Re: Example for RS Section 8.2.9 (Registry Filters)

[Scott Hinkelman <srh@us.ibm.com>]

Len, group,
I know I submitted a revised DTD for the Clause syntax that did indeed have
updates for Equal/NotEqual on strings. So,
what ever it takes, YES ! it needs to get in there.....!

I currently do not think we should impose cononicalization rules for string
processing..........

Scott Hinkelman, Senior Software Engineer
XML Industry Enablement
IBM e-business Standards Strategy
512-823-8097 (TL 793-8097) (Cell: 512-940-0519)
srh@us.ibm.com, Fax: 512-838-1074



Len Gallagher <LGallagher@nist.gov> on 04/05/2001 10:13:50 AM

To:   ebxml-regrep@lists.ebxml.org
cc:
Subject:  Example for RS Section 8.2.9 (Registry Filters)




ebXML regrep,

Special note to Scott Hinkelman -- please advise the group on the two
problems below!

Several readers of the Registry Services version 0.88 document have
commented that the document does not have complete examples showing the
integration of FilterQuery with the Clause syntax for constraints defined
in Section 8.2.10.

Such integration is not always desirable, since its size and complexity
might detract from the main purpose of the examples, but I agree that at
least one integrated example is desirable.

The following example is taken from Section 8.2.2 (RegistryEntryQuery).

  <RegistryEntryQuery>
     <RegistryEntryFilter>
        objectType EQ "CPP" AND  -- code by Clause, Section 8.2.10
        status EQ "Approved"
     </RegistryEntryFilter>
  </RegistryEntryQuery>

The intent of the "-- code by Clause" comment above is to indicate that the
example is NOT complete and that the AND expression should be encoded in
the XML Clause syntax specified in Section 8.2.10.

Section 8.2.9 (Registry Filters) is the section that integrates the
FilterQuery approach with the Clause syntax. Right now that Section has no
examples.

I propose that we add one example to that section, to expand the above
example, thereby showing its integration with Clause syntax.

PROPOSAL

Add the following as an example in Section 8.2.9

  <RegistryEntryQuery>
     <RegistryEntryFilter>
         <Clause>
            <CompoundClause   connectivePredicate="And" >
               <Clause>
                  <SimpleClause  leftArgument="objectType" >
                     <StringClause   stringPredicate="???" >
                         CPP
                     </StringClause>
                  </SimpleClause>
               </Clause>
               <Clause>
                  <SimpleClause  leftArgument="status" >
                     <StringClause   stringPredicate="???" >
                         Approved
                     </StringClause>
                  </SimpleClause>
               </Clause>
            </CompoundClause>
         </Clause>
     </RegistryEntryFilter>
  </RegistryEntryQuery>

Unfortunately, I just noticed two problems while attempting to do this
example!

PROBLEM #1

Note that there is no "stringPredicate" defined for string equality!! Is
this a simple omission or is it an explicit decision?

Should we add "equals" or "EQ" as another alternative to the attribute list
for StringClause? I prefer "EQ" and "NE" to be consistent with the
operators for numbers. If so, the new definition for StringClause would be

 <!ELEMENT StringClause ( #PCDATA )>
 <!ATTLIST StringClause
     stringPredicate (contains   | -contains   |
                      startswith | -startswith |
                      endswith   | -endswith   |
                      EQ         | NE           ) #REQUIRED >


PROMLEM #2

In the above example it's not clear if the carriage returns and blank
spaces before and after the #PCDATA for "CPP" and "Approved" should be
stripped off before testing for equality (or contains if equality is not
supported!). We need to decide this, or modify the XML to make these terms
attributes, before publication.

Removing these carriage returns and blank spaces makes the example more
difficult to read by a human.

Note that many of the examples in Section 8.2.10 raise this same question.

Regards,
Len




**************************************************************
Len Gallagher                             LGallagher@nist.gov
NIST                                      Work: 301-975-3251
Bldg 820  Room 562                        Home: 301-424-1928
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8970 USA           Fax: 301-948-6213
**************************************************************

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