Re: Progress on Functions Module(s)

John,

It is correct that current() is intended to be used within predicates  
and I see your idea here. I can certainly live with it. But I think we  
should put a brief rationale note there then, something like "The  
current() function does not evaluate a condition, but it is introduced  
for use within XPath predicates (which change the evaluation context),  
as the examples provided below illustrate."

-Erik

On Aug 12, 2008, at 9:08 AM, John Boyer wrote:

>
> Hi Erik,
>
> I think it cannot be bundled with context() because context() is  
> provided by the binding attributes module.
> It is at least conceivable that people want to use these function  
> modules without using binding attributes.
>
> Perhaps one way to have current() appear in a more "Generic,  
> Miscellaneous, Really Useful Functions" bucket is to rename the  
> "Conditional functions" to "Utility functions" or some such.
>
> I put current() in conditionals because it is always getting used to  
> help implement conditional behavior in an XPath, e.g. you always  
> need it so you can implement a predicate of some kind, e.g. to help  
> make a selection across a table based on a key value someplace else  
> other than in the table.  I also put it there because I can't  
> imagine a more important bundle of functions for doing XForms.  You  
> may not use count-non-empty() all that much, but choose(),  
> current(), current() and yes even if() show up all the time in forms.
>
> So, if we are to avoid creating a module just for current(), the  
> conditionals seemed the best place based on what the function is  
> used to do.
>
> Cheers,
> John M. Boyer, Ph.D.
> Senior Technical Staff Member
> Lotus Forms Architect and Researcher
> Chair, W3C Forms Working Group
> Workplace, Portal and Collaboration Software
> IBM Victoria Software Lab
> E-Mail: boyerj@ca.ibm.com
>
> Blog: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/JohnBoyer
> Blog RSS feed: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/rss/JohnBoyer?flavor=rssdw
>
>
>
>
> From:
> Erik Bruchez <ebruchez@orbeon.com>
> To:
> "public-forms (new)" <public-forms@w3.org>
> Date:
> 08/11/2008 05:50 PM
> Subject:
> Re: Progress on Functions Module(s)
>
>
>
>
>
> John & all,
>
> I think that the current() function needs to find a better home. It is
> really a core function for XForms, at the same level as the context()
> function.
>
> Note that in XSLT 2.0, current() is under "16.6 Miscellaneous
> Additional Functions" ;-)
>
> Can we put current() and context() together, since they both have to
> do with the XPath evaluation context?
>
> -Erik
>
> On Aug 11, 2008, at 5:05 PM, John Boyer wrote:
>
> >
> > With some exceptions, I've reorganized the functions module based on
> > the emails from Leigh and Erik:
> >
> > http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Forms/specs/XForms1.2/modules/instance/xpathFunctions/index-all.html
> >
> > Assuming the division is satisfactory, I will proceed to make
> > separate specs.
> >
> > Here are the points of interest:
> >
> > 1) The is-card-number() function was placed under "Data Integrity"
> > as that seemed to be enough of a generic name to fit the function,
> > whereas the name "E-commerce functions" was so broad that I felt
> > like putting *all* our functions into that section.
> >
> > Another perhaps better place to put it is in the conditional
> > functions.  Is that a better place?  Any other ideas?
> >
> >
> > 2) The math functions seemed a better place to put random() than
> > data integrity, even though random could be used with some of the
> > data integrity functions.
> >
> > How might we handle the ability to show some of these use cases via
> > examples?
> >
> >
> > 3) The "Nodeset Functions" category seemed to be a catch-all for
> > functions we didn't know what else to do with.  However, both
> > current() and count-non-empty() can be used in "conditional"
> > scenarios, so I put them there.
> >
> > The count-non-empty() *could* also be used in math operations, but I
> > didn't want to end up with sum-non-empty, max-non-empty, min-non-
> > empty and avg-non-empty. This function is not really needed, except
> > possibly as authoring convenience or optimization, but it already
> > exists, so I just put it in a place where we didn't get roped into
> > adding half a dozen more functions.
> >
> >
> > 4) Neither count-non-empty() nor boolean-from-string() had examples,
> > so I added them.  I notice that avg, min, and max also don't have
> > examples.  This appears to be left-over omissions from 1.0.
> >
> > Do we need them?
> > Can someone send the invocations and expected results from the test
> > suite?
> > Should I copy the examples to the 1.1 spec?
> >
> >
> > 5) I added several more examples to seconds-from-dateTime() to
> > address recent misunderstandings expressed on the list.
> >
> > Does everyone agree with them?
> > Can we add these to the test suite?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > John M. Boyer, Ph.D.
> > Senior Technical Staff Member
> > Lotus Forms Architect and Researcher
> > Chair, W3C Forms Working Group
> > Workplace, Portal and Collaboration Software
> > IBM Victoria Software Lab
> > E-Mail: boyerj@ca.ibm.com
> >
> > Blog: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/JohnBoyer
> > Blog RSS feed: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/rss/JohnBoyer?flavor=rssdw
> >
>
> --
> Orbeon Forms - Web Forms for the Enterprise Done the Right Way
> http://www.orbeon.com/
>
>
>
>

--
Orbeon Forms - Web Forms for the Enterprise Done the Right Way
http://www.orbeon.com/

Received on Tuesday, 12 August 2008 17:08:20 UTC