The ability to set the form-attribute for macros

CSL Development
1

The schema currently allows the form attribute to be set for macros.
E.g. see http://xbiblio.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xbiblio/csl/schema/trunk/csl.rnc?view=markup
at lines 431-445. I asked Bruce whether this made any sense, to which
he replied:

"It does, but is a little awkward to implement. It basically allows
you to pass formatting attributes to child nodes.

If you can figure out a good reason why we don’t need this, please propose it!"

The problem I have with it is that it is unclear. It is very limited
and inconsistent (only
two values (“short”/“long”) are allowed for the form attribute,
whereas dates and terms
offer more than those). It also requires a decision on
conflict-resolution (do macros override children?), e.g. in the case of:

I don’t think any of the current styles depend on this kind of
inheritance. As I also don’t see any real value in the ability to do
all this, I suggest to just scrap it.

Rintze

2

I’ve mentioned before that I think the “formatting” pattern is too
broadly defined, and too widely applied. Perhaps this is an
opportunity to see if we can pare it down?

3

Can you give a link to that previous discussion? I don’t really see
the problem with the attributes grouped under ‘formatting’.

Rintze

4

Don’t have a link, but I’m basically suggesting looking at the
presence of thee attributes on a case-by-case basis.

Bruce

5

For CSL 1.0, would it be okay with you if I just removed the form
attribute from cs:text when used for macros? We can do the paring down
of the “formatting” pattern later if there is demand.

Rintze

6

Are there any current styles that use this?

Bruce

7

Nope. I guess that green lights the change?

Rintze

8

Yes.

Bruce