[dsdl-comment] Re: Request for MIME media types

Rick Jelliffe scripsit:

> There are systems that use the MIME type to dispatch to a handler
> application. This avoids having to open up the file. When the handler is a
> Schematron processor, it will check sch:schema/@queryBinding to see if
> it ca handle that type.

There is a third alternative to embedding the Schematron variant into
the subtype and leaving it off altogether; making it an optional
media-type parameter.

RFC 2046 says:

   Parameters are modifiers of the media subtype, and as such do not
   fundamentally affect the nature of the content. The set of
   meaningful parameters depends on the media type and subtype. Most
   parameters are associated with a single specific subtype. However, a
   given top-level media type may define parameters which are applicable
   to any subtype of that type. Parameters may be required by their
   defining media type or subtype or they may be optional. MIME
   implementations must also ignore any parameters whose names they do
   not recognize.

This is most often used to specify the encoding of a text/* or application/*
media object, or the boundaries between components of a mixed/* message.
In this case, we could have something like:

        application/schematron+xml;variant=iso

The variant parameter should be an optional one, so that if it is left off,
the schema might be in any variety.

-- 
You know, you haven't stopped talking           John Cowan
since I came here. You must have been           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
vaccinated with a phonograph needle.            cowan@ccil.org
        --Rufus T. Firefly
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