(Outdated wiki content from 2007.)

Use cases for validation tasks¶

• Use case: Initially, Frank creates a schema based on his own data that describes most of the records in his SFM file. He fixes his file until it is internally consistent.
• Use case: After each large set of edits, Ratna validates her SFM file against the schema Frank created, fixing bad records little by little until the file complies. If she doesn't know what to do with every record, she just does the ones she can, then asks Frank to finish validating and fixing.
• Use case: When he has time, Frank tries to move toward more standard MDF. He validates his SFM file against a 'standard' MDF schema, then tweaks his own schema and SFM file, moving little by little toward 'more standard'. (Other users who are like Frank but who use a different standard such as 'Philippines SFM', would be moving toward that other standard.)
• Use case: Frank team's data eventually validates against the 'tight MDF' standard, and they no longer need their custom SFM schema. Now, every time that Frank and Ratna successfully validate the data, Solid automatically generates a LIFT file, which can be used directly for archival and/or round-tripping to Flex/Wesay.

MOCKUPS:¶

• I threw this one together to show what kinds of widgets Frank will need, and one possible layout of those widgets. I've way under-represented things (no menus or scrollbars)--especially the Schema widget. It's only showing marker name, marker meaning, hierarchy and required/optional. It will also need to include content contraints (e.g. range sets), whether a field can repeat, and whether the order of siblings is fixed or free. I wonder whether there is an open-source schema-editing mechanism that could get plugged into this widget. -Jonathan Coombs (15 Mar 2007)
  Image(SfmValidator.png)