I've been on this list for a couple of weeks now just kind of trying to get a
feel
for everything and would also be interested in helping out where possible. I
have
to admit that I'm not too advanced in XML right now, but am using it quite a
bit in
some projects I have right now. One thing that I would like most is to work on
the
XML Schema. I know that we have support right now for some data types, but I
would
like to write a mechanism to allow for people to define their own data types.
They
would have to provide adapters for their own data type validation but I think it
would be very usuable. Especially if we could define a sytax where they can
pass
different parameters to the type validation classes. I would be primarily
interested in doing this in Java, since I don't know much about C, but I think
that
this would be an extremely usefull feature, especially when combined with XSL
etc.
An example of where this might be usefull is in the following. Suppose
that
you want to use an XSL stylesheet to be able to write out a flat text file with
fixed field lengths to be imported into a suppliers Ordering System. If you
used a
Schema to validate the XML, you could write a FixedLengthValidator that takes
in the
Strinng from the content of your XML element, and a parameter, which in this
case
could be a number, and your FixedLengthValidator could check how long it
actually
is and provide a response as to whether this if a good FixedLength.
What does everyone think of this kind of an addition? Would it be too
difficult
to accomplish and if it's something I could start working on where in the code
should I start to look? I haven't looked at the source tree much to date, so
any
pointers would be appreciated,
Ben Bertola
Mike Pogue wrote:
> There are a bunch of people working on Xerces-J and C right now. Most
> of them are focusing on:
> solidifying the core (e.g. namespaces)
> completing DOM Level 2 (e.g ranges)
> XML Schema (e.g. updating to the latest draft spec)
> bugs (plenty of these to go around)
> performance/memory consumption (we can always do better!)
> porting to additional platforms (we have a lot, but we're getting new
> contributions in the areas of FreeBSD, Irix, et.al)
>
> If you have an idea, I'd suggest that you post it to the list, and see
> if people are interested! The PMC doesn't assign work. It's usually
> that somebody volunteers to do something, and nobody else objects (or
> they do, and a discussion takes place about what the right thing to do
> is).
>
> We'd love to have you help out! What kind of things are you interested
> in? Java? C++? Specific platforms? Specific features? Specific
> applications like publishing?
>
> Mike
>
> Nicholas Oddson wrote:
> >
> > Apologies for posting this to the group, but I'm fairly new to this and
> > couldn't find any information on the website or in the FAQs/INFO.
> >
> > How does this development effort work?
> >
> > a) Is it a task system where people are assigned work by the committers or
> > PMC?
> > b) Is a work request posted to the group and people volunteer for the
> > specific tasks?
> > c) Do I come up with an idea that I think would be an extension to Xerces
> > functionality, propose it, get it approved and then work on it?
> >
> > I found Roles & Responsibilities section of the web lacking as to the
> > detail of the process.
> >
> > Again apologies, I am just eager to help out.
> >
> > - Nick
> > --
> > Nicholas Oddson
> > Software Developer
> > Open Text Corporation
