Re: comments on xmlns() scheme

Thank you for your comments on the xmlns() scheme Last Call draft.
The XML Linking Working Group has collected all the comments on
the documents and decided what changes to make to the draft. The
dispositions of your comments are given below. Please reply
to www-xml-linking-comments@w3.org within one week if you wish to
make a formal objection to these decisions.


Comment:
[paraphrase] Would like XPointers to use the in-scope namespace
bindings, rather than requiring explicit xmlns() pointer
parts. Also asks how to use the scheme to specify the default
namespace.

Response:
XPointers identify portions of XML documents, but they may
appear in documents of many different formats. For example,
a PDF document might have a link to part of an XML document.
Therefore, we can't always rely on there being namespace
bindings in-scope. Even when the XPointer does appear in an
XML document, it complicates the job of cutting and pasting
URLs if software must handle the insertion of xmlns parts
when there are namespace bindings in scope.
While we sympathize with the desire to keep linkbases
compact and use the in-scope bindings, an earlier version of the
specification which did use the in-scope bindings was returned
to the group because of the considerations just mentioned.

A workaround for the linkbase size issue is to declare an
entity which contains the xmlns() scheme pointer parts (as well
as any other constant parts of the XPointer).

As for specifying the default namespace - just as in XPath, you
need to bind the namespace URI to some prefix, then use that
prefix in the XPointer.


Regards,
Ron Daniel Jr.
Acting chair, XML Linking Working Group

Principal, Taxonomy Strategies
Tel: +1 925 368 8371
rdaniel@taxonomystrategies.com

Received on Monday, 14 October 2002 14:17:33 UTC