- dfdl-wg - lists.ogf.org

Namespace URI and trailing slash convention
by Mike Beckerle 28 Nov '11

28 Nov '11

The v1.0 spec says the namespace for dfdl ends with a trailing slash. This is non-standard at least inconsistent with the XML Schema namespace identifiers, whose URIs do not end with a slash. Do we want to take an errata and be conformant with XML Schema conventions here? I think the world is not fully consistent on this. There are online discussions about some SOAP-protocol related URIs having trailing slash. Unfortunately, this matters because things that compare XML carefully will distinguish a namespace having a trailing slash, and not having one. The rules of comparison require detecting this difference. ...mikeb -- Mike Beckerle | OGF DFDL WG Co-Chair Tel: 781-330-0412

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OGF DFDL WG Call Minutes 2011-11-22
by Steve Hanson 25 Nov '11

25 Nov '11

Please find minutes from the above call on GridForge at: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/docman/do/downloadDocument/projects.dfdl-wg/d… Regards Steve Hanson Architect, DFDL Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848

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Action 157 - nilKind of logicalValue and nilValueDelimiterPolicy
by Mike Beckerle 22 Nov '11

22 Nov '11

Action 157 - nilKind logicalValue and nilValueDelimiterPolicy Summary: nilKind logicalValue is an "in-band" kind of null indicator. Having separate delimiter rules for the distinguished null values is unnecessary complexity. Discussion: As is, the spec allows these two properties to be combined in all ways. it is *possible* to implement combinations of nilValueDelimiterPolicy with nilKind logicalValue, it's just very complicated. Issuing quality diagnostic messages may be very difficult if the user specifies ambiguous formats. Example: initiator="[" terminator="]" separator="," lengthKind="delimited" but the data contains commas also. as in 123.456,78. If the nilKind is logicalValue, and one of the nilValues is -1,0 then nilValueDelimiterPolicy must be "both" or the format won't parse because the initiators and terminator won't be present to separate the data commas from the separator commas. Special case code in every DFDL implementation would have to deal with this ambiguity, so not only is there additional complexity in just writing a parser for correct and unambiguous DFDL schemas, if there are ambiguities like the above, there is yet further complexity in issuing a quality diagnostic message. That is all not to mention the test cases needed to insure conformance. In the absence of a use case motivating this complexity, it is worthwhile to rule this specific combination of properties out as a schema-definition error, or simply make the combination such that when logical nil values are used, the nilValueDelimiterPolicy is ignored. The conservative choice is one that lets us put back this capability in the future should we discover a viable use case for it. Hence, a schema-definition error is a better choice for the errata. Suggested Errata Language: When dfdl:nilKind="logicalValue" then dfdl:nilValueDelimiterPolicy must be "both". It is a schema-definition error otherwise. All values, including nil indicator values, will have initiators and terminators if those delimiters are specified. dfdl:nilValueDelimiterPolicy values other than "both" are usable only with dfdl:nilKind of "literalValue" and "literalCharacter". TBD: should it apply to nilKind "literalCharacter" ? Alternative: When dfdl:nilKind="logicalValue" then dfdl:nilValueDelimiterPolicy is ignored. All values, including nil values, will have initiators and terminators if those delimiters are specified. -- Mike Beckerle | OGF DFDL WG Co-Chair Tel: 781-330-0412

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OGF DFDL WG Call Agenda 2011-11-22
by Steve Hanson 22 Nov '11

22 Nov '11

Please find agenda for the above call on GridForge at: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/docman/do/downloadDocument/projects.dfdl-wg/d… The latest errata to the spec is here: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/go/doc16280?nav=1 (updated 2011-11-01) Regards Steve Hanson Architect, Data Format Description Language (DFDL) Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848

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OGF DFDL WG Call Minutes 2011-11-15
by Steve Hanson 15 Nov '11

15 Nov '11

Please find minutes from the above call on GridForge at: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/docman/do/downloadDocument/projects.dfdl-wg/d… Regards Steve Hanson Architect, DFDL Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848

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OGF DFDL WG Call Agenda 2011-11-15
by Steve Hanson 15 Nov '11

