[XPath] 3.2.1 Steps: fn:get-namespace-uri-for-prefix

3.2.1 says:

Applications needing information about the in-scope namespaces of an
element should use the functions fn:get-in-scope-prefixes and
fn:get-namespace-uri-for-prefix  

It would be helpful if the two function names were hyperlinked.
the names are (now) incorrect: it should be

fn:in-scope-prefixes 
fn:namespace-uri-for-prefix 

not

fn:get-in-scope-prefixes 
fn:get-namespace-uri-for-prefix 
   ^^^^


The "inscope namespaces" feature is closely modelled on the facilities
offered by namespace nodes, however it could, I believe, be extended to
deal with a case that is rather problemtic to deal with in Xpath 1.

If attributes as well as elements had an in scope namespaces property
and attribute nodes could be supplied to fn:in-scope-prefixes then
prefixes contained in free standing attribute node values (such as
Xpath expressions) could be safely preserved. In the original mapping
from infoset/psvi the in-scope namespaces of an attribute would be that
of its parent element. On serialisation you (as language designers, not
the user) would have a choice of whether to just drop in scope
namespaces from attributes, or whether to make "namespace fixup" ensure
that an element always had namespaces in scope if they are in scope on
an attribute.

You'll probably say that it's too late for new features.


David

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Received on Monday, 26 July 2004 06:50:30 UTC