Re: 20041014:XLink attributes vs url attribute

Hi Roland,

The main reason for the difference is that when we added the <creator> 
element (and others), we didn't spend the time to think about whether or 
how to make them into xlinks. The XLinks we do use are "simple" type 
xlinks. There is a lot of semantic richness to XLink that we just 
haven't spent the time to delve into. I think, for instance, that we 
could make the <creator> element into an "extended" type XLink linking 
to both the creators home page and email but we haven't looked into it.

We are certainly open to any suggestions on how XLink could/should be 
used in the THREDDS specs. Does anyone have much experience with XLink 
usage and how XLinks are being used in various applications?

Ethan

Roland Schweitzer wrote:

> > Hi Folks,
> >
> > I was just studying the 1.0 Catalog Spec to see what I would like to 
> > steal for defining a more complete LAS metadata element.
> >
> > When defining the <documentation> or <metadata> element, references 
> > to external URLs are specified using XLink attributes, but when 
> > defining a URL pointing to an external reference for the <creator> 
> > element a simple "url" attribute is used.
> >
> > What is different about these two situations that lead to the choice 
> > of XLink attribute group vs. a single "url" attribute?
> >
> > Roland
> >  

--
Ethan R. Davis                                Telephone: (303) 497-8155
Software Engineer                             Fax:       (303) 497-8690
UCAR Unidata Program Center                   E-mail:    address@hidden
P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO  80307-3000                       http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/
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