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Subject: Proposal 12048 - expanded header for reltable
Hi, Esteemed TC:
Here's a browser-friendly formatting of the proposal submitted recently on the OASIS site:
(See attached file: IssueReltableHeader12048.html)
Hoping that's useful,
Erik Hennum
ehennum@us.ibm.com
DITA Proposed Feature #12048Add header rows to reltables Longer descriptionCurrently, <reltable> provides a <relheader> element that provides a <relspec> element for each column. The <relspec> element sets default values for column attributes. These default values also resemble constraints because only topics to which the property can apply should appear in the column. For instance, setting the default value for the type attribute to "concept" and the platform attribute to "linux" indicates that only concept topics about Linux should appear in the column. (For more detail about the currently specified capabilities, see http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.1/CD02/langspec/langref/relcolspec.html.) This proposal recognizes the existing default-setting capability of the column header as a special case of a more general capability for specifying properties and relationships common to all topics referenced in a column. In particular, such properties should be possible to express not only with attributes but with <data> elements. In addition, relationships common to all topics referenced in a column should be possible to express with <topicref> elements. As with simple values, these complex properties and relationships can resemble constraints. For instance, if the column header supplies a topic reference to a hub topic about troubleshooting, the column should contain only topics related to troubleshooting. In the same way that a textual column header applies to values in all column cells of a content table, a column header with full distributive capability is consistent with the expected structure of a table. This distributive capability would also add to the value of the relationship table. To make it possible to express complex properties and relationships, the content model of the <recolspec> element could allow any number of <data> or <topicref> elements after the optional <topicmeta> element. (This change is simpler than the suggestion in original email at http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/dita/200703/msg00065.html.) Statement of Requirement
Use Cases
ScopeThis proposal expands the content model of the <relcolspec> element. The proposal doesn't introduce new elements or attributes. Technical RequirementsThe change in DTD syntax (prior to consolidation of <data> and <data-about> in an entity): <!ELEMENT relcolspec ((%topicmeta;)?, (%topicref;|%data;|%data-about;)*)> The change in XML Schema syntax (prior to consolidation of <data> and <data-about> in a group): <xs:complexType name="relcolspec.class"> <xs:sequence> <xs:group ref="topicmeta" minOccurs="0"/> <xs:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"> <xs:group ref="topicref"/> <xs:group ref="data-about"/> <xs:group ref="data"/> </xs:choice> </xs:sequence> ... </xs:complexType> Base processing would change to distribute properties and related links from the column header to the topics referenced in the column cells. New or Changed Specification Language
Note: The specification might also consider whether a <data> element
in a relcell would distribute to other columns in the same row (providing
a horizontal equivalent to this vertical distributive capability).
CostsThe only significant expense is the enhancement of default processing. BenefitsAs users become familiar with the basic horizontal capability of relationship tables, this added function will become useful for more sophisticated definition of the qualifications for column membership. In addition, specializers can take advantage of this capability. |
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