[uf-discuss] DOM scripting as an alternative to include-pattern?

[Alex Iskold]

alex iskold
founder & ceo
adaptiveblue


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Leikam" <leikam at yahoo.com>
To: <microformats-discuss at microformats.org>
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 11:08 PM
Subject: [uf-discuss] DOM scripting as an alternative to include-pattern?


> Hi,
>
> I'm new to the list and microformats so I don't know if
> you've discussed this already.  It seems to me that when
> compared to the include-pattern convention[1], DOM
> scripting is a lot more robust and widespread.  The
> include-pattern rules strikes me as one very small DOM
> manipulation, so I'm wondering why we don't just adopt the
> whole thing?
>
> If I were parsing an hCard on the client side, the way I'd
> copy text or element trees into an hCard/hResume block is
> by writing a bit of DOM-manipulating javascript that was
> triggered by an event (e.g., when the page is parsed by a
> microformats-aware parser).  If I could markup a
> microformat-significant tag with an event handler that
> parsers would understand, I could both define and call a
> transformation pretty easily.
>
> This approach would solve the "common organization name
> which exists outside my hCard" as well as the "Location
> data which exists outside my vevent" problems.  It would
> expose text, descendant trees and tag attribute/value pairs
> (the last of which I think are opaque with the
> include-pattern approach).
>
> Here's a use case: I'm considering marking up a page like
> my Biology Schedule of Classes[2] as hCalendar events.
>
> Inserting <object> tags for this purpose is a non-starter
> in part because I would need to include too many elements
> which are outside of an event row (e.g., term, course
> title, section group).  Reformatting the tables to include
> the relevant text, either hidden or visible to the user, is
> likewise no good because it would be extremely redundant
> and not helpful to students.  The page is understandable to
> people; it's just the transition to iCalendar that needs
> the help.
>
> Also, because of the production process, there are pieces
> of the page which I don't have direct access to, so while I
> can reach them via DOM traversals, I can't put a container
> around the relevant node much less tag it with a globally
> unique ID.  I know others working with output from
> enterprise-class apps run into the same limitation.
>
> So what do you guys think?
>
> Regards,
> Michael
>
> [1] http://microformats.org/wiki/include-pattern
> [2]
> http://www.csulb.edu/depts/enrollment/registration/class_schedule/Fall_2006/By_Subject/BIOL.html
>
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