RE: DOMBuilder needs a getFeature

Johnny Stenback wrote:
> Mike Mansell wrote:
> > As of the spec:
> > 
> > http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-DOM-Level-3-LS-20030226/load-save.html
> > 
> > The DOMBuilder section has this description:
> > 
> > ---
> > Asynchronous DOMBuilder objects are expected to also implement the
> > events::EventTarget interface so that event listeners can be registered
> > on asynchronous DOMBuilder objects.
> > ---
> > 
> > However, in order to implement the EventTarget interface, the DOMBuilder
> > (which does NOT inherit from Node), needs the getFeature method. This
> > will allow someone to go:
> > 
> > DOMBuilder	myBuilder;
> > EventTarget	myTarget;
> > 
> >    myTarget = (EventTarget)myBuilder.getFeature("Events", "3.0");
> >    myTarget.addEventListenerNS("http://www.w3.org/2002/DOMLS",
> >       "load", myListener, true, NULL);
> 
> Just like all DOM specs prior to the Level 3 specs, it's fine to rely on 
> binding specific casting to obtain the the interfaces that an object is 
> stated to implement. And especially in this case, where the DOMBuilder 
> itself will be the event target, it *must* be the same object (or an 
> object that's castable from A->B->A) since once the event handler is 
> called, the event's target will be the DOMBuilder, at which point you'll 
> need to cast the EventTarget to a DOMBuilder (unless you want 
> EventTarget to also have a getFeature() method?). IMO there's no need 
> for this. The below code should do the right thing in all compliant 
> implementations:
> 
>   DOMBuilder	myBuilder;
>   EventTarget	myTarget;
> 
>      myTarget = (EventTarget)myBuilder;
>      myTarget.addEventListenerNS("http://www.w3.org/2002/DOMLS",
>         "load", myListener, true, NULL);
> 
> and then in myListener::HandleEvent():
> 
>    DOMBuilder myBuilder = (DOMBuilder)event.target;
> 

While I agree with you in practice, my feeling is that whole point behind
the getFeature() method was to allow for implementions to have the flexibility
in delegating DOM functionality to third-party code (See section
1.1.12. Mixed DOM implementations in the core spec). I feel that the
specifications from the W3C should "eat-their-own-dog-food" so to speak.
Therefore, we should not assume that the object implementing DOMBuilder
must implement EventTarget. Therefore, you need a getFeature on DOMBuilder.
If you feel that DOMBuilder *MUST* implement EventTarget, then change the
definition of DOMBuilder to actually extend EventTarget.

And yes, I do think that EventTarget should have a getFeature() method.
I'll be sending a separate email on that topic later.

Cheers,
Mike M

Received on Tuesday, 20 May 2003 02:58:46 UTC