ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34 N0328

ISO/IEC

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34

Information Technology —

Document Description and Processing Languages

Title: The XML Topic Maps (XTM) Syntax
Source: Lars Marius Garshol, Graham Moore, JTC1/SC34
Project: ISO 13250
Project editor: Steven R. Newcomb, Michel Biezunski, Martin Bryan
Status: Editor's draft
Action: For review and comment
Date: 2002-07-22
Summary:
Distribution: SC34 and Liaisons
Refer to:
Supercedes:
Reply to: Dr. James David Mason
(ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 Chairman)
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http://www.y12.doe.gov/sgml/sc34/sc34oldhome.htm

Ms. Sara Hafele, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 Secretariat
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E-mail: [email protected]

The XML Topic Maps (XTM) Syntax 1.0

Editor's draft 22 07 2002

This version:
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34 N0328
Latest version:
Editor's working copy
Editors:
Lars Marius Garshol , Ontopia <[email protected]>
Graham Moore , Empolis <[email protected]>

Abstract

This specification defines the XML Topic Maps 1.0 (XTM) interchange syntax for topic maps, a syntax based on XML, XLink, and URIs. The allowed syntactical expressions in XTM documents are constrained using a DTD and prose, and their interpretation is defined using [SAM]. Note that this is only a syntax specification; what the syntax represents is defined by [SAM].

This specification will replace [XTM1.0] as the official definition of the XTM syntax once it is adopted by ISO as part of the revised ISO 13250 standard. For more information on this process, see [tm-guide].

This is $Revision: 1.11 $.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction
2 Syntax
    2.1 The topicMap element
    2.2 The topic element
    2.3 The subjectIdentity element
    2.4 The baseName element
    2.5 The baseNameString element
    2.6 The variant element
    2.7 The variantName element
    2.8 The parameters element
    2.9 The scope element
    2.10 The instanceOf element
    2.11 The occurrence element
    2.12 The resourceData element
    2.13 The association element
    2.14 The member element
    2.15 The roleSpec element
    2.16 The topicRef element
    2.17 The subjectIndicatorRef element
    2.18 The resourceRef element
    2.19 The mergeMap element
3 Deserialization
    3.1 Common processing rules
        3.1.1 Computing the URI of an element
        3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs
        3.1.3 Creation of new information items
    3.2 The topicMap element
    3.3 The topic element
    3.4 The subjectIdentity element
    3.5 The baseName element
    3.6 The baseNameString element
    3.7 The variant element
    3.8 The variantName element
    3.9 The parameters element
    3.10 The scope element
    3.11 The instanceOf element
    3.12 The occurrence element
    3.13 The association element
    3.14 The member element
    3.15 The topicRef element
    3.16 The subjectIndicatorRef element
    3.17 The resourceRef element
    3.18 The mergeMap element
4 Conformance

Appendices

A References
B The XTM 1.0 DTD
C Serialization (Non-Normative)


1 Introduction

XTM 1.0 is a syntax for the interchange of topic map information. The syntax is not designed to be extended or modified, although topic maps expressed in XTM may be embedded in other XML syntaxes. Other XML syntaxes that represent topic map information may well define mappings to the XTM syntax, however.

An XTM topic map is a topic map serialized in XTM syntax as a topicMap element with descendants. An XTM document is an XML document that contains one or more XTM topic maps. In a process known as deserialization, the XTM topic map is read by a topic map processor, which produces from it some representation of the Standard Application Model, by following a procedure equivalent to the one defined in this specification.

The deserialization procedure is defined as a transformation that takes an element item from an XML Information Set [infoset] as input and produces a Standard Application Model instance as output. This specification does not concern itself with the means by which the XML Information Set used as input is produced. In most cases it will be produced by parsing an XML document, but other possibilities are specifically allowed, including architectural processing or XSLT transformation from other XML syntaxes.

This specification also provides informative guidance on how to serialize instances of the Standard Application Model to the XTM syntax.

Issue (xtm-href-xpointer):

Does XTM allow full XPointer references, or only bare names?

Issue (xtm-href-whitespace):

Is whitespace allowed in the xlink:href attribute? If it is allowed, how is it interpreted? If it is not allowed, what action is taken when it is found?

