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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2011 10:30:52 -0400
From: Steve Amerige <Steve.Amerige@sas.com>
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To: <user@ant.apache.org>
Subject: Re: Syntax for Names: target, property, macrodef, etc.
References: <4E0C633F.2000807@sas.com>
 <BANLkTikiy1uEn8CrjcfD5wVVRP+vhga+8Q@mail.gmail.com>
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When I look at the 1.8.2 codebase, I see in:

     ant-1.8.2\src\main\org\apache\tools\ant\taskdefs\MacroDef.java

     /**
      * Check if a character is a valid character for an element or
      * attribute name.
      *
      * @param c the character to check
      * @return true if the character is a letter or digit or '.' or '-'
      *         attribute name
      */
     public static boolean isValidNameCharacter(char c) {
         // ? is there an xml api for this ?
         return Character.isLetterOrDigit(c) || c == '.' || c == '-';
     }

This seems to be at odds with the specification:

     http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#sec-common-syn


          Names and Tokens

[4] 	|NameStartChar| 	   ::= 	|":" | [A-Z] | "_" | [a-z] | [#xC0-#xD6] | [#xD8-#xF6] | [#xF8-#x2FF] | [#x370-#x37D] | [#x37F-#x1FFF] 
| [#x200C-#x200D] | [#x2070-#x218F] | [#x2C00-#x2FEF] | [#x3001-#xD7FF] | [#xF900-#xFDCF] | [#xFDF0-#xFFFD] | [#x10000-#xEFFFF]|
[4a] 	|NameChar| 	   ::= 	|NameStartChar <http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#NT-NameStartChar> | "-" | "." | [0-9] | #xB7 | [#x0300-#x036F] | 
[#x203F-#x2040]|
[5] 	|Name| 	   ::= 	|NameStartChar <http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#NT-NameStartChar> (NameChar <http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#NT-NameChar>)*|
[6] 	|Names| 	   ::= 	|Name <http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#NT-Name> (#x20 Name <http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#NT-Name>)*|
[7] 	|Nmtoken| 	   ::= 	|(NameChar <http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#NT-NameChar>)+|
[8] 	|Nmtokens| 	   ::= 	|Nmtoken <http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#NT-Nmtoken> (#x20 Nmtoken <http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#NT-Nmtoken>)*|


I've also looked at:

     ant-1.8.2\src\main\org\apache\tools\ant\taskdefs\AntStructure.java

         /**
          * Does this String match the XML-NMTOKEN production?
          * @param s the string to test
          * @return true if the string matches the XML-NMTOKEN
          */
         public static final boolean isNmtoken(String s) {
             final int length = s.length();
             for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
                 char c = s.charAt(i);
                 // XXX - we are committing CombiningChar and Extender here
                 if (!Character.isLetterOrDigit(c)
&& c != '.' && c != '-' && c != '_' && c != ':') {
                     return false;
                 }
             }
             return true;
         }

Maybe I'm looking at the wrong part in the code for where *element* names (such as macrodef and scriptdef) are validated and where 
other names (such as property name="...") are validated.  But, the Ant code doesn't match what is specified by the XML BNF.  Also, 
the XML BNF doesn't seem to allow spaces in a *Name* object.  Is there an Ant BNF specification that reflects the code?

Is there any formal specification for Ant syntax?  Where do I find it?

Sorry to be a bother!  But, I'm just trying to be very clear in understanding Ant and am hoping that a formal specification exists.

Many thanks!
Steve Amerige
SAS Institute, Deployment Software Developer


On 6/30/2011 9:31 AM, Dominique Devienne wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 6:51 AM, Steve Amerige<Steve.Amerige@sas.com>  wrote:
>> I'm looking for the authoritative specification within Ant for the value of
>> the name attribute as in:
>>
>> <property name="xxx" .../>
>> <macrodef name="xxx" ...>
>> <target name="xxx" ...>
>>
>> and so forth.  I can't find within the Ant manual any BNF that defines what
>> a valid name is allowed to be.
> Anything goes really, AFAIK. There is no specifications.
>
> Some names will create issues, for example<target name="-foo">  can't
> be called from the command line because -foo will be interpreted as a
> CLI switch and since not found Ant will error out. This "behavior" is
> relied upon to have "private" targets.
>
> Also remember this is XML land, so attribute whitespace normalization
> will apply (depending on the parser used possibly) which may result in
> some whitespaces being removed.
>
> But aside from these quirks, Ant does not put any restrictions on
> names in general. --DD
>
> PS: Also keep in mind that property expansion does occurs inside these
> names, but I assume you mean the names after expansion.


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