[osis-core] Questions about osisRefs

[Patrick Durusau]

Harry,

I have not reached this whole set of posts (yet) but will this afternoon.

I agree with #1 and #2 but have comments on #3.

Harry Plantinga wrote:

>Let me see if I have osisRefs straight, through some more use cases.
>Basically, I'm trying to figure out whether an osisRef refers to 
>a particular reference system, or a particular work, or what.
>
>1.  I want to refer to Psalm 20 (KJV reference system) in any version.
>
>	<reference osisRef="Bible.KJV:Psalm.20">
>
>  Do I need to add a <work> element "declaring" Bible.KJV? e.g. 
>
>    <works>
>      <work osisWork="Bible.KJV">
>	  <title>Holy Bible -- King James Version</title>
>	</work>
>    </works>
>
>2.  I want to refer to Psalm.20 of the LXX in an English translation
>
>	<works>
>	  <work osisWork="lxx_en">
>	    <title>Septuagint</title>
>	    <language>en</language>
>	  </work>
>	</works>
>
>	[...]
>
>	<reference osisRef="lxx_en:Psalm.20">
>
>3.  I want to refer to Psalm.20 (KJV reference system) of the English
>    LXX.
>
>    [same <work> entry as above]
>
>    <reference osisRef="lxx_en(Bible.KJV):Psalm.20">
>
I am not certain why the reference system should be in the attribute 
value. Changing your work declaration slightly:

<work osisWork="lxx_en" refSystem="Bible.KJV">
	    <title>Septuagint</title>
	    <language>en</language>
	  </work>


allows you to later say:

<reference osisRef="lxx_en:Psalm.20"> without any loss of information, 
correct? Recall that while we may see this as different, that difference 
is only visual and not informational. I could parse the attribute string 
in your original example and by some rule deduce that the resource was 
using the KJV reference system or a system could process the reference 
to the information in <work> and discover the same thing. I think the 
later is easier to write, although harder for a person to resolve 
efficiently.

Thoughts?

Patrick

>
>Is this right?
>DO I also need to declare Bible.KJV in case 3?
>If we aren't always "declaring" ref system, how do we tell
>a ref system name from a work identifier?
>
>-Harry
>

-- 
Patrick Durusau
Director of Research and Development
Society of Biblical Literature
pdurusau@emory.edu