The schema idea is a good one. I think this is what tamino has. But the beauty of this implemenation is that it allows this capability, and more. Another example usage might be something in a CMS (Content Management System) where documents and/or collections have a state within a workflow. This is a simple example of a finite state machine that is common to virtually all cms implementations. Imagine you have an article that's written by one person, edited by another, reviewed by legal, and published by some other role. Each of these roles might be filled by different people. Having the ability to associate metadata with each document allows me to develop a system which routes documents to the right people through the courses of development. Maybe first it goes to a contractor, then an editor, then a lawyer, then an engineer.
I'm sure there are tons and tons of uses for metadata beyond this. I think (and hope) that the metadata capability will be used for purposes far beyond my imagination! I'll be working on documentation and tests to help everyone who wants to use it have the right information to be able to use it. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to ask me directly. dave -----Original Message----- From: Matt Liotta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 8:02 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: proposal for metadata It seems there is still no consensus on metadata. I know this has been covered, but I am really at a loss for what I would do with the proposed metadata implementation. In thinking about it, I did come up with one idea. Potentially, a metadata implementation might simply be a schema for a collection that is able to be queried. Further, if a schema was attached to a collection one might force validation of documents in that collection. The above seems simple enough to implement and potentially useful. In looking at how we are using Xindice, we would have immediate benefit. Could some explain how the proposed metadata implementation is different and/or better? Matt Liotta President & CEO Montara Software, Inc. http://www.montarasoftware.com/ 888-408-0900 x901 > -----Original Message----- > From: Vladimir R. Bossicard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 2:21 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: proposal for metadata > > Sorry to bother, > > XNode in scratchpad: +1 > Metadata: -0. Isn't is possible to create this a service for a > collection? > > - where are the tests? Can't this code fail? > - where is the documentation? > - can we see the files from the meta package? > - the '{' are placed at the end of the line > > > This will allow developers to see if the concept of metadata is useful > in > > Xindice. > > and if 99% think that this is not useful, we will have to keep (and > maintain) the code for 1% of the users... > > But if you want to commit right away, go ahead. I don't want to be the > only one that stops the code from floading into the codebase. > > -Vladimir > > -- > Vladimir R. Bossicard > Apache Xindice - http://xml.apache.org/xindice