2 Syntax

This section defines the XTM syntax, using prose and a DTD. The full DTD can be found in B The XTM 1.0 DTD.

2.1 The topicMap element

The topicMap element is the root element of all XTM topic maps. It acts as a container for the topic map, and can be either the document element of an XML document, or it may be the root of a subtree inside an XML document that contains more than just a single topic map. In both cases, the input to the XTM deserialization process is the subtree contained by the topicMap element.

The topicMap element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT topicMap
   ( topic | association | mergeMap )*
>

<!ATTLIST topicMap
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xmlns           CDATA     #FIXED 'http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/1.0/'
     xmlns:xlink     CDATA     #FIXED 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'
     xml:base        CDATA     #IMPLIED
>

The attributes have the following meanings:

id

A unique identifier for the topic map within the document. Used to refer to the topic map.

xml:base

An attribute used to override the base URI of the document inside the topicMap element, as specified in [XMLBase].

xmlns

This attribute declares the default namespace to be used throughout the XTM document.

Issue (xtm-fixed-attributes):

Attributes declared as #FIXED in the DTD can not be guaranteed to always be present in the XML document as parsed, either because there is no DOCTYPE declaration, or because the parser does not read the DTD. This affects both namespace and XLink parsing, which again affects procedure used to recognize element types.

xmlns:xlink

This attribute declares the xlink namespace prefix to be used throughout the XTM document.

2.2 The topic element

The topic element type is used to create topics, and acts as a container and point of reference for topic information. The child elements of the topic element provide some topic characteristic assignments, as well as other properties, while association roles played by the topic are specified outside the topic element.

The topic element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT topic 
   ( instanceOf*, subjectIdentity?, ( baseName | occurrence )* )
>

<!ATTLIST topic
   id              ID        #REQUIRED
>

The id attribute provides a unique identifier for the topic, which is used to refer to it.

2.3 The subjectIdentity element

The subjectIdentity element type is used to formally declare the subject of the topic created by the parent element, through its child elements.

The subjectIdentity element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT subjectIdentity
   ( resourceRef?, (topicRef | subjectIndicatorRef)* )
>

<!ATTLIST subjectIdentity
   id              ID        #REQUIRED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.4 The baseName element

The baseName element type is used to add base names to the topic created by the parent topic element. The child elements of the baseName element provide the property values of the base name item.

The baseName element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT baseName
   ( scope?, baseNameString, variant* )
>

<!ATTLIST baseName
   id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute provides a unique identifier for the base name, which can be used to refer to it.

2.5 The baseNameString element

The baseNameString element type is used to provide the string that makes up a base name.

The baseNameString element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT baseNameString  ( #PCDATA ) >

<!ATTLIST baseNameString
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.6 The variant element

The variant element type is used to create a variant name of a base name, and may also contain other variant names with scopes that are supersets of the scope of that of the containing variant name.

The variant element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT variant
   ( parameters, variantName?, variant* )
>

<!ATTLIST variant
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute provides a unique identifier for the variant name, which is used to refer to it.

2.7 The variantName element

The variantName element type is used to contain the element that specifies the information resource that is the actual variant name.

The variantName element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT variantName
   ( resourceRef | resourceData )
>

<!ATTLIST variantName
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.8 The parameters element

The parameters element type is used to specify the scope of a variant name, in addition to the scope it inherits from its parent base name or variant name.

The parameters element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT parameters
   ( topicRef | subjectIndicatorRef )+
>

<!ATTLIST parameters
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.9 The scope element

The scope element type is used throughout XTM to indicate the scope of a topic characteristic assignment.

The scope element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT scope
   ( topicRef | resourceRef | subjectIndicatorRef )+
>

<!ATTLIST scope
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.10 The instanceOf element

The instanceOf element type is used throughout XTM to indicate the type of the construct represented by its parent element. The type is always a topic, indicated by the child element.

The instanceOf element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT instanceOf
   ( topicRef | subjectIndicatorRef )
>

<!ATTLIST instanceOf
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.11 The occurrence element

The occurrence element type is used to assign an occurrence to a the topic created by the parent element.

