>What is the purpose of element attribute?  And is there a usage
>rule-of-thumb for element attribute (attribute vs. child element) ?
>Thanx,
>-Farid
 
Farid,
 
It really depends on what you are using the XML for.  Check out:  http://xml.coverpages.org/elementsAndAttrs.html.  My own rule of thumb for business transactions, and that adopted by such groups as the OASIS Universal Business Language Technical Committee and UN/CEFACT, is to use elements for identifying any data that will be stored or used.  Use attributes if you want to provide additional clarification that a human reader might require to understand the data.
 
Mark
Mark R. Crawford
Senior Research Fellow - LMI XML Lead
Vice Chair - OASIS UBL TC
Chair - UN/CEFACT XML Syntax Working Group
Editor - UN/CEFACT Core Components

 
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