[dfdl-wg] How to handle multi-dimensional arrays

[mike.beckerle at ascentialsoftware.com]

We have come up with an approach to how to represent multi-dimensional
arrays within XSD-described XML. The attached test file (.xml) and DFDL
Schema (.dfdl.xsd) illustrate the proposed solution.
 
The proposal does not require any changes to XSD, XML or any other special
constructs outside of a single dfdl annotation to specify the storage order
of the representation.
 
I'm pretty happy with how this works out. We can handle arrays with
different storage orders, like fortran style column-major vs. more common
row-major, and it dovetails nicely with XPath expressions and the XSD data
model. Schema validation can really do something for you, like tell you if
you have all the elements of the array (if it's fixed size), and that you
don't have multiple elements occupying the same array location. 
 
Those interested in multi-dimensional array support please give this some
consideration. 
 
That said, I'm departing on vacation for a week, so I'll toss this out there
for people to look at, but I won't be able to interact with you all on it
until I get back. 
 
...mikeb
 
 
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