The occurrence element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT occurrence
   ( instanceOf?, scope?, ( resourceRef | resourceData ) )
>

<!ATTLIST occurrence
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is used to refer to the occurrence.

2.12 The resourceData element

The resourceData element type is used to provide an information resource in the form of a string contained within the XTM document. This information resource may be either a variant name or an occurrence.

The resourceData element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT resourceData
   ( #PCDATA )
>

<!ATTLIST resourceData
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.13 The association element

The association element type is used to express associations between topics. The member child elements provide the association role players of the association.

The association element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT association
   ( instanceOf?, scope?, member+ )
>

<!ATTLIST association
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is used to refer to the association.

2.14 The member element

The member element type is used to add one or more players of the same association role type to the association created by the association parent element.

The member element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT member
   ( roleSpec?, ( topicRef | resourceRef | subjectIndictorRef )* )
>

<!ATTLIST member
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.15 The roleSpec element

The roleSpec element type is used to specify the association role type played by the association player contained in the member parent element.

The roleSpec element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT roleSpec
   ( topicRef | subjectIndicatorRef )
>

<!ATTLIST roleSpec
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
>

The id attribute is ignored during deserialization.

2.16 The topicRef element

The topicRef element type is used throughout XTM to refer to a topic, either within the same XML document or externally. The signficance of the reference depends on the context.

The topicRef element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT topicRef EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST topicRef
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xlink:href      CDATA     #REQUIRED
>

The attributes have the following meanings:

id

This attribute is ignored during deserialization.

xlink:href

Contains the URI that is the topic reference.

Issue (xtm-topicref-notopic):

Is it an error for a topicRef element to refer to a non-existing topic?

Issue (xtm-topicref-notatopic):

Is it an error for a topicRef element to refer to an element that is not a topic element?

Issue (xtm-topicref-fragment):

Is the URI given in the xlink:href attribute (of topicRef elements) required to have a fragment identifier?

2.17 The subjectIndicatorRef element

The subjectIndicatorRef element type is used throughout XTM to refer to a subject indicator. The signficance of the reference depends on the context.

The subjectIndicatorRef element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT subjectIndicatorRef EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST subjectIndicatorRef
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xlink:href      CDATA     #REQUIRED
>

The attributes have the following meanings:

id

This attribute is ignored during deserialization.

xlink:href

Contains the URI of the subject indicator being referred to.

2.18 The resourceRef element

The resourceRef element type is used throughout XTM to refer to an information resource. The signficance of the reference depends on the context.

The resourceRef element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT resourceRef EMPTY>

<!ATTLIST resourceRef
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xlink:href      CDATA     #REQUIRED
>

The attributes have the following meanings:

id

This attribute is ignored during deserialization.

xlink:href

Contains the URI of the information resource being referred to.

2.19 The mergeMap element

The mergeMap element type is used throughout XTM to refer to external topic maps that are to be merged into the topic map that contains the mergeMap element. The child elements of the mergeMap element specify topics to be added to the scopes of all topic characteristic assignments in the topic map to be merged in.

The mergeMap element type is declared as follows:

<!ELEMENT mergeMap
     ( topicRef | resourceRef | subjectIndicatorRef )*
>

<!ATTLIST mergeMap
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xlink:type      NMTOKEN   #FIXED 'simple'
     xlink:href      CDATA     #REQUIRED
>

The attributes have the following meanings:

id

This attribute is ignored during deserialization.

xlink:type

This attribute declares the mergeMap element to be a simple XLink element.

xlink:href

This attribute contains the URI that refers to the topic map to be merged into the current topic map. It must refer either to a topicMap element, or to an XTM document.

Issue (xtm-mergemap-reference):

Is it an error if a mergeMap element refers to an XML document that contains multiple topicMap elements without providing a disambiguating fragment reference?

3 Deserialization

This section defines deserialization of instances of the XTM syntax into the Standard Application Model.

The input to the deserialization process is an element information item in the XML Information Set and all its descendant nodes. In most cases this will be the document element, but in cases where the topicMap element is embedded in other XML syntaxes applications may select one element item and use it as the input to the deserialization process. The means by which this element item is chosen are beyond the scope of this specification.

