[xquery-talk] Strong data checking on @xml:id?

[Michael Kay]

The relevant statement in the spec is XQuery 3.7.1.1 clause 5:

"If the attribute name is xml:id, then xml:id processing is performed as 
defined in [XML ID]. This ensures that the attribute has the type xs:ID 
and that its value is properly normalized. If an error is encountered 
during xml:id processing, an implementation MAY raise a dynamic error 
[err:XQDY0091]."

So yes, the effect is to some extent implementation-defined.

Saxon never raises XQDY0091. It does apply normalize-space() to the 
value, but unless you are validating the result tree, it doesn't 
complain if the value isn't a valid NCName. I'm not sure why I made this 
decision; it's conformant with the spec, but my feeling today would be 
that validating the value (and reporting an error) would be preferable.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

On 08/06/2012 18:55, David Sewell wrote:
> Working within MarkLogic, I just got bitten by a server error caused 
> by lexically invalid @xml:id in the input data. Boiled down, this was 
> the offending query:
>
> let $in := <input xml:id="-ptr"/>
> return element out {
>   attribute id { $in/@xml:id }
> }
>
> MarkLogic complains: XDMP-LEXVAL: xs:ID("-ptr") -- Invalid lexical 
> value "-ptr"
>
> So it is obviously trying to cast '-ptr' as xs:ID and failing. But I
> notice that Saxon doesn't throw an error in this case. Either processor
> is happy if I wrap string() around $in/@xml:id.
>
> I'm just wondering if this is an implementation-dependent matter, or
> what the specs might say about such a case.
>
> David S.
>