XPointer selects an xi:fallback element in another document

Here's a corner case that I don't think is yet adequately addressed in 
the spec. Suppose an xpointer attribute identifies an xi:fallback 
element in another document; e.g. in doc1.xml we have

<root>
  <xi:include href="missing.xml">
     <xi:fallback>whatever</xi:fallback>
  </xi:include>
</root>


----

In another document:

<xi:include href="doc1.xml" xpointer="element(/1/1/1)"/>

My current reading of the spec is that this results in the result 
infoset containing an xi:fallback element, which seems weird. I can't 
find any language in the spec  that would prevent this. The closest is:

It is a fatal error 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-xinclude-20031110/#dt-error> for an 
|xi:fallback| element to appear in a document anywhere other than as the 
direct child of the |xi:include| (before inclusion processing on the 
contents of the element.)

However, this is only before processing. It's not obvious that it 
applies after processing. Whether this case should be legal or illegal, 
clarification from the spec would be appreciated.

--
Elliotte Rusty Harold

Received on Sunday, 1 February 2004 11:31:19 UTC