Deserialization is done by processing each element item in the input subtree of the XML Information Set in document order. For each element item encountered the operations specified in the subsection labelled "Processing" inside the section about that element type are performed.

An input element item matches a section in this document when the [namespace name] property is set to "http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/1.0/", and the [local name] matches the element type name given in that section. Elements that do not match any section are ignored.

Issue (xtm-namespace-support):

The text as specified here requires that XTM processors do XML Namespace processing. Is that acceptable? XTM 1.0 seems to imply that namespace processing is optional. Also, proper namespace processing allows the use of different namespace prefixes, which break straight DTD validation.

Issue (xtm-unknown-elements):

Unknown elements are ignored in order to ensure forwards compatibility, but this means DTD compliance cannot be required. Which is more important?

3.1 Common processing rules

This section defines common processing rules used throughout this specification. These rules are referenced from the sections they apply to.

3.1.1 Computing the URI of an element

The URI of an element is computed by first concatenating the "#" character and the value of the [normalized value] property of the attribute item in the [attributes] property of that element item whose [local name] property is set to "id". This yields a relative URI that is then resolved to an absolute URI by using the URI found in the [base URI] property of the element item as the base URI.

Issue (xtm-same-doc-refs):

RFC 2396, section 4.2, specifies that URI references of the form "" and "#fragment" are resolved relative to the URI of the current entity. Should XTM should follow this?

3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs

URI references found in attribute values in the input XML Information Set are absolutized by resolving them against the URI found in the [base URI] property of the element item found in the [owner element] property of the attribute item.

Ed. Note:
Dependency on the xtm-same-doc-refs issue here.

3.1.3 Creation of new information items

Whenever a new information item is created, those of its properties which have set values are set to the empty set, while the other properties are initialized to null.

3.2 The topicMap element

The topicMap element causes a topic map item to be created.

If the topicMap element has an id attribute a locator item is created, with the [notation] property set to "URI" and the [address] property set to the URI of the topicMap element, as defined in 3.1.1 Computing the URI of an element. This locator item is added to the [source locators] property of the topic map item.

If the topicMap element has an xml:base attribute this does not affect the Standard Application Model instance being built, except insofar as it modifies the input XML Information Set.

3.3 The topic element

The topic element causes a topic item to be created and inserted into the [topics] property of the topic map item.

The id attribute causes a locator item to be created, with the [notation] property set to "URI" and the [address] property set to the URI of the topic element, as defined in 3.1.1 Computing the URI of an element. This locator item is added to the [source locators] property of the topic item.

3.4 The subjectIdentity element

The subjectIdentity element has no direct effect on the information set, but changes the interpretation of the child elements. The child elements are processed as follows:

  • If there is a resourceRef child, a locator item is produced with the [notation] property set to "URI", and the [address] property set to the absolute form of the URI in the element's xlink:href attribute. The locator item is set as the value of the [subject address] property of the topic item created by the parent topic element. The absolute URI is produced according to the procedure described in 3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs.

  • For every subjectIndicatorRef child, a locator item is produced with the [notation] property set to "URI", and the [address] property set to the absolute form of the URI in the element's xlink:href attribute. The locator item is set as the value of the [subject identifiers] property of the topic item created by the parent topic element. The absolute URI is produced according to the procedure described in 3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs.

  • For every topicRef child a topic item is produced according to the rules of 3.15 The topicRef element. That topic item is then merged with the topic item created from the parent topic element according to the rules of the Standard Application Model, 4.1 Merging topics.

If the subjectIdentity element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.5 The baseName element

The baseName element causes a base name item to be created, and added to the [base names] property of the topic item created by the parent topic element.

If the baseName element has an id attribute a locator item is created, with the [notation] property set to "URI" and the [address] property set to the URI of the baseName element, as defined in 3.1.1 Computing the URI of an element. This locator item is added to the [source locators] property of the base name item.

3.6 The baseNameString element

The information items in the [children] property of the baseNameString element are traversed, and for each character information item the Unicode character specified by the [character code] property is added to the [value] property of the base name item created by the parent baseName element.

Ed. Note:
If normalization is required, that must be mentioned here.

