[Psidev-ms-dev] Empty mzML files

[John C. <jmc...@gm...>]

This page (http://www.psidev.info/mzml_1_0_0%20) says to send feedback
about mzML here. So I am doing that.

I think it would be beneficial to allow empty indexed mzML files. It
looks like unindexed files can be empty, but this is the problematic
part of the indexed schema:

  <xs:complexType name="IndexListType">
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="unbounded" name="index"
type="dx:IndexType">
        <xs:annotation>
          <xs:documentation>Index element containing one or more
offsets for random data access for the entity described in the 'name'
attribute.</xs:documentation>
        </xs:annotation>
      </xs:element>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="count" type="xs:nonNegativeInteger" use="required">
      <xs:annotation>
        <xs:documentation>Number of indices in this list.</xs:documentation>
      </xs:annotation>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>

The count attribute is nonNegative which means it can be zero (good),
but there is a minOccurs="1" on the index element.

It doesn't really seem like there is a new specification on the
horizon anytime soon, but I thought I would voice my opinion in case
there is a new specification some day.

More info:
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=30214022

Thanks for your time,
-John

------------------------------------------------
John Chilton
Senior Software Developer
University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute
Office: 612-625-0917
Cell: 612-226-9223
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