[x3d-public] Replacing USE with DEF

[John Carlson]

In X3DJSAIL, why do we use different objects for calling setUSE() and
setDEF() of the same DEF value?  Should setUSE(“foo”) be disallowed after a
setDEF(“foo”)?

Think about it.  I personally would just remove setUSE(), since it violates
the specification, apparently.  setUSE should only be used to specify
multiple parents.  We have add… and set… which should already do that.

This also has massive implications for X3dToJava.xslt and X3dToPython.xslt
as well.

If we hadn’t fallen into using a hierarchy for Java and Python generated
code, this would have been extremely simple…

John

On Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 8:22 PM Don Brutzman <don.brutzman at gmail.com> wrote:

> It is not possible to avoid USE, it is fully integrated functionality in
> the specification.  No need to reengineer the specification.
>
> Again recommend working on one very simple case at a time, to narrow down
> each problem and fix it.  Complexity obscures diagnosis.
>
> all the best, Don
> --
> X3D Graphics, Maritime Robotics, Distributed Simulation
> Relative Motion Consulting  https://RelativeMotion.info
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 6:08 PM John Carlson via x3d-public <
> x3d-public at web3d.org> wrote:
>
>> Replacing USE with DEF would massively improve the JSON schema.   I vote
>> for that!   It would massively improve the error reporting as well.
>>
>> What does FreeWRL think?
>>
>> No need for two attributes for the same meaning.
>>
>> USE and DEF code be used interchangeably, and container fields could
>> specify parents.
>>
>> The only problem I see is when USE and DEF are used together, but that’s
>> already an issue.
>>
>> John
>>
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