If the baseNameString element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.7 The variant element

The variant element causes a variant item to be created and added to the [variants] property of the base name item created by its baseName ancestor.

If the variant element has an id attribute a locator item is created, with the [notation] property set to "URI" and the [address] property set to the URI of the baseName element, as defined in 3.1.1 Computing the URI of an element. This locator item is added to the [source locators] property of the variant item.

The [scope] property is initialized to the value of the [scope] property of the variant or base name item created by the parent element (which will be either a baseName element or a variant element). (It is implied that the parameters or scope element of the parent has already been processed.)

3.8 The variantName element

The variantName element has no direct effect on the information set being produced, but changes the interpretation of its child element. The child element is processed as follows:

  • If the child element is a resourceRef element an absolute URI is produced from the value of its xlink:href attribute, according to the rules of 3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs. From this URI a locator item is produced (with [notation] set to "URI" and [reference] set to the URI) and set as the value of the [resource] property of the new variant item.

  • If the child element is a resourceData element the information items in the [children] property of the element item are traversed, and for each character information item the Unicode character specified by the [character code] property is added to the [value] property of the variant item created by the parent variant element.

If the variantName element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.9 The parameters element

The parameters element has no direct effect on the information set being produced, but changes the interpretation of its child elements. The child elements are processed as follows:

  • Each topicRef element causes a topic item to be added to the [scope] property of the variant item created by the parent variant element. The topic item is produced from the topicRef element according to the rules of 3.15 The topicRef element.

  • Each subjectIndicatorRef element causes a topic item to be added to the [scope] property of the variant item created by the parent variant element. The topic item is produced from the subjectIndicatorRef element according to the rules of 3.16 The subjectIndicatorRef element.

If the parameters element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.10 The scope element

The scope element has no direct effect on the information set being produced, but changes the interpretation of its child elements. The child elements are processed as follows:

  • Each topicRef element causes a topic item to be added to the [scope] property of the information item created by the parent element. The topic item is produced from the topicRef element according to the rules of 3.15 The topicRef element.

  • Each subjectIndicatorRef element causes a topic item to be added to the [scope] property of the information item created by the parent element. The topic item is produced from the subjectIndicatorRef element according to the rules of 3.16 The subjectIndicatorRef element.

  • Each resourceRef element causes a topic item to be added to the [scope] property of the information item created by the parent element. The topic item is produced from the resourceRef element according to the rules of 3.17 The resourceRef element.

If the scope element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.11 The instanceOf element

The instanceOf element has no direct effect on the information set being produced, but changes the interpretation of its child elements. The exact interpretation depends on the parent element of the instanceOf element, however.

Regardless of what parent element the instanceOf element is found in, the child element produces a topic item. If it is a topicRef element the procedure in 3.15 The topicRef element is followed; if it is a subjectIndicatorRef element the procedure in 3.16 The subjectIndicatorRef element is followed.

If the parent element is an occurrence or association elment, the produced topic item is set as the value of the [association type] or [occurrence type] property of the information item produced by the parent element.

If the parent element is a topic element a new association item is created, with two association role items in its [association roles] property. The topic item representing the class-instance association type (described in The Standard Application Model, 5.1 The type-instance relationship) is set as the value of its [association type] property.

The first association role item has its [role type] property set to the topic item representing the class role in the same association (see the section referenced above), while the [role playing topic] property is set to the topic produced by the child element.

The second association role item has its [role type] property set to the topic item representing the instance role in the same association (see the section referenced above), while the [role playing topic] property is set to the topic produced by the parent element (that is, the current topic).

Ed. Note:
This section must be made more formal.

If the instanceOf element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.12 The occurrence element

The occurrence element causes an occurrence item to be created, and added to the [occurrences] property of the topic item created by the parent topic element.

If the occurrence element has an id attribute a locator item is created, with the [notation] property set to "URI" and the [address] property set to the URI of the baseName element, as defined in 3.1.1 Computing the URI of an element. This locator item is added to the [source locators] property of the occurrence item.

If the occurrence element has a resourceData child element the information items in the [children] property of that element item are traversed, and for each character information item the Unicode character specified by the [character code] property is added to the [value] property of the occurrence item created by the parent occurrence element.

