> There has been discussion on this and my understanding that the
> unequivocal policy is that <TAG></TAG> and <TAG/> result in exactly
> the same events or grove and there is NO way of distinguishing
> which the original document contained. Some people regret this, but
> the decision is clear.
One problem is that the PR does not fully define the information set
that an XML parser is required to return to an application (there a
few scattered rules, such as the ignorable-whitespace rule). I'd
suggest that the difference between <TAG></TAG> and <TAG/> is lexical
rather than structural; an interface like SAX, that operates mainly on
logical structure, should not report the difference; an interface that
preserves lexical features (such as comments, internal entity
references, etc.) might provide access to the original form.
All the best,
David
--
David Megginson ak117@freenet.carleton.ca
Microstar Software Ltd. dmeggins@microstar.com
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/dmeggins/
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