tauZaman | UserManual / PropertySpecifications

Property Table

The <propertyTable> element encloses a list of properties. Each <property> can be specified in a single tag, or can enclose a list of <value>s, as shown below.

   <propertyTable>
      <property name = "..."/>
        <value>...</value>
      </property>
        .
        .
      <property name = "..." value = "..."/>
        .
        .
   </propertyTable>

Locale

The locale property identifies the location of user (useful for timezone conversions). An example is given below.

 <property name = "locale" value = "Tucson"/>

Instant Input Format

The Instant Input Format property is used in the parsing of instant temporal literals. Below are listed some examples of temporal literals.

September 2000 September 23, 2000 <day>23</day> <other month="September" year="2000"/>

    <date> 
       <month value = "Jan"/>
       <day value = "1"/>
       <year> 1970 </year>
    </date>

The <format> element specifies the general structure of the literal, and idenfities "variable" parts of the literal. The variables are denoted with a $ prefixed, as in XQuery or Perl. The part of the literal matching the variable will be extracted into the variable and then further checked to ensure that it is a proper value by looking it up in a field value tables. Inputs can vary a lot. An attribute in the format stipulates whether an arbitrary amount of whitespace is accepted. Below is an example of a complete format property.

  <property name="instant input format">
    <value>
      <format>$month $year</format>
      <format whitespace="no">$month $day, $year</format>
      <format> <day>$day</day> 
        <other month="$month" year="$year"/> 
      </format>

      <fieldInfo variable="month" name="month of year" 
                   using = "englishMonthNames"/>
      <fieldInfo variable="day" name="day of month" 
                   using="arabicNumeral"/>
      <fieldInfo variable="year" name="year" 
                   using="arabicNumeral"/>
    </value>
  </property>

The "whitespace" attribute in <format> is set to "no", so the format is not white-space friendly.

A temporal literal will be parsed using the structure in the <format>. If the structure matches, then the value of the variables (called a <field> will extracted and compared to the value in the corresponding field value table. A more complete discussion on the parsing and handling of format properties is given elsewhere.

Instant Output Format

This property has a similar format to the Instant Input Format. The one difference is there is no need to include a whitespace attribute. This is same with all other output format properties.

Interval Input Format

An interval is a duration of time. Example of interval literals are given below.

<other> <month> 5 </month> </other> <other> <month value ="5" /> </other> 2 years <property name = "interval input format">

  <value>
    <!-- this is the default format for inputs like last example above -->
    <format> $year </format>
    <format> $month months </format>
    <format whitespace = "no">$month months</format>
    <format> <other month = "$monthName"/> </format>

    <fieldInfo variable="monthName" name="month" using="englishMonthNames"/>
    <fieldInfo variable="month" name="month" using="arabicNumeral"/>
    <fieldInfo variable="year" name="year" using="arabicNumeral"/>
  </value>

</property>

Interval Output Format

The interval output format is similar to the interval input format (see above).

Now-Relative Instant Input Format

  <value>
    <format> $now $direction $interval </format> 

    <!-- refers to property now, name is the name of the property -->
    <fieldInfo parseValue = "now" name = "now" url = "*.xml"/>


    <!-- refers to property interval input format -->
    <importFormat 
       parseValue = "interval" 
       name = "interval input format" 
       url = "*.xml"/>
    <!-- direction might be either addition "+" or subtraction "-" --> 
    <fieldInfo 
       variable = "direction" 
       name = "directions" 
       using = "directionList"/>
  </value>

</property>

Now-Relative Instant Output Format

Similar to the input format.

Period Input Format

Examples period temporal literals are listed below.

[ 1776 ] [ July, 1776 ) [ Noon July 3, 1776, Noon July 4, 1970 ) <period> [ <other day = "1" month = "Jan" year = "1970"/> , <other> <day value ="2"/> <month value = "Jan"/> <year value= "1970"/> </other> ] </period> A period format often consists of two instant formats.

  <value>
    <format whitespace = "no">
       $leftClosed $instantStart, $instantEnd $rightClosed 
    </format>
    <format> 
       <period> $leftOpen $instantStart, $instantEnd $rightClosed </period>
    </format>

    <importFormat 
       parseValue = "instantStart" 
       name = "instant input format" 
       url = "*.xml"/>
    <importFormat 
       parseValue = "instantEnd" 
       name = "instant input format"  
       url = "*.xml"/>


    <fieldInfo 
       variable = "leftClosed"   
       name = "instant period delimiter" 
       using = "periodDelimiterList"/>
    <fieldInfo 
       variable = "leftOpen"
       name = "instant period delimiter" 
       using = "periodDelimiterList"/>


    <fieldInfo 
       variable = "rightClosed" 
       name = "instant period delimiter" 
       using = "periodDelimiterList"/>
  </value>

</property>

By using <importFormat> we can specify the instant input format to parse the instants in a period. If the parsing includes indeterminate instants, then indeterminate periods are also handled.

Period Output Format

Similar to input.

Indeterminate Instant Input Format

An indeterminate format can include a "distribution". Examples of indeterminate literals are given below.

Jan, 1, 1970 ~ Jan, 2, 1970 <date> <month value = "Jan"/> <day value = "1"/> <year> 1970 </year> </date> ~ Jan, 2, 1970 Jan, 1, 1970 ~ Jan, 2, 1970 with uniform distribution <property name = "indeterminate instant input format">

  <value>

    <format> 
      $lower ~ $upper 
    </format>


    <format> 
      $lower ~ $upper with $distribution distribution 
    </format>


    <importFormat 
      parseValue = "lower" 
      name = "instant input format" 
      url = "*.xml"/>


    <importFormat 
      parseValue = "upper" 
      name = "instant input format" 
      url = "*.xml"/>
    <!-- Distribution might be optional -->
    <fieldInfo 
      variable = "distribution" 
      name = "distribution" 
      using = "distributionNames"/>
  </value>

</property>

#IndeterminateInstantOutputFormat

Indeterminate Instant Output Format

Similar to input.

Override Input Epoch

This property sets the input epoch.