[Bug 3040] Date and dateTime formats do not allow some valid ISO 8601 values

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=3040

           Summary: Date and dateTime formats do not allow some valid ISO
                    8601 values
           Product: XML Schema
           Version: 1.0/1.1 both
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Windows 2000
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Datatypes: XSD Part 2
        AssignedTo: cmsmcq@w3.org
        ReportedBy: john.hockaday@ga.gov.au
         QAContact: www-xml-schema-comments@w3.org


Valid ISO 8601 date formats are:

19 for the 1900's
1990/1999 for the 1990's
1990 for the year 1990
1990-12 for December 1990

These are necessary for the recording of dates that are not well defined.  For
example, publication may have occured sometime in the 1990's but the exact year
is not know.  Therefore, the 1990/1999 format is necessary for these dates. The
"/" is a valid ISO 8601 format to define a range of dates. Similarly something
may have happened in the 20th century so the valid ISO 8601 format 19 should be
allowed.  This will help indicate the accuracy of the stated dates.

dateTime formats force us to use hours minutes and seconds.  Valid ISO 8601
formats are:

19990101T12
19990101T12+11
1999-01-01T12:30
1999-01-01T12:30+11

These formats should be available in XML Schema.  Often people will want to
state rough times, ie the hour, for dateTime formats.  It is often very
relevant to state the time zone so these should be allowed.  No-one should be
forced to enter dateTimes to the nearest second.  It is often not relevant yet
showing those values gives a false indication of the accuracy of the dateTime
measurement.

There is an ambiguity with the definition of centuries and the 100BC/100AD
years.  Does 19 equal the 1900's or does it equal 19AD?  ISO 8601 states that
19 equals the 1900's AD.  Therefore using 10 for 10 AD should not be allowed. 
It really represents the 1000's.  The format 0010 should be used for the year
10 AD and -0010 should be used for year 10 BC.  

Please implement ISO 8601 propoerly.

Thank you.


John

Received on Friday, 24 March 2006 04:51:24 UTC