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Re: Any suggestions for a GOOD XML reference?
- From: Devin Bayer <devin-docbook at elektrono dot com>
- To: Jeff Biss <jeff at marco-inc dot com>
- Cc: docbook at lists dot oasis-open dot org
- Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 00:39:51 -0500
- Subject: Re: DOCBOOK: Any suggestions for a GOOD XML reference?
- References: <3DFFD403.4020102@marco-inc.com>
I'm no DTD expert but I think maybe what you are missing is some basic
XML terminology. I'll tell you what I think the following means and try
to show you how to understand in general the DTD.
Jeff Biss wrote:
I am learning XML while using the docbook DTD and really need a good
reference. For example, I have "DocBook: The Definitive Guide" and "XML
Bible" that do not provide information about the following DTD constructs:
<!ENTITY % local.list.class "">
When I go through the various modules in the docbook DTD I cannot figure
out where "class" comes from or what "local.list.class" actually means.
The meaning of 'class' is a grouping. 'list.class' means the group of
elements that are lists. the ENTITY syntax means that used here means
that the 2nd argument (local.list.class) with a preceding '%' and a
following ';' should be replaced where it occurs in the DTD with the 3rd
argument ("", an empty string).
The line following the one you provided in the DTD is:
<!ENTITY % list.class
"calloutlist|glosslist|itemizedlist|orderedlist|segmentedlist
|simplelist|variablelist %local.list.class;">
This entity means that '%list.class;' should be replaced with the string
that follows. Notice this string includes '%local.list.class';, which
would be replaced with the entity you mentioned. So the point of
'local.list.class' is for customization. If you wanted to add elements
to 'list.class' then you can just add them to 'local.list.class' in a
customization layer and not worry about copying all the other elements
already in 'list.class'. 'local' here stand for 'local customization'.
Can someone please provide what they consider a good reference that
explains what is going on in the docbook (XML programming in general)?
http://xml.coverpages.org/xmlIntro.html contains a number of links to
intro XML documents, but it seems you are more interested in DTDs. I
suggest a google search for "DTD Tutorial" (in quotes)
Although it can be quite dry I would recommend eventually reading the
XML spec at http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml. It also fully describes DTDs
for XML, which makes it a handy reference.
--
Devin Bayer - http://elektrono.com/contact
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
-- Mark Twain