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Difference between revisions of "Null Association"

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Rene:
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What would the XML look like in case of a 'null association'? I don't know of a way in which the ITS supports this.
 
What would the XML look like in case of a 'null association'? I don't know of a way in which the ITS supports this.
  
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         ...
 
         ...
 
  </class>
 
  </class>
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Grahame:
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There is no concept of a null association, but there is the concept
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of an association to a null object. So the XML would look like this:
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<class>
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        <association nullFlavor='NI'/>
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</class>
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So, there is no ...: if the object is null there can be no elements (though attributes such as classCode and moodCode could be appropriate)
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And xsi:nil would not be appropriate, though this is a matter of interpretation
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Where there is a problem is the difference between a list of null associations and a null list of associations.
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Charlie:
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The interpretation that the XML SIG took when asked about this in the past was that xsi:nil could and should be used for null associations -- and there was pushback that required nillable to be put back into the schemas -- it had been removed for some releases in 2004/5 (from memory - dates need checking). 
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I think that the question may also be addressing whether associative classes can be null -- and that is an MnM question that it would be useful to get clarity on.  The point that I am making here is that when nullFlavor is used, xsi:nil can also be used, as indicated by xsi:nillable in the schemas.

Latest revision as of 09:25, 11 May 2007

Rene:

What would the XML look like in case of a 'null association'? I don't know of a way in which the ITS supports this.

<class>
       <association nullFlavor='NI' xsi:nil='true'/>
       ...
</class>

Grahame:

There is no concept of a null association, but there is the concept of an association to a null object. So the XML would look like this:


<class>
       <association nullFlavor='NI'/>
</class>

So, there is no ...: if the object is null there can be no elements (though attributes such as classCode and moodCode could be appropriate) And xsi:nil would not be appropriate, though this is a matter of interpretation

Where there is a problem is the difference between a list of null associations and a null list of associations.

Charlie:

The interpretation that the XML SIG took when asked about this in the past was that xsi:nil could and should be used for null associations -- and there was pushback that required nillable to be put back into the schemas -- it had been removed for some releases in 2004/5 (from memory - dates need checking). I think that the question may also be addressing whether associative classes can be null -- and that is an MnM question that it would be useful to get clarity on. The point that I am making here is that when nullFlavor is used, xsi:nil can also be used, as indicated by xsi:nillable in the schemas.