Return value for ElementTimeControl.{begin,end}ElementAt

Hi.

The description for the return value of
ElementTimeControl.beginElementAt is:

  true if the method call was successful and the element was begun.
  false if the method call failed. Possible reasons for failure include:

    ▪  The element is already active and cannot be restarted when it is
       active. The restart attribute is set to "whenNotActive".

    ▪  The element is active or has been active and cannot be
       restarted. The restart attribute is set to "never".

This doesn’t, however, mention the case of the method call being
successful but the element was not begun (because the offset given was
>0 and thus will happen some time in the future, after this method has
returned).  Should the function return true or false in this case?  The
same applies for endElementAt.

Also, the description of beginElementAt says:

  The restart semantics for a beginElementAt() method call are evaluated
  at the time of the method call, and not at the effective begin time
  specified by the offset parameter.

which seems a bit strange.  Is it really the intention to allow an
element to be restarted, as would be possible with this animation:

  <svg onload="f()">
    <animate id="a" … begin="10s" dur="10s" restart="whenNotActive"/>
    <script>
      function f() {
        document.getElementById("a").beginElementAt(15);
      }
    </script>
  </svg>

?

Thanks,

Cameron

-- 
Cameron McCormack, http://mcc.id.au/
 xmpp:heycam@jabber.org  ▪  ICQ 26955922  ▪  MSN cam@mcc.id.au

Received on Saturday, 8 July 2006 13:41:58 UTC