[Zope] DTML reformulated as XML (was RE: [Zope] <% ... %> ?)

[Jim Fulton]

Paul Everitt wrote:
> 

(snip)

> One more thing to muse over is whether other things from XML land should
> surface.
> 
> For instance, I've long wondered if the ubiquitous var tag should be
> broken apart.  People ask: why can't you give me a list of the things
> that can go in the var tag?  Why doesn't Zope check to see if my
> documents reference subdocuments that no longer exist?  The answer of
> "it's too dynamic" feels like less than an answer.

Sorry.  But that is the best answer I can give.  Now, we probably, even
almost certainly *could* do better.
 
> Instead, we could begin granularizing the tags, perhaps into things that
> describe better where they came from.
> 
> For instance, instead of saying <!--#var standard_html_header-->, which
> means insert a subdocument, why not use the XLink syntax from XML?

I need to study the link syntax more.

I don't think that this is mainly about syntax.  The issue is that
values come from a variety of places and the contents of the various
name spaces *is* highly dynamic.

Your comments have given me some things to think about.  In particular,
perhaps there could be specialized versions of the var tag that are more
specific about where things come from.  For example, there coulld be
something like:

  <!--#var foo src="object"-->

which means that foo must come from the object system and can be checked
statically, when the document is created.  Maybe some kind of link
syntax could be interpreted this way.  This needs to be usable in any
tag, however, not just the var tag.

Jim

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