Re: Option syntax

Norm,

Norman Walsh wrote:
> / Jeni Tennison <jeni@jenitennison.com> was heard to say:
> |> I think we should say that if an explicit context is not given then
> |> there is no context. In that case, any expression that makes reference
> |> to the context (by using "/", or position(), or anything else that
> |> would refer to the context) is an error.
> |
> | I'd prefer it to default to the first document on the default readable port.
> 
> Ack. No where else do we consider "the first document" of a sequence
> as special. I think we should either make it the entire sequence or we
> should make it undefined.

Well, since you can't set a context node to a sequence, that's not 
really a choice.

I understand the argument that it'd be a pain for implementers to 
provide context to all XPath expressions while still providing efficient 
applications, but given a choice between least surprise to users and 
least work to implementers, I'm going to opt for the former. In all 
other cases (eg <p:for-each>, <p:viewport>, <p:choose>), we say that the 
default readable port provides the context if one isn't specified 
explicitly. In the case of <p:choose> (where you also have to evaluate 
an XPath expression), it's a dynamic error if the default readable port 
gives a sequence: if you prefer that rule to picking the first document, 
I'd be happy with that.

Cheers,

Jeni
-- 
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com

Received on Thursday, 31 May 2007 07:50:06 UTC