Re: Proposed fix for incorrect function signatures

All,

This is annoying. The `numeric` solution only works for functions that take
one or more `numeric` arguments, so you know that if you pass an
`xs:integer` in you get an `xs:integer` out, for example. Here
neither `index()` nor `seconds()` have a numeric parameter.

And I think that it would be a little weird if the `index()` function
returned sometimes an `xs:integer` and sometimes an `xs:double`. I'd
rather we say that the functions:

1. always return  an `xs:double`
2. or returns the empty sequence in case of incorrect input

If these functions were new, I'd prefer solution 2, but that is
backward-incompatible with XForms 1.1 so solution 1 might be preferable.

-Erik

On Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 1:34 AM Alain Couthures <
alain.couthures@agencexml.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Many signatures for xf: functions, such as xf:index()
> https://www.w3.org/community/xformsusers/wiki/XPath_Expressions_Module#The_index.28.29_Function
> and xf:seconds()
> https://www.w3.org/community/xformsusers/wiki/XPath_Expressions_Module#The_seconds.28.29_Function,
> specify an xs:integer or an xs:decimal return type but these functions can
> also return the "NaN" (not-a-number) value which is just defined for
> xs:float and xs:double.
>
> While XPath 3.1 now specifies the xs:numeric union type, for XPath 2.0,
> mentioning "numeric" allows implementations to return a value with the most
> accurate numeric type as for fn:abs()
> https://www.w3.org/TR/xquery-operators/#func-abs.
>
> What do you think?
>
> --Alain
>