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Bug 5095 - inter-document references defined inconsistently
Summary: inter-document references defined inconsistently
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: SML
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Core+Interchange Format (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: PC Windows XP
: P2 normal
Target Milestone: LC
Assignee: Valentina Popescu
QA Contact: SML Working Group discussion list
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: resolved
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2007-09-30 15:26 UTC by John Arwe
Modified: 2007-11-15 20:40 UTC (History)
0 users

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Description John Arwe 2007-09-30 15:26:40 UTC
SML spec section 4 Schemas has http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-sml-20070926/#Schemas
"References  XML Schema does not have any support for inter-document references, although it does support intra-document references through xs:ID, xs:IDREF, xs:key and xs:keyref. Inter-document references are fundamental to SML since a document is a unit of versioning. SML extends XML Schema to support inter-document references and a set of constraints on inter-document references."
Scattered other places (section 1, appendix C) refer to this term as well, but 4 definitely has the bulk of the search hits.

SMLIF spec 3.4.2 has http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-sml-if-20070926/#Definition_of_inter-document_references_in_SML-IF
"[Definition: In the context of SML-IF, an inter-document reference is any content in a document in the interchange set whose type is xs:anyURI or a type derived from xs:anyURI and whose context in the document implies that the URI can (given the right permissions and connectivity) be dereferenced using the default retrieval action for the URI's scheme.]"

It will completely confuse readers to see the same term used with different definitions in such closely related specs.  In SML it appears the term is used in an informal human sense only, so I would weed it out of the SML spec.

Proposal:
Where SML mentions inter-document references today, change that to either SML reference or cross-document reference depending upon the context.  Where it contrasts with intra-document references, replace leave the intra- term unchanged.

SML section 1 change (2 places)
"...extensions to XML Schema to support inter-document references." 
to
"...extensions to XML Schema to support cross-document references." 

SML appendix C change (1 place) 
"- inter-document references" to 
"- cross-document references"

SML section 4.0 change (4 places)
"inter-document references" to "cross-document references"

SML section 4.1 change (4 places)
"inter-document references" to "cross-document references"
and (1 place)
"define ... constraints across        inter-document references"
to
"define ... constraints that traverse cross-document references"

SML section 4.4 change (1 place)
"inter-document references" to "cross-document references"
Comment 1 John Arwe 2007-09-30 15:29:36 UTC
Add to proposal:
SML section 4.0 change (1 place)
from
"    * References                 XML Schema does not have any support for..."
to
"    * Cross-document references  XML Schema does not have any support for..."
Comment 2 John Arwe 2007-10-11 19:18:49 UTC
consensus from 2007-10-11 telecon

Instead of cross-doc refs, weed out inter-doc refs from SML spec and replace with SML refs.
Comment 3 Valentina Popescu 2007-10-30 19:58:27 UTC
Removed inter-document references from the entire SML spec and replaced with cross-document references/references that may cross document boundaries

Major changes :

1. Section 4 - XML Schema Extensions Defined by SML


From :

References  XML Schema does not have any support for inter-document references, although it does support intra-document references through xs:ID, xs:IDREF, xs:key and xs:keyref. Inter-document references are fundamental to SML since a document is a unit of versioning. SML extends XML Schema to support references that may cross document boundaries, and a set of constraints on those references that apply regardless of whether they cross document boundaries or not.

To:

Cross-document references  XML Schema does not have any support for cross-document references, although it does support references within elements in the same document through xs:ID, xs:IDREF, xs:key and xs:keyref. References between elements defined in separate SML model documents are fundamental to the SML specification. SML extends XML Schema to support references that may cross document boundaries, and a set of constraints on those references that apply regardless of whether they cross document boundaries or not.


2. Section 4.1, third paragraph, just after the numbered list :

from :

An SML reference is a link from one element in an SML model to another element from the same model.

To :

A reference in an SML model is a link from one element in the model to another element from the same model , regardless of whether the elements belong to the same document or not.

Reason : SML reference has a different definition under section 4.1.1.1
Comment 4 Valentina Popescu 2007-11-01 03:14:14 UTC
As a result of an off line discussion with Ginny, the content has been updated as following 

1. Created a new term for SML references under section 2.2 Terminology: 

Reference 
A link from one element in an SML model to another element from the same model. 

2. Updated text description on paragraph 4, first bullet :
from:
1.	SML references  XML documents introduce boundaries across content that needs to be treated as a unit. XML Schema does not have any support for references that cross documents, although it does support references within elements in the same document through xs:ID, xs:IDREF, xs:key and xs:keyref. References between elements defined in separate SML model documents are fundamental to the SML specification. SML extends XML Schema to support references that may cross document boundaries, and a set of constraints on those references that apply regardless of whether they cross document boundaries or not.

To: 
SML references  XML documents introduce boundaries across content that needs to be treated as a unit. XML Schema does not have any support for references that cross documents, although it does support references within elements in the same document through xs:ID, xs:IDREF, xs:key and xs:keyref. References between elements defined in separate SML model documents are fundamental to the SML specification. SML extends XML Schema to support references that may cross document boundaries, and a set of constraints on those references that apply regardless of whether they cross document boundaries or not. 

3. First paragraph in  section 4.1 

from : 
XML documents introduce boundaries across content that needs to be treated as a unit. SML extends XML Schema to support references that may cross document boundaries and defines a set of constraints on those references. 

Support for cross-document references in an SML model includes: 
-Multiple addressing schemes for representing references. 
-Constraints on the type of a referenced element. 
- The ability to define key, unique, and key reference constraints on cross-document references. 
A reference in an SML model is a link from one element in the model to another element from the same model , regardless of whether the elements belong to the same document or not. It can be represented by using a variety of schemes [] 

To : 
Support for SML references in an SML model includes: 
-Multiple addressing schemes for representing references. 
-Constraints on the type of a referenced element. 
-The ability to define key, unique, and key reference constraints on SML references. 
SML references can be represented by using a variety of schemes, [] 

4. Replaced all other occurrences of cross-document references with SML references and linked to the Terminology definition 

5. Updated section 4.1.1.1 SML Reference definition to link to the SML reference Terminology section : 
An element information item in an SML model instance document is an SML reference[<< link to the Terminology section] if and only if: [...]