EARL, Typed Node Elements and abbreviated syntax.

Hi

Is the Typed Node Elements and abbreviated XML representation of EARL
regarded as the norm, or is the more verbose rdf:Description XML
representation regarded as equivalent?

The reason why I am asking, is that several RDF libraries by default use
the more verbose rdf:Description representation when serialising EARL.
However, all EARL specs I have seen have used the abbreviated XML
syntax. 

Some libraries seems to only supports the more verbose (and less
readable) syntax. RDFlib seems to be one of them(?) 

Other libraries (e.g. Jena, Redland) supports reading and writing
abbreviated RDF syntax. 

The example below illustrates this:

Abbreviated (readable) syntax with Typed Node Elements:

<Assertor rdf:ID="level1">
    <testmode
rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2001/03/earl/1.0-test#automatic"/>
    <name>Accessibility Valet</name>
    <contactInfo   rdf:resource="http://valet.webthing.com/access/"/>
</Assertor>

Default verbose output from several libraries (easier to
parse/generate):

<rdf:Description
rdf:about="file:///skole/tjener/home0/num/rdflib-2.0.5/example-full.rdf#level1">
    <testmode
rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2001/03/earl/1.0-test#automatic"/>
<rdf:type
rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2001/03/earl/1.0-test#Assertor"/>
    <contactInfo rdf:resource="http://valet.webthing.com/access/"/>
    <name>:Accessibility Valet</name>
</rdf:Description>

Seen from an RDF perspective, these two representations are equivalent.
>From a human perspective, that seems strange. Especially for developers
who have a superficial knowledge of RDF/XML and only wants to output the
required strings to generate EARL.

It would also be nice if the ERT tool register contained a register of
EARL compliant libraries. Especially if EARL tools are required to be
able to parse and then store the abbreviated and typed node syntax.

Regards,
Nils Ulltveit-Moe

Received on Tuesday, 8 March 2005 21:08:22 UTC