Bug 4974 – [FO] Clarify error condition in fn:normalize-space()

Bug 4974 - [FO] Clarify error condition in fn:normalize-space()

Summary:

[FO] Clarify error condition in fn:normalize-space()

Status:	CLOSED FIXED

Product:	XPath / XQuery / XSLT
Component:	Functions and Operators 1.0
Version:	Recommendation
Platform:	PC Windows XP

Importance:	P2 minor
Target Milestone:	---
Assigned To:	Michael Kay
QA Contact:	Mailing list for public feedback on specs from XSL and XML Query WGs

URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:

Depends on:
Blocks:
	Show dependency tree / graph

Reported:	2007-08-21 20:49 UTC by Don Chamberlin
Modified:	2007-11-16 09:34 UTC (History)
CC List:	0 users (show)

See Also:

Attachments
Add an attachment (proposed patch, testcase, etc.)

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.

Description Don Chamberlin 2007-08-21 20:49:48 UTC

This is an editorial suggestion. The description of fn:normalize-space()
contains the following sentence:

"If no argument is supplied or if the argument is the context item and the
context item is undefined an error is raised."

This could be misinterpreted as "If no argument is supplied, or (...), then an
error is raised."

A less ambiguous way to state this rule is as follows:
"If the implicit or explicit argument is the context item, and the context item
is undefined, an error is raised."

Regards,
Don Chamberlin

Comment 1 Michael Kay 2007-09-25 14:55:10 UTC

The proposed revision isn't quite right, because the implicit argument is not
"." but "string(.)". (I'm not really sure why: but that's the way it is, and
they aren't quite the same.)

I don't think we need to say that "if the argument is the context item and the
context item is undefined then XPDY0002 is raised". This means you have written
normalize-space(.), and in this case normalize-space() gets no say in the
matter because the error has already occurred while evaluating the argument,
".", under XPath section 3.1.4. So (avoiding the temptation to make more
extensive changes) I think we should change the relevant paragraph to read:

<new>
If no argument is supplied, then $arg defaults to the string value (calculated
using fn:string()) of the context item (.). If no argument is supplied and the
context item is undefined then an error is raised: [err:XPDY0002]XP.
</new>

Comment 2 Michael Kay 2007-09-25 16:00:40 UTC

The WG agreed on 25 Sep 2007 to make the change proposed in comment #1

Comment 3 Michael Kay 2007-11-15 22:10:17 UTC

The erratum will be published as E14