LC-215 easy add-ins

Dear Martin and Misha:

The W3C XML Schema Working Group has spent the last several months
working through the comments received from the public on the last-call
draft of the XML Schema specification.  We thank you for the comments
you made on our specification during our last-call comment period, and
want to make sure you know that all comments received during the
last-call comment period have been recorded in our last-call issues
list (http://www.w3.org/2000/05/12-xmlschema-lcissues).

Among other issues, you raised (on behalf of the i18n WG) the point
registered as issue LC-215, which suggests that XML Schema be modified
to make it easy to change schemas so as to give them better i18n
support.

The XML Schema WG believes that this is, in principle, a reasonable
goal.  We believe that the existing refinement mechanism does make it
possible to add attributes or subelements as described.  In some
cases, the most convenient approach to the problem you outline will
be, however, to make use of the include-with-modify feature which has
been added to the language in response to other last-call comments
(LC-128); this construct allows a schema author to include another
schema document for the same namespace, and to override the
definitions of complex types, etc., in the included schema document.
We believe that this mechanism will simplify many of the kinds of
changes you have in mind.

It is worth observing that -- because schema documents use XML
instance syntax -- a generic or fairly generic XSLT stylesheet could
be written to automate the kind of packaged changes described in the
last item of the list you include ("Make it easy to add a 'package' of
attributes/elements as a whole, to a group of elements as a whole").

It would be helpful to us to know whether you are satisfied with the
decision taken by the WG on this issue, or wish your dissent from the
WG's decision to be recorded for consideration by the Director of
the W3C.

with best regards,

-C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
  World Wide Web Consortium
  Co-chair, W3C XML Schema WG

Received on Thursday, 5 October 2000 21:49:53 UTC