xs:field selecting optional items

hello.

i am proposing a clarification of the section about how identity  
constraints are validated. when i look at section 3 of the validation  
section http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema11-1/#d0e20523, i see the  
following text:

"For each node in the ·target node set· all of the {fields}, with  
that node as the context node, evaluate to either an empty node-set  
or a node-set with exactly one member, which has a simple type."

i would say this clearly allows having fields selecting optional  
items. maybe this could be made more explicit, however, because  
implementations differ. eclipse accepts xs:field selecting an empty  
node set, whereas other implementations complain about that (they  
seem to assume that the selector of a field must always select a node).

maybe a note could make the spec easier to understand here.

cheers and kind regards.

erik wilde   tel:+1-510-6432253 - fax:+1-510-6425814
        dret@berkeley.edu  -  http://dret.net/netdret
        UC Berkeley - School of Information (iSchool)

Received on Thursday, 8 February 2007 00:52:33 UTC