[NEWBIE] Restrictions on attributes

[poematrix]

Hi group.

When I declare an element <some-element name=...> are there any
restrictions on how many times I may assign a value for one and the
same attribute name? I.e. is it legal to define an XML element that
will contain unlimited recurrences of one and the same attribute, such
that the following element definition would pass as legal:
<some-element attribute1="value 1" attribute1="value 2"
attribute1="value 3" />
with all three values defined for the same attribute1 being equally
available? Certainly, I can implement a software that would support
such construct, but is it legal, i.e. does it conform with XML specs?

TIA,
Joseph

 

[Richard Tobin]

<some-element attribute1="value 1" attribute1="value 2"
attribute1="value 3" />

No, attributes must be unique: see http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/#uniqattspec

-- Richard

 

[Martin Honnen]

poematrix wrote:

When I declare an element <some-element name=...> are there any
restrictions on how many times I may assign a value for one and the
same attribute name? I.e. is it legal to define an XML element that
will contain unlimited recurrences of one and the same attribute, such
that the following element definition would pass as legal:
<some-element attribute1="value 1" attribute1="value 2"
attribute1="value 3" />
with all three values defined for the same attribute1 being equally
available? Certainly, I can implement a software that would support
such construct, but is it legal, i.e. does it conform with XML specs?

It is not possible to have several attributes with the same name, you
would need to use a list of values for one attribute e.g.
<some-element attribute="whatever whatelse">
or use child elements e.g.
<some-element>
<value-list>
<value>value 1</value>
<value>value 2</value>
..
</value-list>
</some-element>