RE: SVG12: IRI Processing rules and xlink:href

Sorry about pushing the original email thread into a study group about 
RFC2396. Back to the original question posted by Andrew:

>>>1) xlink:href="" resolves to a reference to the document itself (if no 
>>>other xml:base attribute is explicitly given in the ancestors to the 
>>>referencing element).
Now I am convinced that the above statement is true.

>>>2) In terms of IRI processing (Section 14.1.1) this is both a local 
>>>reference and for the scope of <image> and <use> is an indirect circular 
>>>reference.

The term "local IRI reference" is defined to say "only contains a fragment 
identifier", but an empty string value does not contain a fragment 
identifier. Therefore, I think that the most accurate statement is that 
section 14.1.1 is incomplete and does not speak directly to the empty 
string case using the current wording.

Assuming we are all in agreement that xlink:href="" resolves to the current 
document itself, then I think it is a better match to align it with 
"non-local IRI reference" than "local IRI reference". The thrust of "local 
IRI reference" is references to particular elements (particularly, elements 
with an ID), whereas all of the cases in SVG where you reference whole 
files falls into the "non-local IRI reference" case. The empty string case 
is a reference to a whole document, which isn't what "local IRI reference" 
is about. Thus, one idea is to change the definition of "non-local IRI 
reference" to add a comment about empty strings:
    * non-local IRI references, where the IRI reference is either an empty 
string or is a non-empty string that contains an <absoluteIRI> or 
<relativeIRI>
I definitely agree that an empty string reference for <image> is a circular 
reference.

I don't think <use> should allow an empty string for xlink:href. First of 
all, <use> references an element, not a document, and we can't loosen the 
rules to allow <use> to reference a document because the bullets later in 
14.1.1 say that (in Tiny) <use> cannot reference an <svg> element.

Jon

>>>
>>> From this I conclude that xlink:href="" to be invalid and put the 
>>> document in error
>>>a) for <use> and <animation>; except in the case where its resolved 
>>>xml:base breaks this inherent circular reference
>>>b) for <image>; except in the case where its resolved xml:base is a 
>>>non-local reference
>>>
>>>Is this reasoning correct?


At 07:23 AM 6/8/2005, Jon Ferraiolo wrote:
>Mark,
>Thanks!
>Jon
>
>At 04:03 AM 6/8/2005, Mark Birbeck wrote:
>>Hi Jon,
>>
>>I'm reading my email in reverse order, so I don't know what the context 
>>of this discussion is!
>>
>>However, an empty string *is* a valid relative URI, and it does mean the 
>>current document. This is common practice, particularly in the RDF world.
>>
>>The part that you quoted from RFC 2396 (step 6a of section 5.2) is too 
>>far into the resolution algorithm, and assumes that the path component is 
>>not empty. However, your algorithm should have stopped way earlier, at 
>>step 2 since the path *is* empty. (See also section C.2 for a more 
>>explicit reference to this.)
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>
>>Mark Birbeck
>>CEO
>>x-port.net Ltd.
>>
>>e: Mark.Birbeck@x-port.net
>>t: +44 (0) 20 7689 9232
>>w: <http://www.formsplayer.com/>http://www.formsPlayer.com/
>>b: <http://internet-apps.blogspot.com/>http://internet-apps.blogspot.com/
>>
>>Download our XForms processor from
>><http://www.formsplayer.com/>http://www.formsPlayer.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>----------
>>From: www-svg-request@w3.org [mailto:www-svg-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of 
>>Jon Ferraiolo
>>Sent: 07 June 2005 20:12
>>To: Andrew Sledd; www-svg@w3.org
>>Subject: Re: SVG12: IRI Processing rules and xlink:href
>>At 04:40 AM 6/7/2005, Andrew Sledd wrote:
>>>Hello,
>>>The processing of references (section 14.1) seems clear in its 
>>>presentation but is a bit convoluted in practice, especially when 
>>>combined with error processing. It appears to me that the SVG spec only 
>>>sets restrictions on the resultant reference. The SVG spec defers 
>>>completely to the IRI/URI reference for requirements on reference resolution.
>>>
>>>I have a question about interpretation and reference resolution, in 
>>>particular about the reference xlink:href="". What does the reference 
>>>resolve to? Is it valid for image in the SVG Tiny Profile? Is it valid 
>>>for use and animation in the SVG Tiny Profile?
>>>
>>>I interpret the specs (SVG 1.2/IRI/URI) to say as follows:
>>>1) xlink:href="" resolves to a reference to the document itself (if no 
>>>other xml:base attribute is explicitly given in the ancestors to the 
>>>referencing element).
>>Andrew,
>>I think xlink:href="" is an error. The attribute definition references 
>>RFC 2396 [http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2396.html]. Reading through that 
>>RFC, when you get to relative URIs in section 5, it says:
>>
>>
>>
>>rel_path      = rel_segment [ abs_path ]
>>
>>
>>rel_segment   = 1*( unreserved | escaped |
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>";" | "@" | "&" | "=" |
>>
>>
>>"+" | "$" | "," )
>>
>>The key thing is the "1*", which looks to me as if there must be at least 
>>one character in a relative URI.
>>Furthermore, even if "" were a valid relative URI, then I contend it 
>>would still not reference the document itself. To illustrate, let's say 
>>the current document has a URI of http://example.com/foo.svg. Then 
>>according to section 5.2 of RFC 2396, step 6a, for relative URI 
>>processing, it says:
>>
>>
>>
>>          All but the
>>
>>
>>last segment of the base URI's path component is
>>
>>
>>          copied to the
>>
>>
>>buffer.  In other words, any characters after the
>>
>>
>>          last (right-most) slash
>>
>>
>>character, if any, are excluded.
>>
>>Therefore, assuming for the moment that it is not error, an attribute 
>>value of xlink:href="" would resolve to "http://example.com/", not 
>>"http://example.com/foo.svg".
>>But there are greater URI experts around. (I am surprised none of them 
>>have spoken up so far.)
>>Jon
>>
>>
>>>2) In terms of IRI processing (Section 14.1.1) this is both a local 
>>>reference and for the scope of <image> and <use> is an indirect circular 
>>>reference.
>>>
>>> From this I conclude that xlink:href="" to be invalid and put the 
>>> document in error
>>>a) for <use> and <animation>; except in the case where its resolved 
>>>xml:base breaks this inherent circular reference
>>>b) for <image>; except in the case where its resolved xml:base is a 
>>>non-local reference
>>>
>>>Is this reasoning correct?
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Andy Sledd
>>>_______________________________________
>>>Andrew Sledd
>>>Ikivo AB