[DFDL-WG] DFDL infoset and wildcards

[Simon Parker]

In a well-formed XML document every element has a name and namespace even if some schema author doesn't know or doesn't care what it is. Its type is undefined, or the most general 'anyType', depending on your point of view - but of course a specialised processor can interpret the contents without any formally acknowledged type.
 
A dfdl parser generates a brand new 'document', and the schema is the only source of names. You're right to point out we need to think about it.
 
The specification already makes the 'id' attribute required, to take care of the name, but makes no provision for namespace. I suggest we treat this as a 'Qname', so that the schema author can use a prefix to specify a namespace for the generated element information item.
 
I'm not sure how this squares with XSD's specification of 'id', and I'm not sure how best to treat untyped items.
The schema reference should identify the wildcard component, but out specification is deliberately vague about that.
 
I would be reluctant to add an information set item. In particular, the infoset will become less useful and convenient if we allow anonymous nodes.
 
 Simon

________________________________

From: dfdl-wg-bounces at ogf.org on behalf of Mike Beckerle
Sent: Fri 2007-12-07 06:05
To: dfdl-wg at ogf.org
Subject: [DFDL-WG] DFDL infoset and wildcards



Our Infoset section of the spec is silent about wildcards. 

Do we need an infoset information item that corresponds to things that match a wildcard? 

Or can wildcards just be element info items that lack [namespace] [dataType] and where the [schema] refers to the schema component that defines the wildcard, not to an element declaration. 

Comments? 


Mike Beckerle
STSM, Architect, Scalable Computing
IBM Software Group
Information Platform and Solutions
Westborough, MA 01581
direct: voice and FAX 508-599-7148
assistant: Pam Riordan   
                 priordan at us.ibm.com 
                 508-599-7046


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