Re: sXBL: Including non-SVG data

I will build upon Ian's response a bit.

Ian is absolutely correct that sXBL is defined formally only within the 
context of SVG. (Although I wouldn't describe it as "macros".) However, the 
definition of sXBL has been forward-looking in at least two ways:

* sXBL as defined could be readily adapted to work with other languages as 
is (i.e., without waiting for XBL 2.0). This would be a bit of a stretch 
from a formal specification point of view, but I believe it is still 
possible. The vast majority of sXBL is language-independent (particularly, 
SVG-independent). The challenges are with those parts of sXBL which defer 
to the SVG specification for certain processing model rules, such as sXBL's 
deference to the SVG spec for error handling. If another language wanted to 
adapt sXBL as part of a formal standard, it would have to identify all of 
the SVG-specific things within the sXBL spec and describe overriding rules. 
This would be a non-trivial exercise, but feasible.

* However, if people can wait, it will indeed by a lot easier to wait for 
XBL 2.0. At that point, various cleanups will occur which will make it 
clear how XBL can be incorporated into other host languages (i.e., not just 
SVG).

Personally, I am hoping that we can quickly finish up sXBL and start work 
right away on XBL 2.0.

Jon

At 12:59 PM 12/23/2004, Ian Hickson wrote:

>On Wed, 22 Dec 2004, Elliotte Harold wrote:
> >
> > The use case is simple: I'd like to write an sXBL document that
> > describes how to display MusicXML or MathML or some other source XML
> > documents, without actually modifying the source documents. I'd like the
> > sXBL which describes the presentation of the data as SVG to be
> > completely separate from the actual data being displayed. The current
> > approach feels like I'm embedding a document in the stylesheet.
>
>This will be addressed in XBL2. For sXBL, the goal (as I understand it) is
>just to allow authors to basically invent elements that act as macros in
>their SVG.
>
>--
>Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
>http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
>Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Sunday, 2 January 2005 20:21:09 UTC