"Phase A" changes

[thomasheritage]

Implement changes arising from the "Phase A" work of the EBU QC Group early in 2026

EBU QC group members can view details at https://git.ebu.io/qc/api/-/boards?milestone_title=Phase%3AA

[wbailer]

Thanks for the updates, Tom.

One thought: On input and output definitions, HasLocator had previously a default value of false, should we add that to all the new Has* elements as well? They could then be made optional, as it clear how this is to be interpreted.

[thomasheritage]

HasLocator had previously a default value of false, should we add that to all the new Has* elements as well? They could then be made optional

That was the only place where "default" was used in the XSD. I only noticed that when making this edit. It caused what I found to be a confusing situation: although the element HasLocator always had to have a value (it didn't have minoccurs=0), the fact that there was a default value specified meant this requirement would be satisfied even if the XML Element was omitted from an instance document, making it appear to be an optional property... (it's shown as mandatory in the UML class diagram).

I'd suggest it's simpler it leave all the Has* elements as mandatory and without a default value specified. This means that they'll always be in the Input/Output Definitions and so it will always be completely clear what the requirements are when creating Inputs/Outputs in Item Results.

[wbailer]

Thanks for the clarification, makes sense.

[thomasheritage]

I've added additional XSD changes in 988d82b and 0a40e5a that go beyond what was discussed on GitLab. I highlighted these at the EBU QC meeting 2026-05-12

[thomasheritage]

Some design enhancements (not pushed yet) that go beyond what was discussed on GitLab but were highlighted at the EBU QC Meeting 2026-05-12 include:

• DefaultValue

• IOdef naming constraints

• From the discussion: ensure that names of input & output definitions are scoped separately

[thomasheritage]

Another change to highlight in the model docx (not pushed yet): I've removed the "description of the relations" chapter because it contained various errors and much of it related to inputs and outputs and so would take a lot of work to update. Also, these relationships are now covered in context throughout the document and duplicating the information would be a hassle and prone to errors.