[tei-council] what is text (was "Re: <content> vs <mixedContent>")

[Martin Holmes]

On 14-10-06 11:39 AM, Lou Burnard wrote:
> On 06/10/14 15:05, Sebastian Rahtz wrote:
>>
>>> (Also, this makes it very clear to an ODD-writer who uses
>>> mixed content that text nodes will be validated by matching against
>>> the RELAX NG <text/> pattern, not the RELAX NG "string" datatype, nor
>>> the RELAX NG "token" datatype, nor the W3C Schema "string" datatype,
>>> nor the W3C Schema "token" datatype.)
>> this dark and evil world of “text” is exactly why I am scared.
>
> Just to clarify, once more, the additional thing that you get if you ask
> for <mixedContent> is
> rng:text, and NOT what the TEI confusingly calls data.text (which maps
> to rng:data type="string").
> Although the two are lexically identical (i.e. what is valid for one is
> also valid for the other), an XSLT processor will treat them differently
> when normalizing spaces. Or so I believe. According to
> http://eric.van-der-vlist.com/blog/2005/01/07/562_relax_ng_text_versus_data/
> we want rng:text since mixedcontent is clearly document-centric rather
> than datacentric...  http://www.xmlplease.com/normalized is also helpful
> on normalization.

How would an XSLT processor know the difference between two lexically 
identical text nodes? It's not reading your schema.

Cheers,
Martin
>
> To avoid having this discussion again every few years, I wonder if we
> shouldn't deprecate "data.text" in favour of something called "data.string"?

"text" is a terrible word to use in the context of DH, and of TEI where 
we have <text>. But "string" is probably no better in other contexts. 
Can we think of something with no baggage? "chars"? <g> looks a bit like 
a natural component of something called "chars".

Cheers,
Martin

>
>
>
>> --
>> Sebastian Rahtz
>> Director (Research) of Academic IT
>> University of Oxford IT Services
>> 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. Phone +44 1865 283431
>>
>> Não sou nada.
>> Nunca serei nada.
>> Não posso querer ser nada.
>> À parte isso, tenho em mim todos os sonhos do mundo.
>>
>