Re: An inconsistency in OWL XML Presentation Syntax?

From: "Boris Motik" <Motik@fzi.de>
Subject: An inconsistency in OWL XML Presentation Syntax?
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 11:39:41 +0200

> 
> Hello,
> 
> I'm just trying to implement a parser/serializer for OWL XML Presentation
> Syntax, and have come across something which seems like an inconsistency in
> the syntax definition.
> 
> The problem is in DataRestriction/hasValue element, which, according to the
> standard, should have xsd:anySimpleType content. However, in all other
> elements which contain a constant, such as OneOf [data], or
> DataPropertyValue, a constant is wrapped in a DataValue element.
> 
> I believe that this really is an inconsistency, since DataValue allows
> including the 'datatype' attribute to specify the type of a constant. This
> attribute is not allowed on DataRestriction/hasValue, so it becomes
> impossible to specify the datatype of the constant embedded in the hasValue
> element.

The situation is even worse than you state.  According to the grammar,
hasValues for data restrictions are data types instead of data values,
which is completely wrong, I believe.

> To make that syntax unified in all cases, I'd suggest changing the content
> of the DataRestriction/hasValue element to be a DataValue element.

I believe that this suggestion is the best approach.  In any case,
something has to be done, I believe.

> Sincerely yours,
> 
> 	Boris Motik

However, I'm not sure who gets to make this change, as the WebOnt working
group has been disbanded.  I guess that the Semantic Web Coordination Group
is now responsible, but I don't know how to communicate with them, as
Lucent is not currently a W3C member.  I have cc'd this message to the
Semantic Web Best Practices working group, as they are active, and may have
some official way of making the necessary change.

Peter F. Patel-Schneider
Bell Labs Research

Received on Monday, 12 July 2004 11:25:41 UTC