ORA-SE-292-B: Processing of empty sequence is roundabout and confusing

SECTION 2: Serializing arbitrary data models

Step 1 says to replace an empty sequence by a zero-length string,
which is presumably an atomic value of type xs:string of length
0.  Step 2 casts this xs:string to xs:string, a no-op.
Step 3 would add a space if there were more than one 
atomic value in the sequence, but there is not, so this step is 
a no-op.
Step 4 says to convert this atomic value into a text node
with the same string value.  But a text node may not have a 
zero-length string as its content; this is a bug in the 
specification.  Perhaps step 4 should be 
interpreted as simply deleting any zero-length xs:string 
values from the sequence.  In that case, if we started with an
empty sequence, we are back to an empty sequence, and one wonders
why step 1 is there.  Or perhaps step 4 is intended to raise 
a serialization error.  If that is the intention, please say so.

- Steve B.

Received on Tuesday, 17 February 2004 14:32:22 UTC