Re: Making SimpleXML more useful

On 4/27/11 1:59 AM, Tom Samplonius wrote:

----- Original Message -----

Looking at this in more detail...I don't think there's a bug here, or a patch required.

...

problem for me, as I have an XML schema that specifies that the child elements must not namespace qualified.

Is this possible in an XML schema? I don't know much about schemas, but

... Absolutely, if the XML schema has the "elementFormDefault" attribute set to "unqualified", the child elements must be unqualified.

I would also expect, if the child were to be namespaced, that these are equivalent: <ns1:parent xmlns="whatever" xmlns:ns1="whatever"> <child>abc</child> </ns1:parent> <ns1:parent xmlns:ns1="whatever"> <ns1:child>abc</ns1:child> </ns1:parent>

... In the first case, the<child> element is unqualified, and in the second, it is not. They are not the same thing, either semantically or otherwise.

and the xmlns="" is necessary. If this functionality were removed, how could this be done?

For what? In the spec (http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-names/#iri-use), it says: "The empty string, though it is a legal URI reference, cannot be used as a namespace name."

It is not being used as a namespace name. It's usage causes removes any default namespace from scope (continue reading spec - there is even an example of it). That line means you cannot define xmlns:a="" and then use use a as a prefix in the document.

Sure, SimpleXML could perhaps output XML that is slightly more efficient/less verbose than it currently does, but its output is not incorrect, and the functionality you want to remove is necessary in other circumstances.

I don't see how removing the ability to use "" as a namespace is an issue, since "" can't be used as a namespace name.

The syntax is valid and required. Removing it breaks its usage. Rob