RE: IRC Minutes for 2011-05-11

All,

> Kurt: Would it make sense to have two functions transform-document, 
> transform-uri, with additional parameters language, ...
> ... we have to look at parameters too

I know it sounds a bit pedantic but the function name 'transform-uri' implies that you are transforming a URI not that the transform is retrieved via a URI. I must admit I've not had much luck thinking up alternatives beyond 'transform-as-uri' or 'transform-from-uri' and 'transform-with-instance'. This is why I think that if we can have a way of referencing the transform, either in an instance or as a remote resource, via a URI then that'd be consistent and easier to understand. Last week I suggested using a fragment identifier:


transform('#compiledSchema', instance('source'))


Now, I'd admit that there's probably implementation issues that lurk beneath that I can't see or imagine but as a form builder it seems logical because the 'compiledSchema' xs:ID exists within the form document so should be accessible via a fragment identifier. However, the finer point that the ID sits upon the instance node and not the instance data (transform) must be taken into account and therefore becomes some awkward special case.

There is another alternative, as used in a number of applications, and that's to have a specific URI scheme. I'll refer to Apache Cocoon that has two additional 'internal' URI schemes that you can/could use for referencing internal resources via a URI and they were, if memory serves:

cocoon:	effectively an internal GET request to trigger a pipeline
resource:	retrieve a file within the deployed application

So, with that in mind, you could have an 'instance:' scheme that does for URIs what the instance() function does for XPath and have:


transform('instance:compiledSchema', instance('source'))


This is probably easier to deal with from an implementation point of view because you are being more explicit about your intent and, from a form builders perspective, it is concise and easy to understand.


Regards

Philip Fennell
Consultant
MarkLogic Corporation

One Kingdom Street
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London W2 6BD
United Kingdom

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 -----Original Message-----
From: public-forms-request@w3.org [mailto:public-forms-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Leigh L. Klotz, Jr.
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:28 AM
To: public-forms@w3.org
Subject: IRC Minutes for 2011-05-11

Thanks to Nick van den Bleeken:
http://www.w3.org/2011/05/11-forms-minutes.html

Received on Thursday, 12 May 2011 07:03:57 UTC