XML-ATTRIBUTES' (or 'xml-attributes') contain
>>case-sensitive values ('HREF TARGET TITLE REFTITLE' or 'href target
>>title RefTitle').
>
>XML is case-sensitive.  The most recent Link draft doesn't reflect this
>fact.  It is highly probable that we'll end up with lower-case throughout.

I believe that, XLL being an *application* of XML (that is, an XML-based
markup language), it can make its own application conventions about what
must be case-sensitive and what can be case-insensitive.  We do need to
decide this for XLL, and I agree with Tim that we're likely to end up
with case-sensitive lowercase.

	Eve


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