15 Nov '11

Please find agenda for the above call on GridForge at: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/docman/do/downloadDocument/projects.dfdl-wg/d… The latest errata to the spec is here: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/go/doc16280?nav=1 (updated 2011-11-01) Regards Steve Hanson Architect, Data Format Description Language (DFDL) Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848

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OGF DFDL WG Call Minutes 2011-11-08
by Steve Hanson 08 Nov '11

08 Nov '11

Please find minutes from the above call on GridForge at: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/docman/do/downloadDocument/projects.dfdl-wg/d… Regards Steve Hanson Architect, DFDL Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848

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OGF DFDL WG Call Agenda 2011-11-08
by Steve Hanson 08 Nov '11

08 Nov '11

Please find agenda for the above call on GridForge at: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/docman/do/downloadDocument/projects.dfdl-wg/d… The latest errata to the spec is here: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/go/doc16280?nav=1 (updated 2011-11-01) Regards Steve Hanson Architect, Data Format Description Language (DFDL) Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848

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Question on nilValueDelimiterPolicy
by Steve Hanson 08 Nov '11

08 Nov '11

For call today. Regards Steve Hanson Architect, Data Format Description Language (DFDL) Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848 ----- Forwarded by Steve Hanson/UK/IBM on 08/11/2011 09:20 ----- From: Steve Hanson/UK/IBM To: Tim Kimber/UK/IBM@IBMGB Cc: Mike Beckerle <mbeckerle.dfdl(a)gmail.com> Date: 07/11/2011 09:50 Subject: Re: question on nilValueDelimiterPolicy I'll add to the agenda for DFDL WG call. Regards Steve Hanson Architect, Data Format Description Language (DFDL) Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848 From: Tim Kimber/UK/IBM To: Mike Beckerle <mbeckerle.dfdl(a)gmail.com> Cc: Steve Hanson/UK/IBM@IBMGB Date: 04/11/2011 22:57 Subject: Re: question on nilValueDelimiterPolicy Mike, I agree - I've raised this point before. I have always felt that nilValueDelimiterPolicy should not apply to nilLogicalValue ( regardless of whether the type is xs:string ). The existing definition makes life very hard for implementers, and does not solve any pressing problems as far as I can see. regards, Tim Kimber, Common Transformation Team, Hursley, UK Internet: kimbert(a)uk.ibm.com Tel. 01962-816742 Internal tel. 246742 From: Mike Beckerle <mbeckerle.dfdl(a)gmail.com> To: Steve Hanson/UK/IBM@IBMGB, Tim Kimber/UK/IBM@IBMGB Date: 04/11/2011 18:34 Subject: question on nilValueDelimiterPolicy Suppose <sequence separator=","> <element name="x" type="int" nillable="true" dfdl:initiator="x:" dfdl:terminator=";" dfdl:nilKind="logicalValue" dfdl:nilValue="-1" maxOccurs="3"/> </sequence> Now, if nilValueDelimiterPolicy="none", then some non-nils for this would be: [x:42;,x:3;,x:0;] A nil for the middle one would be [x:42;,-1,x:0;] Does this feel broken to you? I.e., it seems very wierd to have a nilKind="logicalValue", but use different initiator/terminator conventions. Now if type="string", or if type is not string, but nilKind="literalValue", then having different initiator/terminator conventions makes some sense, but when the nilValues are a reserved in-band non-string value it seems wierd to me. Comments? -- Mike Beckerle | OGF DFDL WG Co-Chair Tel: 781-330-0412 Unless stated otherwise above: IBM United Kingdom Limited - Registered in England and Wales with number 741598. Registered office: PO Box 41, North Harbour, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3AU

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OGF DFDL WG Call Minutes 2011-11-01
by Steve Hanson 01 Nov '11

01 Nov '11

Please find minutes from the above call on GridForge at: http://forge.gridforum.org/sf/docman/do/downloadDocument/projects.dfdl-wg/d… Regards Steve Hanson Architect, DFDL Co-Chair, OGF DFDL Working Group IBM SWG, Hursley, UK smh(a)uk.ibm.com tel:+44-1962-815848

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