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
<property name = "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.
<property name = "period input format">
<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>
Indeterminate Instant Output Format
Similar to input.
Override Input Epoch
This property sets the input epoch.
<property name = "override input epoch" value = "gregorian"/>
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