[topicmapmail] <mergeMap> Attributes?

[Jan Algermissen]

Murray Altheim wrote:

> Jan,
> 
> I think Kal will correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression of
> the existing <mergemap> functionality and what you're trying to
> accomplish is that you don't need to suggest any changes to XTM
> syntax. The <mergeMap> element is a directive, unlike an #include
> or an SGML entity reference, it doesn't force the Topic Map engine
> to immediately load the referenced Topic Map document -- it's up
> to the application to do so at some appropriate time.

Thanks Murray--

the problem is that the semantics that I have in mind differ from those
that <mergeMap> currently has.  I want to advance the application state
of the client application ("look, here is another resource/map that it
would be worth having a look at") as opposed to adding the referenced
map to the currently processed one.

I know that an additional element would be more suitable (because of
the different semantics) but I want to stick to XTM as much as possible.
That why I thought that attributes on <mergeMap> could be used to
give a hint to clients that are aware of them.


Jan

> 
> So in TM4J, there's an addMergeMap(Locator,Scope) method that adds
> a directive to the list. You can use hasMergeMap(Locator) to
> determine if a specific directive (via its Locator) exists, and
> you can use getMergeMapLocators() to return a Java Collection
> containing *unresolved* mergeMap directives.
> 
> So in your case, you only (at the application level, not at the
> Topic Map engine level) resolve the mergeMaps when you want to,
> such as when the user demands information from a specific map.
> 
> Murray
> 
> ......................................................................
> Murray Altheim                    http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
> Knowledge Media Institute
> The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK               .
> 
>    Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
>    http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1153530,00.html

-- 
Jan Algermissen                           http://www.topicmapping.com
Consultant & Programmer	                  http://www.gooseworks.org