ambiguity in RDF/XML bnode short form?

• From: Garret Wilson <garret@globalmentor.com>
• Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:32:47 -0700
• To: Semantic Web <semantic-web@w3.org>
• Message-ID: <46D1FF8F.2060806@globalmentor.com>

I'm reading 
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-syntax-grammar/#section-Syntax-property-attributes-on-property-element 
, which says that instead of,

<rdf:Description>
  <ex:editor>
    <rdf:Description ex:fullName="Dave Beckett" />
  </ex:editor>
</rdf:Description>

I can use,

<rdf:Description>
  <ex:editor ex:fullName="Dave Beckett" />
</rdf:Description>

There seems to be no qualification that the bnode object must have at 
least one property. From the text, then, I should be able to replace,

<rdf:Description>
  <ex:editor>
    <rdf:Description/>
  </ex:editor>
</rdf:Description>

with

<rdf:Description>
  <ex:editor/>
</rdf:Description>

This is ambiguous with the same syntax for a plain literal object, as 
the following produces an identical info set:

<rdf:Description>
  <ex:editor></ex:editor>
</rdf:Description>

What am I missing here? Shouldn't there be a qualification at 
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-syntax-grammar/#section-Syntax-property-attributes-on-property-element 
that restricts the short form to bnodes with at least one property?

("If all of the property elements on a blank node element..." doesn't 
seem to be sufficient qualification, as "all of" applies to zero 
instances just as well as to 20 instances.)

Garret

Received on Sunday, 26 August 2007 22:33:10 UTC