[XML-SIG] Element.localName, Attr.localName

[Mike Brown]

> > >  > Why do you say that this document has no namespaces?
> > > 
> > > Because I've said this is only an XML 1.0 document only;
> > 
> > Umm.  Not so fast.  This document is not XML 1.0 well-formed
> >
> > Names starting with "xml" are reserved, yes, but this is a semantic
> > reservation ("don't use it unless it's for the purpose we say it's for),
> > not a well-formedness constraint.
> 
> OK, you are right on the technicality (I would have jabbed you with the same 
> ice pick ;-)  ).  But I don't think it changes the practical discussion.  The 
> semantic restriction is fully in place because minidom is namespace-aware, 
> which means that it is meaningless to say that that Fred's document is not an 
> XML namespace document.  I think this is what Martin has been sayig in his 
> cryptic way  :-).

I would say that a more correct rephrasing of Martin's point is that the
choice of whether to use namespace-aware processing helps determine the
document's status of being "a namespace document"; this status is not
intrinsic to the document just because the document meets the conformance
requirements of the Namespaces in XML rec. The first quote above (sorry, I
gave up on attributions) implies that such an assumption was being made
(conforms to rec == intrinsically namespace-aware == requires namespace-aware
processing).

I personally feel that under no circumstances does an XML document have any
status with respect to namespaces; being conformant to the namespaces rec just
makes namespace-aware processing a possibility, not a requirement ...  not
only because of the way the specs are layered, but also because of the fact
that the document has no way of unambiguously saying "I must be processed in
a [non-]namespace-aware manner".

Therefore, it is up to the architect of the processing system to ensure that
documents are processed in the manner that is appropriate for their system's
documents. This means that if one needs to be able to disable namespace-aware
processing, then they'd better not be using minidom. Minidom is under no
obligation to support non-namespace-aware processing. [so we are in agreement]
:)

   - Mike
____________________________________________________________________________
  mike j. brown                   |  xml/xslt: http://skew.org/xml/
  denver/boulder, colorado, usa   |  resume: http://skew.org/~mike/resume/