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Thanks Ken, this is excellent. It will take me a while to absorb all this, but from a brief examination of your material I conclude that you recommend approach #3 - express a list as an XML instance document, using domain-specific terminology (i.e. do not express lists using a schema language). Is that what you recommend? /Roger > -----Original Message----- > From: G. Ken Holman [mailto:gkholman@C...] > Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:22 PM > To: 'xml-dev@l...' > Subject: Re: 3 approaches to structure lists, plus > an analysis of each approach > > At 2009-02-14 17:40 -0500, Costello, Roger L. wrote: > >What are the different approaches to structure lists? > > A.k.a. "controlled vocabularies" > > >What are the pros and cons of each approach? Is there a way to > >structure lists to maximize their utility and minimize their > overhead? > > Yes! > > >The purpose of this message is to document and analyze several > >approaches to structure lists. I use "country list" to illustrate > >the different approaches. > > > >ASSERTION: LISTS THAT CAN BE USED FOR MULTIPLE PURPOSES ARE GOOD > > There are three aspects of controlled vocabularies of interest to XML > documents: > > - list-level meta data - identifies the list as an entity > http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/html/2008/Holman01/Balisag > e2008-Holman01.html#codes > - value-level meta data - augments values with "meaning" by adding > information > http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/html/2008/Holman01/Balisag > e2008-Holman01.html#codesmd > - instance-level meta data - used in XML documents to associate > specified controlled vocabulary values with the particular list-level > meta data from which the value is obtained, thus disambiguating > values for applications when ambiguous in an element whose values are > from the union of two lists with overlapping values > http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/html/2008/Holman01/Balisag > e2008-Holman01.html#codesilm > > Here is an excerpt of OASIS genericode 1.0 file for ISO country codes: > > http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0-update/cl/gc/default > /CountryIdentificationCode-2.0.gc > > <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> > <gc:CodeList > xmlns:gc="http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/ns/genericode/1.0/"> > <Identification> > <ShortName>CountryIdentificationCode</ShortName> > <LongName xml:lang="en">Country</LongName> > <LongName Identifier="listID">ISO3166-1</LongName> > <Version>0.3</Version> > > <CanonicalUri>urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:codelist:gc:Co > untryIdentificationCode</CanonicalUri> > > <CanonicalVersionUri>urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:codelis > t:gc:CountryIdentificationCode-2.0-update</CanonicalVersionUri> > > <LocationUri>http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0-update/ > cl/gc/default/CountryIdentificationCode-2.0.gc</LocationUri> > <Agency> > <LongName xml:lang="en">United Nations Economic Commission > for Europe</LongName> > <Identifier>6</Identifier> > </Agency> > </Identification> > <ColumnSet> > <Column Id="code" Use="required"> > <ShortName>Code</ShortName> > <Data Type="normalizedString"/> > </Column> > <Column Id="name" Use="optional"> > <ShortName>Name</ShortName> > <Data Type="string"/> > </Column> > <Column Id="numericcode" Use="optional"> > <ShortName>NumericCode</ShortName> > <Data Type="string"/> > </Column> > <Key Id="codeKey"> > <ShortName>CodeKey</ShortName> > <ColumnRef Ref="code"/> > </Key> > </ColumnSet> > <SimpleCodeList> > <Row> > <Value ColumnRef="code"> > <SimpleValue>AF</SimpleValue> > </Value> > <Value ColumnRef="name"> > <SimpleValue>AFGHANISTAN</SimpleValue> > </Value> > <Value ColumnRef="numericcode"> > <SimpleValue>004</SimpleValue> > </Value> > </Row> > <Row> > <Value ColumnRef="code"> > <SimpleValue>AL</SimpleValue> > </Value> > <Value ColumnRef="name"> > <SimpleValue>ALBANIA</SimpleValue> > </Value> > <Value ColumnRef="numericcode"> > <SimpleValue>008</SimpleValue> > </Value> > </Row> > <Row> > <Value ColumnRef="code"> > <SimpleValue>DZ</SimpleValue> > </Value> > <Value ColumnRef="name"> > <SimpleValue>ALGERIA</SimpleValue> > </Value> > <Value ColumnRef="numericcode"> > <SimpleValue>012</SimpleValue> > </Value> > </Row> > ... > </SimpleCodeList> > <gc:CodeList> > > An OASIS context/value association file (CVA file) is used to > describe which document contexts are associated with which genericode > files of controlled vocabularies. A diagram is here: > > http://www.balisage.net/Proceedings/html/2008/Holman01/Balisag > e2008-Holman01.html#cva > > An excerpt of a UBL CVA file associated the country identifier with > the country code list is: > > <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> > <ValueListConstraints > xmlns="http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/ns/ContextValueAsso > ciation/cd2-1.0/" > xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Common > BasicComponents-2" > xmlns:ext="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Common > ExtensionComponents-2"> > <ValueLists> > <ValueList xml:id="AccountingCostCode" > uri="../../cl/gc/default/AccountingCostCode-2.0.gc"/> > ... > <ValueList xml:id="CountryIdentificationCode" > uri="../../cl/gc/default/CountryIdentificationCode-2.0.gc"/> > ... > <ValueList xml:id="UNDGCode" > uri="../../cl/gc/default/UNDGCode-2.0.gc"/> > </ValueLists> > <Contexts> > <Context item="cbc:AccountingCostCode" > values="AccountingCostCode"/> > ... > <Context item="cbc:IdentificationCode" > values="CountryIdentificationCode"/> > ... > <Context item="cbc:UNDGCode" values="UNDGCode"/> > </Contexts> > </ValueListConstraints> > > >Lists should be structured in a way that they can be used for > >multiple purposes. For example, a country list may be: > > > > - used as values in an XForms pick list. > > > > - transformed into a document that contains, for each country, > > sales figures (or death rates, births, political leadership, > > religions, etc). > > > > - used to validate an element's content, e.g. The value of the > > <country-visited> element must be a country. > > > >Those are only a few of the myriad uses of a country list. A > >well-designed country list should support all of them. > > Specifications and implementations to do this are found here: > > genericode 1.0 - lists of codes with list-level and > code-level meta data > > http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/genericode > > context/value association using genericode 0.5 draft 1 > - contextual code list usage and > instance-level meta data > > > http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=29990 > > There is a Schematron-based implementation of validation > using CVA files > available from Crane's web site and being donated to the Schematron > project: > > http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/resources/ubl/index.htm#cva2sch > > As cited by Mike, the code list committee is here: > > http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/codelist > > I hope this helps. > > . . . . . . . . . . . Ken > > -- > Upcoming hands-on XSLT, UBL & code list hands-on training classes: > Brussels, BE 2009-03; Prague, CZ 2009-03, http://www.xmlprague.cz > Training tools: Comprehensive interactive XSLT/XPath 1.0/2.0 video > Video lesson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrNjJCh7Ppg&fmt=18 > Video overview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTiodiij6gE&fmt=18 > G. Ken Holman mailto:gkholman@C... > Crane Softwrights Ltd. http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/x/ > Male Cancer Awareness Nov'07 http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/x/bc > Legal business disclaimers: http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/legal > > > ______________________________________________________________ > _________ > > XML-DEV is a publicly archived, unmoderated list hosted by OASIS > to support XML implementation and development. To minimize > spam in the archives, you must subscribe before posting. > > [Un]Subscribe/change address: http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/ > Or unsubscribe: xml-dev-unsubscribe@l... > subscribe: xml-dev-subscribe@l... > List archive: http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ > List Guidelines: http://www.oasis-open.org/maillists/guidelines.php > >
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