Re: [docbook] Glossary issues

[Thomas Schraitle <tom_schr@web.de>]

Hi Steven,

On Saturday 05 November 2005 22:37, Steven T. Hatton wrote:
> [... long example removed ...]
>
> It may be the case that I want more functionality from DocBook than I
> should reasonably expect.  Nonetheless, some of the features I would
> like, do seem reasonable in the context of technical documentation. 
> The entry above is a transcription of the definition found here:
>
> http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=*&Query=logic
>
> Possibly useful elements for a full-blown dictionary might be
> <etymology/>
> <etymologyentry/>
> <language/>
> <pronunciation/>
> <glossedterm/><!--wrap this around text in the body of a document
> pointing to the glossary entry -->
> <synonym/>
> <partofspeech/><!-- verb|noun|pronoun|... -->
>
>
> Some of the functionality suggested above might be achieved using
> existing DocBook elements.  I would be happy to learn how this can be
> done.  I understand there is a problem with trying to expand DocBook to
> cover every possible feature which might appear in a book.

I think, there are two possibilities:

1. Use the existing DocBook elements and distinguish between with the role 
attribute:

 <glossdef role="etymology"> ... </glossdef>

You can write a template that deals with glossdef/@role="etymology" in a 
special way if you don't want the default.


2. Extend the DocBook elements with your elements
This solution is probably more accurate from a XML point of view. 
Unfortunatly you have to extend the DTD which is not always an easy task. 
(You might try RELAX NG which seems to be easier.)
 Additionally you have to deal with the XSL stylesheets as well, if you 
want HTML and FO (or others).


Bye,
Tom

-- 
Thomas Schraitle