Hi,
Since we didn't get much time to discuss selectors api 2 during TPAC,
this is an overview of the status, and a rough idea of how much work
needs to be done.
Please refer to the draft spec [1] and the issue list for features being
added [2].
The spec has a proposal to address a number of use cases, based on
feature requests that I summarised previously [3].
In particular, matchesSelector which has been partially implemented by
WebKit and Mozilla already, and the :scope selector which addresses
several use cases like node list filtering, collective querying, etc.
There is also the queryScopedSelector() method which does some magic
selector processing and makes things slightly easier than using an
explicit :scope selector in some cases. This method is somewhat
controversial, and it's not clear whether or not we should keep it, or
whether we should just require authors to either explicitly use :scope
or have JS libraries insert it.
I believe, the parts of the spec defining those features are ready for
FPWD. However, John Resig has told me that he has an alternative
proposal, but has not yet sent me any details. Although, I believe we
could proceed with FPWD now, and evaluate John's proposals if and when
he sends them.
The major issue yet to be dealt with is namespace resolution. This is
the one that will take a very significant amount of time. This will
require first evaluating the use cases and reaching a conclusion about
whether or not it's even needed, and then if it is, finding a solution
that solves the problems identified without suffering from the design
flaws of the previous proposals.
But I'd really like to avoid having this issue get in the way of
addressing the other more pressing issues, as much as it did during the
development of v1. Because of this, it is not something I'm
particularly interested in adding to the spec myself at this stage, but
If the group believes it's worthwile to be worked on, I'd be happy for
some other editor to draft a proposal somewhat independently from the
rest of the spec.
[1] http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/selectors-api2/
[2]
http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/buglist.cgi?product=WebAppsWG&component=Selectors%20API
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2009JulSep/1198.html
--
Lachlan Hunt - Opera Software
http://lachy.id.au/
http://www.opera.com/
