OpenSAML user discussion

[Brent Putman <>]

Scott Cantor wrote:
> But I didn't realize that it was legal to combine xsi:type and xsi:nil like
> that. The use case in SAML was just <AttributeValue xsi:nil="true"/>. It
> never struck me what the implications were.
>   

Well caveat, I'm pretty sure I tested use of xsi:type and xsi:nil 
together, but I'll double-check.  I'm not at a computer where I have a 
working Oxygen installed, but I'll try later this evening.  Unless you 
already did.

But FWIW, it kinda makes sense to me at least that you could combine 
them.  It's one thing to want to say that you have an element with type 
xs:string and it's nil (null value), vs. saying you have an xs:integer 
and it's null.  At least a subtle difference.  Which may not be as 
obvious in the SAML case, where the type of AttributeValue is sort of 
implied by the Attribute, or by the other AttributeValues which might 
have an explicit xsi:type.