Hi Folks,
I hope you will help me think this through. Or, tell me that I'm off track.
Data formats are specified by properties such as representation, encoding,
separator, separatorPosition, and so forth. Properties are at the heart of
DFDL. The essence of the DFDL specification is a listing of properties and
their allowable values.
The following property/value pairs might be specified for a data format:
representation = text
encoding = ASCII
Those property/value pairs apply to all the data items in the data format.
Conversely, the following property/value pairs apply to just one data item:
name = person
lengthKind = explicit
length = {../num}
lengthUnits = characters
The first set of property/value pairs have an applies-to-all-data-items
property. The applies-to-all-data-items property is a meta-property. The second
set of property/value pairs have an applies-just-to-this-data-item property.
Another meta-property!
Do you agree? If yes, then what is the name of the applies-to-all-data-items
meta-property? What is the name of the applies-just-to-this-data-item
meta-property?
Any thoughts you might have on this would be greatly appreciated.
/Roger
