/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] was heard to say: | If a DTD is present, its read and the information required to make this | decision is present. It doesn't require validation, just a check to see | what type of content model the element has.
I'm not comfortable with that answer at all. I think an option that ignores "element" whitespace in a non-validating parse is non-standard and potentially dangerous. Consider: The XML 1.0 REC, Section 2.10: An XML processor must always pass all characters in a document that are not markup through to the application. A validating XML processor must also inform the application which of these characters constitute white space appearing in element content. I can't think of any way to interpret that such that a non-validating parse could ignore whitespace. Consider the following example: <!DOCTYPE test [ <!ELEMENT a (b+)> <!ELEMENT b (#PCDATA)> ]> <a>test<b/> <b/>this! 4 or 5?</a> Does <a> have four children or five? The answer has to be five. And what about a document with an external subset that has parameter entities that cannot be located, so that the DTD is really half a loaf. Does it ignore whitespace in content models that it found, but not in others? Be seeing you, norm -- Norman Walsh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | As a general rule, the most http://nwalsh.com/ | successful man in life is the man | who has the best | information.--Benjamin Disraeli