If the occurrence element has a resourceRef child element an absolute URI is produced from the value of its xlink:href attribute, according to the rules of 3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs. From this URI a locator item is produced (with [notation] set to "URI" and [reference] set to the URI) and set as the value of the [resource] property of the new occurrence item.

3.13 The association element

The association element causes an association item to be created, and added to the [association] property of the topic map item.

If the association element has an id attribute a locator item is created, with the [notation] property set to "URI" and the [address] property set to the URI of the baseName element, as defined in 3.1.1 Computing the URI of an element. This locator item is added to the [source locators] property of the association item.

3.14 The member element

The member element does not have any direct impact on the information set being created, but affects the processing of its descendant elements.

For each topicRef child of the member element a topic item is produced according to the rules of 3.15 The topicRef element. An association role item is created, and this topic item is then set as the value of its [role playing topic] property. The association role item is then added to the [association roles] property of the association item.

For each subjectIndicatorRef child of the member element a topic item is produced according to the rules of 3.16 The subjectIndicatorRef element. An association role item is created, and this topic item is then set as the value of its [role playing topic] property. The association role item is then added to the [association roles] property of the association item.

For each resourceRef child of the member element a topic item is produced according to the rules of 3.17 The resourceRef element. An association role item is created, and this topic item is then set as the value of its [role playing topic] property. The association role item is then added to the [association roles] property of the association item.

If the member element has a roleSpec child element, which again has a topicRef element, a topic item is produced according to the rules of 3.15 The topicRef element. That topic item is then set as the value of the [role type] property of each association role item produced above.

If the member element has a roleSpec child element, which again has a subjectIndicatorRef element, a topic item is produced from that element according to the rules of 3.16 The subjectIndicatorRef element. That topic item is then set as the value of the [role type] property of each association role item produced above.

If the member element has an id attribute its value is ignored.

3.15 The topicRef element

The topicRef element always produces a topic item, as described below. How the topic item is used depends on the context in which the topicRef element appears, and is described in the part of this document describing the processing of the topicRef element's parent element.

From the topicRef element a locator item is produced with the [notation] property set to "URI", and the [address] property set to the absolute form of the URI in the element's xlink:href attribute. That absolute form is computed according to the rules in 3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs.

If the topic map processor has not already processed the information resource referred to by the URI (as identified by the part of the URI before the fragment identifier) that information resource is processed.

Ed. Note:
Describe how this processing is done.

If the information set has a topic item whose [subject identifiers] or [source locators] properties contain a locator item equal to the one produced above that topic item is the one produced by this topicRef element.

If no such topic item exists, a topic item is created, and the locator item added to its [source locators] property. That topic item is then the one produced by this topicRef element.

If the topicRef element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.16 The subjectIndicatorRef element

The subjectIndicatorRef element produces a topic item, as described below. How the topic item is used depends on the context in which the subjectIndicatorRef element appears, and is described in the part of this document describing the processing of the subjectIndicatorRef element's parent element.

From the subjectIndicatorRef element a locator item is produced with the [notation] property set to "URI", and the [address] property set to the absolute form of the URI in the element's xlink:href attribute. That absolute form is computed according to the rules in 3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs.

If the information set has a topic item whose [subject identifiers] or [source locators] properties contain a locator item equal to the one produced above that topic item is the one produced by this subjectIndicatorRef element.

If no such topic item exists, a topic item is created, and the locator item added to its [subject identifiers] property. That topic item is then the one produced by this subjectIndicatorRef element.

If the subjectIndicatorRef element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.17 The resourceRef element

The resourceRef element produces a topic item, as described below. How the topic item is used depends on the context in which the resourceRef element appears, and is described in the part of this document describing the processing of the resourceRef element's parent element.

From the resourceRef element a locator item is produced with the [notation] property set to "URI", and the [address] property set to the absolute form of the URI in the element's xlink:href attribute. That absolute form is computed according to the rules in 3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs.

If the information set has a topic item whose [subject address] property contains a locator item equal to the one produced above that topic item is the one produced by this resourceRef element.

