[#OFFICE-2198] What exactly is meant by "the beginning of a document"? [N 1309]

OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC

What exactly is meant by "the beginning of a document"? [N 1309]

Created: 09/Nov/09 11:42 AM Updated: 06/Nov/10 12:10 AM

Component/s:

Text

Affects Version/s:

ODF 1.0

Fix Version/s:

ODF 1.0 Errata CD 5

Proposal:	To delete the sentence, relying on the conditions that are more-clearly stated elsewhere.
Resolution:	« Hide 6.3 Variable Fields Delete: "In the OpenDocument file format, a variable must be declared at the beginning of a document". Show » 6.3 Variable Fields Delete: "In the OpenDocument file format, a variable must be declared at the beginning of a document".

Description

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Submitter ID
    GB-26300-107a
Nature of defect
    Clarification Required
Document
    ISO/IEC 26300:2006
Clause
    6.3
Page
    107
Description of issue

It is stated "In the OpenDocument file format, a variable must be declared at the beginning of a document".

What exactly is meant by "the beginning of a document"?
Proposal

Clarify the text.
Topic for discussion

The word "must" is here used incorrectly as prescribed by the ISO/IEC Directives. Are this and other similar usages defects that should be corrected?

All

Comments

Change History

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Robert Weir added a comment - 07/Dec/09 06:15 PM

We can clarify "beginning of a document", but we must not change conformance language in errata.

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Michael Brauer added a comment - 06/Jan/10 04:14 AM

In ODF 1.2, we change the sentence in question to (See ~~OFFICE-1459~~):

"In an OpenDocument file, variable declarations shall precede in document order any use of those variable declarations."

But in ODF 1.1, we have a sentence like that already later in section 6.3: "Variables must be declared before they can be used.".

Further, the schema already requires that variable declarations appear before any content (that is what I believe was meant by beginning of the document).

My suggestion therefore is to either keep the sentence as is, or to remove it.

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Dennis Hamilton added a comment - 06/Nov/10 12:10 AM

In ODF 1.2 CD05, the rule for declaration before first usage holds, but there is no statement requiring that this be at the front of the document. So the Errata item corresponding to this issue requires no transposition to ODF 1.2.