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  • From: Chin Chee-Kai <cheekai@s...>
  • To: xml-dev <xml-dev@l...>
  • Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:04:05 +0800

On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 4:45 PM, Costello, Roger L. <costello@m...> wrote:
6fa681b10810142038w3ccb5d69ha24fe72614356b99@m..." type="cite">

EXAMPLE OF BUSINESS INTERESTS INFLUENCING XML DATA DESIGN

A SME specifies, "There are three methods of payment: Paypal, money
order, or cashier's check."

Here is an XML data design which expresses the SME's specification:

  <Payment>
      <Method>Paypal</Method>
      <Method>money order</Method>
      <Method>cashier's check</Method>
  </Payment>
This design looks strange to me, given the usual understanding of payment processes.  If this XML fragment is an instance, then there should only be 1 <Method> used for the payment, with corresponding details associated with the method (eg cashier's check might have a check number, paypal would have an email address, etc).  If paid 3 times, then 3 <Payment>s with 1 <Method> within;  unlikely to have 1 <Payment> with 3 <Method>s within.

But if you're saying the technical expert (I don't like the acronym SME, which semi-officially and often refers to Small Medium Enterprises) recommends accepting 3 *choices* of the *values* of <Method>s, then that recommendation would be translated into an XML Schema as possibly a choice of fixed tokens rather than having <Method> being instantiated 3 times in a transaction document.

Perhaps another context, such as a shopping cart of 3 items, might be more appropriate?
<ShoppingCart>
    <Item>Book: Financial Crisis Solution - Ten Year Series</Item>
    <Item>Book: How to get rich doing programming</Item>
    <Item>Report:  Latest voting inclination poll results</Item>
</ShoppingCart>

regards,
Chin Chee-Kai



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