----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 10:33 AM
Subject: XML Schema Components Infoset
Model in Java by IBM is available on Partnerworld for Developers
There has been a lot of discussion (on various mailing lists) about the
benefits of a standard API which would allow software that creates, examines
or modify XML Schemas, written in Java, to do so in a way that represents the
semantic XML schema components described in the W3C XML Schema specifications.
In February, we shared with the W3C Schema and DOM working groups some
thoughts about what such an API should try to do. You can see those
'requirements' described here: http://www.research.ibm.com/XML/schema/WD-XML-Schema-Infoset-API-Req.htm
.
I have been lucky to work with Ed Merks, part of the IBM Websphere
Studio Application Developer (WSAD) development group, to define such an API
and to produce a reference implementation. Although we have not yet completed
every last function we have in mind to implement, nor have we done any
performance tuning, this API has been used successfully in building several
real XML and Web Services developer-time tools. We have tried to make a
reasonable and straightforward Javadoc, and have been grateful to have Shane
Curcuru, who has worked on the Apache Xalan team, give us some guidance on how
to do this. We are aiming for an API which is very complete: not simply
read-only, and able to handle any XML Schema, no matter how complex. We tried
to use the terminology from the W3C's XML Schema specifications in naming our
classes/interfaces, methods, and constants.
We have now made this work,
including source code, UML, example usage code and documentation, available
publically for the wider community to examine and use. Donating a future
version of this to some open source effort is possible, although I can't make
a commitment on behalf of IBM at this time. Reaction and comments from the
Apache community would strongly influence whether we do this.
We
encourage you to download our work. You can do so through IBM's Partnerworld
for Developers web pages.
https://www.developer.ibm.com/member/register/how2join.html
- shows how you can get yourself an ID and password if you've never
joined
Partnerworld for Developers
https://www.developer.ibm.com/websphere/member/workbench_beta_download.html
- where you can find the XSD Feature, the name for the Schema Infoset Model
(aka com.ibm.etools.xsd)
Although I am posting this notice here, I
recommend that all discussion about this, at least until the end of June, take
place in a single venue. I recommend that questions and comments be posted to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] . (The archive is: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xmlschema-dev/
. Instructions are here: http://www.w3.org/Mail/Request and
here: http://www.w3.org/Mail/Lists.html
).
Note: I have posted this notice also to xerces-j-dev,
xerces-j-user, and might post it to a few other xml and web services
development lists.
Bob Schloss
XML/XSL Transformational
Technologies
IBM T.J. Watson Research
Center