If no such topic item exists, a topic item is created, and the locator item set as the value of its [subject address] property. That topic item is then the one produced by this resourceRef element.

If the resourceRef element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored.

3.18 The mergeMap element

An absolute URI is produced from the mergeMap element's xlink:href attribute, following the procedure in 3.1.2 Computing absolute URIs. If the information resource referred to by that URI has already been processed nothing further is done. If it has not the procedure below is followed.

Issue (xtm-mergeMap-and-topicRef):

What is the correct behaviour if a topicRef to an external document occurs first, followed by a mergeMap with added themes?

First, the information resource referred to is parsed into a representation of the XML Information Set, then one element item from that information set is used to produce a SAM instance, as described in 3 Deserialization. If the URI does not have a fragment identifier the element in the [document element] property of the document information item is chosen as the element item to use as the input to the deserialization process. If the URI does have a fragment identifier the element item in the [owner element] property of the attribute whose [local name] property is set to "id" and whose [normalized value] property has the same value as the fragment identifier is chosen. In both cases, if this element is not a topicMap element an error is reported.

For each topicRef child element of the mergeMap element the topic item produced by the procedure of 3.15 The topicRef element is added to the [scope] property of every information item in the SAM instance produced above.

For each subjectIndicatorRef child element of the mergeMap element the topic item produced by the procedure of 3.16 The subjectIndicatorRef element is added to the [scope] property of every information item in the SAM instance produced above.

For each resourceRef child element of the mergeMap element the topic item produced by the procedure of 3.17 The resourceRef element is added to the [scope] property of every information item in the SAM instance produced above.

Finally, the SAM instance is merged into the current SAM instance, following the procedure described in SAM, 4.3 Merging topic maps. The existing SAM instance is the master topic map, while the new SAM instance is the subordinate topic map.

If the mergeMap element has an id attribute that attribute is ignored, as is the value of its xlink:type attribute.

4 Conformance

A topic map processor conforms to this specification provided that it meets all the requirements given below.

  • The topic map processor must reject information resources which are not well-formed XML from deserialization, as well as XML documents that are not valid according to the XTM 1.0 DTD.

  • The topic map processor must reject all XTM topic maps which do not conform to the constraints listed as 'XTM constraints' in this international standard.

  • The topic map processor must reject all XTM topic maps which after deserialization produce SAM model instances that violate one of the constraints labelled as 'SAM constraints' in [SAM].

  • The topic map processor must be able to deserialize conforming XTM topic maps and then serialize the result back to an XTM topic map that is logically equivalent to the original.

Ed. Note:
Define what "logically equivalent" means.

A References

infoset
XML Information Set, J. Cowan and R. Tobin, Editors. World Wide Web Consortium. 24 October 2001. The latest version of XML Information set is available at http://www.w3.org/TR/xml-infoset.
SAM
The Standard Application Model for Topic Maps, G. Moore and L. M. Garshol (editors), ISO SC34/WG3.
tm-guide
Guide to the topic map standardization process, Lars Marius Garshol, 2002-06-23, ISO/IEC JTC1 SC34/N0323.
XMLBase
XML Base, W3C, ed. Jonathan Marsh. February 2000.
XTM1.0
XML Topic Maps (XTM) 1.0 Specification, TopicMaps.Org, 2001.

B The XTM 1.0 DTD

  <!-- ............................................................. -->
  <!-- XML Topic Map DTD  .......................................... -->
  <!-- file: xtm1.dtd
  -->
  <!-- XML Topic Map (XTM) DTD, Version 1.0

       This is XTM, an XML interchange syntax for ISO 13250 Topic Maps.

