Re: [dita] Attribute Specialization

["W. Eliot Kimber" <ekimber@innodata-isogen.com>]

Michael Priestley wrote:
> 
>  >in the
>  >specialization modules I create I'm under no obligation to *allow*
>  >attributes from any particular domain.
> 
> Specialization modules don't control what attributes or elements get 
> added from a domain. The doctype shell controls that, when the domain 
> gets integrated with structural types. At that point, you cannot choose 
> which elements will get the new attributes - it's all or nothing: if you 
> integrate the attribute domain, then all the elements in your doctype 
> get the new attribute.

I think I see: every element type is required to use the attribute group 
(parameter entity) that lists all domain-defined attributes, so there's 
no way to limit a given element type to a specific set of attribute domains.

Hmmm.

It can't happen for 1.1 but I still thinking we will need a way to allow 
specialization-specific attributes on individual specialized element 
types. Otherwise I am forced to put anything that would otherwise be an 
attribute into a specialized subelement, and only then in a context 
where there is a repetition of a base type I can specialize from (e.g., 
elements that allow <ph> in their content.

For example, in a specialization I'm doing now, I have specialized 
paragraphs that have invariant paragraph numbers that needs to be 
captured in the markup. Normally this number would be an attribute since 
it's a property of the paragraph and not part of it's core content (that 
is, it's an identifier that happens to be displayed in most renderings).

But since I can't (legally) add attributes, it seems like my only choice 
is to create a specialized phrase that holds the paragraph number.

Or have I missed something?

Cheers,

Eliot
-- 
W. Eliot Kimber
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