DOM and editing [was WISH!...]

[Lauren Wood]

On 7 Jan 00, at 12:08, Peter Murray-Rust wrote:

> I am indeed doing this! I have specified and implemented a first pass at
> CMLDOM using DOM-1. I ran into a number of problems when building/editing
> the DOM. I have been using two implementations, xml-tr2 from SUN and xml4j
> (now Xerces). Each of these had extended the DOM interface with methods
> such as
> setTagName() and
> setOwnerDocument()
> which I found to be essential for editing. In doing so the 2
> implementations diverged and I could not easily extend one without losing
> the ability to switch to the other if necessary. (I appreciate that this is
> one of the problems that SAXON tackled). I therefore did not have an
> implementation of CMLDOM that could be switched from one implementation to
> the other. effectively this means that I would have to rewrite the
> interface for different editors

The theory is that the DOM will define basic functionality and leave 
the convenience functions to other modules (yes, I know we don't do 
DTDs yet, but that will be done in Level 3, which we're starting now). 
So if there are things you *really need*, please send a list of them 
to www-dom at w3.org. Especially if they're already in some existing 
DOM implementation. It's too late for Level 2, but we're busy writing 
requirements document for Level 3, so now is the right time to get 
them listed. If you can include a use case, that makes life much 
easier for everyone, of course.

> If these and related problems are solved in DOM2 I shall be delighted!
> DOM2, however, specifically suggests that the interface can be extended,
> and it is these extensions that I am afraid of. 

I don't think those functions are in DOM Level 2. As for the 
extensibility, the DOM has always said that implementations can 
add their own functionality, so there's nothing new there. The best 
solution is if DOM implementations come with documentation that 
clearly states which functions and methods are part of the W3C 
DOM specification, and which are proprietary.


Lauren

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