Improve consistency of XML configuration defaults/examples
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Basics
Logistics
Description
One thing I noticed while working on the JA-SIG workshop material was that there's some inconsistency on how the various plugin examples in the config files are done with regard to the XML. Sometimes the xsi:types are prefixed and sometimes they're not, and sometimes the namespaces are redeclared in each element, and other times the prefix defined at the root of the file is used.
I think the best we can hope for is consistency and IMHO the least XML markup possible. My suggestion would be to declare all the namespaces we can at the root (which I think is generally being done), and use the prefixes whenever possible, rather than any default xmlns="" declarations.
While it's true that the latter is self-contained and therefore movable, I think in most cases people will understand declaring the namespaces at the root, and have an easier time seeing the "options" they're using and spot mistakes easier with less markup.
One thing I noticed while working on the JA-SIG workshop material was that there's some inconsistency on how the various plugin examples in the config files are done with regard to the XML. Sometimes the xsi:types are prefixed and sometimes they're not, and sometimes the namespaces are redeclared in each element, and other times the prefix defined at the root of the file is used.
I think the best we can hope for is consistency and IMHO the least XML markup possible. My suggestion would be to declare all the namespaces we can at the root (which I think is generally being done), and use the prefixes whenever possible, rather than any default xmlns="" declarations.
Basically, I think this:
<security:Credential id="IdPCredential" xsi:type="security:X509Filesystem">
is generally better for people than this:
<MetadataProvider id="URLMD" xsi:type="FileBackedHTTPMetadataProvider" xmlns="urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:metadata" >
While it's true that the latter is self-contained and therefore movable, I think in most cases people will understand declaring the namespaces at the root, and have an easier time seeing the "options" they're using and spot mistakes easier with less markup.