feedback: AppInfo attribute + include and relative references

Dear Sirs,

Great work on schemas. I have worked extensively with the April draft
and various schema tools now for a while and I have some feedback.

1) Attribute AppInfo needed for modeling and metamodeling!

When creating datamodels used by automated tools which work on the model
level, I need to be able to easily attach custom meta information to all
kind of schema elements, including (but not limited to) simpleType,
complexType and enumeration. As I understand it, the AppInfo element
allows users to attach meta information to most constructions but NOT to
individual elements in a construction like "enumeration" in the example
below. This is what I need!!!

In the example below, some of the enumeration elements call for special
treatment by automated tools that can read in the datamodel and  perform
various actions on the model level. If an optional appInfo attribute was
allowed, this could easily be possible as the example below shows:

<xsd:complexType name="Type" base="xsd:string" derivedBy="extension">
  <xsd:annotation>
   <xsd:documentation>General high level ressouce types. Nb. Superceded
element values will typically be shown in RED in the model
visualization</xsd:documentation>
  </xsd:annotation>
  <xsd:enumeration value="DATASET"/>
  <xsd:enumeration value="DATASET-DATABASE"/>
  <xsd:enumeration value="DATASET-MAP" appInfo="GX_DEFAULT"/>
  <xsd:enumeration value="DATASET-TABLE" appInfo="SUPERCEDED"/>
  ....
 <xsd:complexType>

I hope that this addition will be seriously considered for the XML
schema 1.0 spec. Support will be way trivial to implement (just allow
and ignore an optional attribute in schema elements). It will also be
immensely useful for tools that deal with XML on the model and
meta-model level!!!!

2) I absolutely NEED relative includes - It is unclear to me if they are
allowed:

For example:

I am developing a datamodel which consist of one main schema file and
several include files. They all fit together, but is seperated in
several files to make the whole thing modular and easier to get an
overview of. This means that the main file has several statements like:

<xsd:include schemaLocation="HumanLanguage.xsd"/>

Currently all files are placed in the same directory on my hard drive
and I fully expect that this will be the case in the future too. Thus,
providing a complete path or absolute URL would be quite awkward since
it would require me to update my source files as I move the schema files
around in various release directories and maybe later place them on the
Web. - Clearly, relative specification of the path/url of the file is
what I need. Unfortunately, all current examples and text which I have
looked at uses absolute urls and tools does not appear to support
anything else. The specification mentions that relative uri's are
possible but I would like to be absolutely sure that this will address
what I need?

Sincerely,
Morten Christensen, "companyX"
Scandinavian Softw@re House,
Sønderhøj 46,  8260 Viby J, Denmark
Telefon: (+45) 87 34 55 39
Mobil: (+45) 40 10 92 38
Email: mmc@mortench.net

Received on Tuesday, 25 July 2000 09:21:09 UTC