Re: Question to XForms authors and implementors: Multiple help, hint, alert elements per form control?

Forwarding to public discussion list www-forms so that this question is 
also available to non-WG implementers and authors.



From:
"Klotz, Leigh" <Leigh.Klotz@xerox.com>
To:
<www-forms-editor@w3.org>
Cc:
<public-forms@w3.org>
Date:
12/09/2009 01:48 PM
Subject:
Question to XForms authors and implementors: Multiple help, hint, alert 
elements per form control?



In XForms 1.1 [1] the inline content model and linked schemas allow a 
plurality of help, hint, and alert elements per form control.
For example, at the end of section [2]:

  Content Set            Minimal Content Model
  UI Common              (help|hint|alert|Action)* 

The Recommendation text gives no indication what more than one would do.

I raised this issue today [3] in the Forms WG teleconference.

In the past, there was group discussion about the advisability of using 
multiple label elements distinguished by xml:lang attributes, and we 
decided to support only one label element.  One argument was that I18N 
best practice calls for external references. 

As far as I can tell, we had no discussion about multiple help, hint, or 
alert elements, and I believe their allowance is a result of insufficient 
precision in the inline content model.

We have proposed that a future erratum for XForms 1.1 note in the prose 
that multiple such elements per form control is at best not interoperable, 
and further that the schema definitions for which it can be conveniently 
disallowed be changed to do so.

Are any implementors assigning special meaning to multiple help, hint, and 
alert elements?

Leigh.

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-xforms-20091020/
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-xforms-20091020/#N74868
[3] 
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-forms/2009Dec/att-0021/2009-12-09-v2.html#topic5