RE: DOCBOOK: Implementing DocBook on MS-DOS/Windows

[Peter Ring <pri at magnus dot dk>]

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hoenicka_markus/ntsgml.html
"SGML for NT: A brief tutorial how to set up a free SGML editing and 
publishing system for Windows NT"
A very complete guide that by itself constitutes an example of 
what you try to accomplish. 
Somewhat biased towards SGML, jade and TeX.

If you lean towards XML and XSLT, supplement the above with:
http://xslt-process.sourceforge.net/
"XSLT-process is a minor mode for GNU Emacs/XEmacs which transforms 
it into a powerful editor with XSLT processing and debugging capabilities. 
XSLT-process is not an Emacs major mode for editing XML or XSLT files, 
for this you should use Lennart Staflin's PSGML, James Clark's 
sgml-mode.el major mode (distributed with GNU Emacs), or Tony Graham's 
xslide XSLT mode. "


If you'd rather have everything in a package with all the decisions 
made on your behalf:

http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/TEI/Software/
"Inspired by Kevin Russell's now rather old Ebenezer suite, we have 
bundled emacs, psgml, and a bunch of other useful stuff together as a 
single archive for installation on any Windows 32 bit system (30 Mb), or 
any Unix system (29.5 Mb); This setup was last updated on 20th Sept 2001."
Includes TEI and DocBook support. Also for Unix.

http://xae.sunsite.dk/
"XML Authoring Environment for Emacs"
For XML.


If it's not apparent already, I'm somewhat biased towards emacs. 
Even if you may be able get Arbortext Epic, Softquad XMetaL, or 
Corel WordPerfect, you'll sometimes need more hands-on control.

There's an introduction to emacs + psgml at
http://www.snee.com/bob/sgmlfree/emcspsgm.pdf
Be sure to see the PSGML Tricks page:
http://www.snee.com/bob/sgmlfree/emcspsgm.html

BTW, emacs 21 has just been released (though not quit yet on WindowsNT).
While better support for fonts and images have been available for some
time in XEmacs, the release of emacs 21 will probably spur the development 
of better visual feedback.


If you absolutely can't stand emacs, here's some alternatives:

epcEdit
http://www.epcedit.com/
Tcl/Tk-based
SGML and XML editor
Does CALS tables
60-days evaluation

XXE
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/
Java-based
XML editor, in beta, but useful
Does CALS tables to some extent

Morphon  http://www.morphon.com/
Java-based
XML editor
Does not do tables (when I last checked)
30-days evaluation

XED
http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~ht/xed.html
Python/Tk based
XML editor
Does not do tables


Kind regards
Peter Ring

-----Original Message-----
From: oaksr@tc.faa.gov [mailto:oaksr@tc.faa.gov]
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 9:00 PM
To: docbook@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: DOCBOOK: Implementing DocBook on MS-DOS/Windows


I want to first thank those of you have previously responded to my plea for
help. But I have decided to change my plea.

I am very interested in using DocBook to prepare software documentation and
for
writing technical papers. Unfortunately, although I utilize a "real"
computer
system (i.e., UNIX) for programming and maintaining data in an Oracle
database,
I am forced to use a Windows PC for documentation. I say unfortunately
because I
believe that MS Word is the worst word processing program that I have ever
used
and I've been using word processing software for 20 years. 

DocBook appears to provide all the capabilities that I want and in a manner
that
I can use. But I have encountered difficulties implementing jade and the
DocBook
DTD on my PC. As I see it, in order to complete this implementation I need
to
learn much more about the specifics of DTDs and DSSSLs, but I just don't
have
the time because I am juggling numerous work assignments during the day and
most
of my evenings are devoted to preparation for a programming class I teach. 

I'm willing to use a text editor to prepare and maintain the documentation
-- in
fact, I still use the vi-editor to maintain html for web pages. What I want
is
to be able to write some sgml pages using the DocBook DTD's constructs so I
can
determine if DocBook provides the capabilities I need. At this point in
time, I
have no intention of writing my own DTD or DSSLs.

Does anyone out there know if this is possible?

==> Bob

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