[topicmapmail] About item identifiers and serialization

[Lars Heuer]

Hi Joril and Lars,

> * Joril Andersen
>>
>> when two topics merge, the new topic C will(probably) have two item  
>> identifiers, which one is used to extract the id attribute in the  
>> XTM document when the topic map is serialized?

> That's up to the serializer. You can use neither if you want to.  
> Also, if you want to preserve both item identifiers you can use the  
> <itemIdentity> element (in XTM 2.0).

I agree, but a nice rule would be: If a item identifier starts with
the document IRI use this item identifier as topic id.

Example:
        Topic with item identifiers
        http://www.example.org/doc.xtm#a-topic-id
        http://www.somewhere-else.org/another-doc.xtm#another-id

If you serialize the topic map to
        http://www.example.org/doc.xtm

use the "a-topic-id" as id attribute.

But as Lars Marius said, it depends on the serializer and you can do
what ever you want to do (i.e. generating a UUID for each topic etc.).

Best regards,
Lars
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