Re: XForms 1.1 LC comment on insert and delete (PR#51)

Mark,

we agree. We are about to create new descriptive example tables for insert and
delete using one set of instance data. In general, nodeset is used when you want
to pick one of the children of a node and insert before or after that node, and
context is used when you want to append or prepend a child inside a node. In
future versions of XForms we may add more dedicated actions which are
essentially shortcuts to insert/delete.

Regards,
Ulrich Nicolas Lissé.
For the Forms WG

> Although incredibly powerful, I feel that the latest versions of
> insert and delete are just too complicated for use in day-to-day form
> building. I find that I am constantly forced to look at examples in
> the spec or our tutorials, especially when dealing with attributes.
> And worse, if looking at mark-up from other authors, I find it takes a
> while to work out what it is that some code is doing.
> 
> The core of the problem is the way that the attributes behave when
> used in combination, which often requires reference to documentation
> to be completely sure that you've got it right.
> 
> I have no immediate suggestions as to how to resolve this, but I would
> say that in general it is easier to code if there are a number of
> actions that do something small and specific, rather than one action
> that does a lot. So, for example, copying a node from one instance to
> another is probably easier to understand if the action is called
> 'copy' or 'duplicate'. The fact that an 'insertion' takes place seems
> secondary, and it's even possible that a node will be overwritten
> rather than inserted.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Mark
> 
> -- 
>    Mark Birbeck, formsPlayer
> 
>    mark.birbeck@x-port.net | +44 (0) 20 7689 9232
>    http://www.formsPlayer.com | http://internet-apps.blogspot.com
> 
>    standards. innovation.
> 
>

Received on Friday, 15 June 2007 15:51:04 UTC