> Joe-user expects an ID that > exists the source document to continue to exist in the destination document, > especially when the two documents use the same schema.
Correction: You expect it. Not everyone does. Not everyone wants it. That's a clear argument for the DOM not doing it unless told to. > BTW, what was one to do before DOM3's normalizeDocument() The same thing one did before the DOM added import -- write your own tree-walk-and-reinstantiate function which has the additional behaviors you needed. Remember, the goal of the DOM was NOT to include every possible convenience feature. If something is an uncommon need (which this is, really), or if it's something which can just as efficiently be implemented by a higher-level subroutine (which isn't true here, admittedly), the DOM generally left it out, in the interests of ease of implementation and of better efficiency of those things that *are* essential functions. (Speaking as one of the folks on the DOM WG at the time import and adopt were being debated: Yes, we explicitly decided that retaining ID-ness was not desirable, for essentially the same reasons that have been discussed here.) ______________________________________ "... Three things see no end: A loop with exit code done wrong, A semaphore untested, And the change that comes along. ..." -- "Threes" Rev 1.1 - Duane Elms / Leslie Fish (http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/songs/threes-rev-11.html)
