[XML-SIG] Signature of startElement

Martin v. Loewis martin@loewis.home.cs.tu-berlin.de
Sun, 17 Sep 2000 21:06:32 +0200


When integrating PyXML and Python 2, I noticed a serious problem:

The signature of startElement must be determined. In Python 2, it
takes two arguments (name, attrs); in PyXML, it takes three arguments
(name, qname, attrs). There must be a definite decision for Python 2,
then PyXML must be updated to reflect this decision. If there is no
change to Python 2 in that area within a few days, I'll update PyXML
to reflect the current state of Python 2.

Please note that this signature business must be determined regardless
of whether there are two xml packages or one: Applications must be
able to trust the SAX2 API; they cannot provide different handlers for
different parsers (this is the whole point of SAX). 

I don't have any opinion on that question; I just observe that in
Java, the signature is

startElement(java.lang.String namespaceURI, java.lang.String localName,
             java.lang.String qName, Attributes atts) 

Not being an expert in XML namespaces, I have a hard time relating
either of the existing signatures or the SAX2 Java signature to the
proposal in

http://www.python.org/pipermail/xml-sig/2000-July/004650.html

so I'd appreciate if somebody shared a few words about how that
interface should look like.

Regards,
Martin