CR ISSUE: Clarification of default for ref attribute of submission element

Section 3.3.1 does not indicate the default for the ref attribute of the submisssion element.  Two issues exist:

1) We must define whether by default the 'ref' references the root node or the root element node (a.k.a. the document element) of the instance data.

By submitting only the root element, comment and processing instructions outside of the instance's root element are not serialized (whether the initial instance was given inline or by a link).

My current assumption is that it is the root element, not the root node, because this is consistent with the return type of the instance() function.  It should not be possible to submit those external comments and PIs for single instance forms if they cannot also be submitted for multiple instances where the instance is specified.

The alternative seems to be to have instance() return the root node, not the root element.

2) We must define whether the first instance in build order is used by default in multiple instance documents, or whether ref is mandatory in multiple instance documents.

My assumption is that if there are multiple instances, and a <submission> contains no ref attribute, then the first xforms:instance in build order is the one to be submitted.  This is consistent with what happens if there is only one instance, and it maintains the notion that ref is an optional attribute, which is what is stated in Section 3.3.1.

Thanks,
John Boyer, Ph.D.
Senior Product Architect
PureEdge Solutions Inc.

Received on Thursday, 28 November 2002 13:01:30 UTC