[eml-dev] EML 2.0.2 changes to text leaf nodes

[Wade Sheldon]

Hi Chris,

In my opinion, the only downside is a philosophical one. Since my first review of the EML schema I've been concerned about the potential abuse of txt:TextType elements in terms of mixing content and presentation in metadata documents. I also believe that the "expressiveness" these node types permit complicates XSL/XSLT development and limits stylesheet reusability across implementations.

I think your casual example makes this point very well - what real use is preserving <emphasis> markup in a data set title? That's what XSL is for. If this is a legacy issue for some metadata providers, then I think they should be encouraged (or helped) to offload embedded display markup when porting to EML.

That's my $.25, anyway. Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

Regards,

Wade Sheldon
Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER



Christopher Jones wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Margaret and I were discussing changes to EML slated for the 2.0.2  
> bugfix release, and a frequent request that I have seen involves  
> elements that are xs:string leaf nodes throughout the schema.  There  
> are places within the EML schema that we consciously decided to type  
> the leaf node as an eml-text node (txt:TextType) in order to provide  
> DocBook-type formatting capabilities.  However, there have been many  
> requests for formatting options in text leaf node elements where it is  
> not allowed.
> 
> The proposal is to convert all leaf nodes in the EML schema that are  
> currently typed as xs:string to be of type txt:TextType so they may  
> all take advantage of the formatting options.
> 
> A required change in eml-text.xsd is:
> 
> <ComplexType name="TextType"> becomes <ComplexType name="TextType"  
> mixed="true">
> 
> An example would be:
> 
> EML 2.0.1 title element:
> <xs:element name="title" type="xs:string" maxOccurs="unbounded">
> 
> EML 2.0.2 proposed title element:
> <xs:element name="title" type="txt:TextType" maxOccurs="unbounded">
> 
> 
> This would allow for backwards compatible markup such as:
> <eml>
>    <dataset>
>      <title>My Title Text</title>
>      ...
>    </dataset>
> </eml>
> 
> and also:
> 
> <eml>
>    <dataset>
>      <title><emphasis>My Title Text</emphasis></title>
>      ...
>    </dataset>
> </eml>
> 
> This change should be backward compatible with EML 2.0.1 in that an  
> element of type txt:TextType can take a plain xs:string without any  
> other markup.
> 
> So, we wanted to open this type of change up to the community for  
> comment since it would affect all of the text nodes in the EML schema,  
> even though the changes aren't immense.
> 
> Can anyone see downsides to this type of change?
> 
> Other comments?
> 
> Cheers,
> Chris
> _________________________________________________________________
> christopher jones       cjones at msi.ucsb.edu      (805) 680-5946
> marine science institute  university of california, santa barbara
> _________________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
____________________________________

Wade M. Sheldon
GCE-LTER Information Manager/SIMO Database Administrator
School of Marine Programs
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-3636
Email: sheldon at uga.edu
WWW: http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/public/app/personnel_bios.asp?id=wsheldon