Re: ORA-SE-309-B: Poorly worded constraints on the output

Hi, Steve.

     In [1], you submitted the following comment on the Last Call Working 
Draft of XSLT 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 Serialization:

Steve Buxton wrote on 2004-02-17 06:44:15 AM:
> SECTION 4: XML output method
> 
> The constraints expressed in the third paragraph, as currently
> worded, seem incomplete.  The paragraph says
> "If the document node of the data model has a single element node 
> child and no text node children, and the serialized output is a 
> well-formed XML document entity, the serialized output must conform 
> to the XML Namespaces Recommendation [XML Names]. If the data model 
> does not take this form, and the serialized output is a well-formed 
> XML external general parsed entity, then the serialized output must 
> be an entity which, when referenced within a trivial XML document 
> wrapper like this
> 
> <!DOCTYPE doc [
> <!ENTITY e SYSTEM "entity-URI">
> ]>
> <doc>&e;</doc>
> 
> where entity-URI is a URI for the entity, produces a document which 
> must itself be a well-formed XML document conforming to the XML 
> Namespaces Recommendation [XML Names]."
> 
> This language seems to leave open the following possibilities:
> 1. The document node has a single element node child and no text
> node child, but the serialized output is not well-formed XML.
> 2. The document node does not have a single element node child,
> or has a text node child, but the serialized output is not a 
> well-formed XML external general parsed entity.
> 
> I think the solution is to reword the paragraph as follows:
> 
> If the document node of the input value has a single element node 
> child and no text node children, then the serialized output shall
> be a well-formed XML document entity that conforms to the XML 
> Namespaces Recommendation [XML Names]. Otherwise, the serialized 
> output shall be a well-formed XML external general parsed entity, 
> which, when referenced within a trivial XML document wrapper like 
> this
> 
> <!DOCTYPE doc [
> <!ENTITY e SYSTEM "entity-URI">
> ]>
> <doc>&e;</doc>
> 
> where entity-URI is a URI for the entity, produces a document 
> which must itself be a well-formed XML document conforming to the 
> XML Namespaces Recommendation [XML Names].

     Thank you for your comment.

     The XSL and XML Query Working Groups discussed your comment.  The 
working groups agreed that the first paragraph of section 4 was intended 
to place a requirement on the serialization process that it must produce a 
well-formed entity (a document entity or external general parsed entity, 
as appropriate), unless it is unable to do so because of the effect of the 
character expansion phase of serialization.  Otherwise, a serialization 
error results.

     In response to your comment and a related comment on the first three 
paragraphs of section 4, the working groups decided to make clear the 
intent of the first and third paragraphs of section 4 by making the 
following changes:

- in the first sentence of the third paragraph, change "and the"
  to "then", to make it clear the conditions under which a
  document entity will be the result of the serialization process.

- change the wording to make it clear that these rules describe
  requirements on the processor, rather than on the user.  The
  processor will be required to produce a serialization error if
  it is unable to produce a well-formed entity of the appropriate
  kind, unless that is because of the action of the character
  expansion phase of serialization.

     As this seems to be in agreement with your proposed rewording, and a 
representative of Oracle was present when this decision was made, I will 
assume the response is acceptable.

Thanks,

Henry [On behalf of the XSL and XML Query Working Groups]
[1] 
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-qt-comments/2004Feb/0932.html
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Henry Zongaro      Xalan development
IBM SWS Toronto Lab   T/L 969-6044;  Phone +1 905 413-6044
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Received on Monday, 7 June 2004 10:58:58 UTC