>1. Is it possible to tell the parser to distinguish between an empty
>attribute value and no attribute at all?
A completely absent attribute value, with no default, doesn't show up in
the SAX/DOM datastructures at all. (Though in the DOM you have to use
getAttributeNode() or equivalent to see this distinction, since there's a
convenience feature which causes getAttribute() to return "" when the
attribute is absent.)
If you're using the DOM, you can distinguish whether it was a default by
checking the Attr node's "specified" flag, which is true if the attribute
was specified explicitly and false if it came from a default. I'm not sure
offhand whether SAX has an equivalent test.
>2. Is it possible to set an attribute value to an empty string or NULL?
Empty string: Sure, trivially. Just set it to "".
Null: Only by not having a value, which means not having a default either.
>3. If 1 & 2 are answered with no: Is this an xml probleme, a xerces
>problem or my own problem ? ;-)
If "" isn't an acceptable equivalent of null, redesign your
application/DTD. Either don't specify a default, or write your application
so it recognizes a reserved value such as the empty string in lieu of (or
as an equivalent to) the attribute being absent.
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