NEW ISSUE: Policy parameter definition is not accurate

Title: Policy parameter definition is not accurate

Target: Framework 

Description: 

While reviewing another issue [Bug 3985], Dan and I encountered this.
The related issue was filed to indicate that the Guidelines document was
rephrasing the content of the framework document on what it means to
have parameters on assertions. It was noted that the guidelines should
not be rephrasing the framework document. On review, it is noted that
the framework document is actually not accurate about what  policy
assertion parameters may be. 

Currently, the specification states the following about policy assertion
parameters. 

The XML Infoset of a policy assertion <>  MAY contain a non-empty
[attributes] property and/or a non-empty [children] property. Such
properties are policy assertion parameters <>  and MAY be used to
parameterize the behavior indicated by the assertion. [Definition: A
policy assertion parameter qualifies the behavior indicated by a policy
assertion <> .] For example, an assertion identifying support for a
specific reliable messaging mechanism might include an attribute
information item to indicate how long an endpoint will wait before
sending an acknowledgement.
This representation is not sufficient to differentiate between policy
assertion parameters and nested assertions. According to this
definition, ANY child of a policy assertion is a parameter, which is
incorrect. A child element whose local name property is "Policy" and
namespace property is http://www.w3.org/2006/07/ws-policy must not be
included as a parameter. 


Justification: 

The framework specification is not accurate and misleading on what
constitutes parameters and nested assertions. According to the
definition, there is no distinguishing characteristic between parameters
and nested assertions. 

Proposal: 

Change the first 2 sentences to 

The XML Infoset of a policy assertion <>  MAY contain a non-empty
[attributes] property and/or a non-empty [children] property. Such
properties, excluding elements whose local name is "Policy" and
namespace is http://www.w3.org/2006/07/ws-policy, are policy assertion
parameters and ... 

This issue is filed as [Bug 4141]

[Bug 3985] http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=3985
[Bug 4141] 
http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=4141
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Dr. Umit Yalcinalp
Research Scientist
SAP Labs, LLC
Email: umit.yalcinalp@sap.com Tel: (650) 320-3095 
SDN: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/weblogs?blog=/pub/u/36238
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