       Use this URI to identify the default XTM namespace:

           "http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/1.0/"

       Used to identify the XLink namespace:

           "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  -->

  <!-- topicMap: Topic Map document element ........................ -->

  <!ELEMENT topicMap
     ( topic | association | mergeMap )*
  >
  <!ATTLIST topicMap
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xmlns           CDATA     #FIXED 'http://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/1.0/'
     xmlns:xlink     CDATA     #FIXED 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'
     xml:base        CDATA     #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- topic: Topic element ........................................ -->

  <!ELEMENT topic
     ( instanceOf*, subjectIdentity?, ( baseName | occurrence )* )
  >
  <!ATTLIST topic
     id              ID        #REQUIRED
  >

  <!-- instanceOf: Points To a Topic representing a class .......... -->

  <!ELEMENT instanceOf  ( topicRef | subjectIndicatorRef ) >
  <!ATTLIST instanceOf
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- subjectIdentity: Subject reified by Topic ................... -->

  <!ELEMENT subjectIdentity
     ( resourceRef?, ( topicRef | subjectIndicatorRef )* )
  >
  <!ATTLIST subjectIdentity
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- topicRef: Reference to a Topic element ...................... -->

  <!ELEMENT topicRef  EMPTY >
  <!ATTLIST topicRef
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xlink:type      NMTOKEN   #FIXED 'simple'
     xlink:href      CDATA     #REQUIRED
  >

  <!-- subjectIndicatorRef: Reference to a Subject Indicator ....... -->

  <!ELEMENT subjectIndicatorRef  EMPTY >
  <!ATTLIST subjectIndicatorRef
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xlink:type      NMTOKEN   #FIXED 'simple'
     xlink:href      CDATA     #REQUIRED
  >

  <!-- baseName: Base Name of a Topic .............................. -->

  <!ELEMENT baseName  ( scope?, baseNameString, variant* ) >
  <!ATTLIST baseName
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- baseNameString: Base Name String container .................. -->

  <!ELEMENT baseNameString  ( #PCDATA ) >
  <!ATTLIST baseNameString
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- variant: Alternate forms of Base Name ....................... -->

  <!ELEMENT variant  ( parameters, variantName?, variant* ) >
  <!ATTLIST variant
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- variantName: Container for Variant Name ..................... -->

  <!ELEMENT variantName  ( resourceRef | resourceData ) >
  <!ATTLIST variantName
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- parameters: Processing context for Variant .................. -->

  <!ELEMENT parameters  ( topicRef | subjectIndicatorRef )+ >
  <!ATTLIST parameters
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- occurrence: Resources regarded as an Occurrence ............. -->

  <!ELEMENT occurrence
     ( instanceOf?, scope?, ( resourceRef | resourceData ) )
  >
  <!ATTLIST occurrence
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- resourceRef: Reference to a Resource ........................ -->

  <!ELEMENT resourceRef  EMPTY >
  <!ATTLIST resourceRef
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xlink:type      NMTOKEN   #FIXED 'simple'
     xlink:href      CDATA     #REQUIRED
  >

  <!-- resourceData: Container for Resource Data ................... -->

  <!ELEMENT resourceData  ( #PCDATA ) >
  <!ATTLIST resourceData
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- association: Topic Association  ............................. -->

  <!ELEMENT association
     ( instanceOf?, scope?, member+ )
  >
  <!ATTLIST association
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- member: Member in Topic Association ......................... -->

  <!ELEMENT member
     ( roleSpec?, ( topicRef | resourceRef | subjectIndicatorRef )* )
  >
  <!ATTLIST member
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- roleSpec: Points to a Topic serving as an Association Role .. -->

  <!ELEMENT roleSpec  ( topicRef | subjectIndicatorRef ) >
  <!ATTLIST roleSpec
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- scope: Reference to Topic(s) that comprise the Scope ........ -->

  <!ELEMENT scope  ( topicRef  | resourceRef | subjectIndicatorRef )+ >
  <!ATTLIST scope
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
  >

  <!-- mergeMap: Merge with another Topic Map ...................... -->

  <!ELEMENT mergeMap  ( topicRef | resourceRef | subjectIndicatorRef )* >
  <!ATTLIST mergeMap
     id              ID        #IMPLIED
     xlink:type      NMTOKEN   #FIXED 'simple'
     xlink:href      CDATA     #REQUIRED
  >

  <!-- end of XML Topic Map (XTM) 1.0 DTD -->

C Serialization (Non-Normative)

This section provides useful information on how to serialize SAM instances using the XTM syntax. The main text of this specification already provides the constraints necessary to ensure interoperability, but as serialization is not entirely straightforward, this section provides additional guidance for implementors.

Ed. Note:
Needs to be written.