Sure, but the processor must still fetch the defaulted
values whether
it validates the content or not, otherwise it is
potentially leaving
out data.
but that's what the xml spec allows them to do. (Mozilla for
instance never fetches any external dtd file except those
that have copies installed into mozilla's own directory tree.
So if you default attribute values, mozilla doesn't usually
see the defaults.
Are you sure? Even if Mozilla allows it, is it still this case? Don't
get me wrong, I think defaulted values in DTDs are awful (a weird mix of
content and validation), but I've never had any luck ignoring them using
Xerces in Java without implementing a custom entity resolver. It's
possible Mozilla implements its own custom entity resolver in the event
it cannot reach a referenced DTD, giving the appearance it has ignored
the defaulted values. Either way, I'm speculating wildly here :)
cheers
andrew