Re: Changes to DOM3 Events Key Identifiers

I want to point out that Unicode code points can go up to hex 10FFFF. The
standard for \u is exactly 4 digits, so that one can intermix with
characters and know where it terminates. There are a couple of schemes that
are used to extend this to up to 6 digits, and still know where to
terminate.

\UXXXXXXXX - C++, ICU
\UXXXXXX - C#
\u{xxxxxx} - Ruby

There needs to be some mechanism for extending to 6 digits. It would be best
to use one of the above rather than a new one. (My personal favorite is
Ruby's.)

Mark


On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 00:32, Doug Schepers <schepers@w3.org> wrote:

> Hi, Folks-
>
> (BCC to potentially affected groups: w3c-html-cg, public-webapps,
> public-i18n-core, wai-xtech, www-svg, public-forms, public-xhtml2,
> public-html@w3.org, www-voice... please forward on to any relevant groups
> or individuals I may have missed, especially outside W3C.)
>
> As editor of the DOM3 Events specification, I made what some may consider
> to be drastic changes in the most recent drafts:
>  * I changed the syntax of the key identifier strings from "U+xxxx" (a
> plain string representing the Unicode code point) to "\uxxxx" (an escaped
> UTF-16 character string), based on content author and implementer feedback.
>  * I renamed the "key identifier(s)" feature to "key value(s)".
>
> I've mentioned these ideas before in DOM3 Events telcons, and finally
> decided to do it, after first consulting with the I18n WG, who generally
> approved of the scheme (though not without some comments about details that
> will need to be addressed and resolved).
>
> The new string format should be easier to deal with for developers, and the
> new name reflects some confusion I've encountered when explaining what "key
> identifiers" are... the work "identifier" seems to evoke the concept of a
> unique identifier for a key, when in fact what the feature does is provides
> the most appropriate value given the state of keyboard modifiers and modes.
>  I have tried also to clarify this in the prose of the spec.
>
> We are aware that there may already be implementations and specifications
> that rely on the previous string format and name (as well as links), back
> from when this was a W3C Note, and we do not make this decision lightly, but
> we do believe this is the right decision for a stable and internationalized
> keyboard interface going forward.  For those implementations and
> specifications that need the previous functionality and name, you may be
> able to reference the SVG Tiny 1.2 specification [2] instead, which does
> include the old Key Identifiers feature more or less intact from the
> previous definition, and is a stable W3C Recommendation.
>
> You can review the changes in the most recent Editor's Draft [1].  The
> WebApps WG welcomes your feedback to the www-dom@w3.org list.  This
> specification is still a work in progress, though we do hope to go to Last
> Call soon, so we are open to suggestions. (Note that the spec is mostly
> feature-complete, so new event types and other changes may have to wait for
> the next version, but send them on anyway.)
>
> [1]
> http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/DOM-Level-3-Events/html/DOM3-Events.html#keyset
> [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/SVGTiny12/svgudom.html#KeyIdentifiersSet
>
>
> Regards-
> -Doug Schepers, on behalf of the WebApps WG
> Editor, DOM Level 3 Events
> W3C Team Contact, SVG and WebApps WGs
>
>