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

[inigo]

Im glad that another member of eml-dev is thinking about the
eml-2.0.2 version -THANKS Chris-

I encourage the rest of eml-dev to please express their opinions for a
'rapid release' of this minor fix, and start discussing a possible 2.1 
release,
which would enhance EML, yet compromise to some extent backward
compatibility.

Before I get to this email, let me point out to the eml-dev committee and
others in the EML community, that only ONE person (thanks Wade Sheldon!)
reviewed a  eml-2.0.2 candidate, sent to this list on 2/27/08. 

Margaret O'Brien and myself with help of Mark Servilla, and  to some
extent J. Brunt and Corinna Gries worked on this minor fix. In it,
we addressed the bug that Chris is talking about, yet the workaround
that Chris is proposing does not fix the fact that there are  DocBook 4.*
Schema tags present in the documentation module of EML not declared
in the text-module of EML. Examples are <url> and <citetitle>. By
redefining the types, we address these errors partially, yet some
stringent XML editors (the XML Spy 2007, 2008) will call on the
existence of these undeclared tag, critical errors. This makes the schema
rather unprofessional. That is one reason we are proposing the eml2.0.2
candidate. The other reason is to warm up to the idea of a more ambitious
EML release, perhaps addressing a good number of features requests
and bugs noted in the bugzilla, as well as possible modular EML expansions
to the nascent schemas that document genomics, proteomics, and other
"omics" sciences appropriately.

Cheers,
Inigo

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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