RE: [docbook] Custom tags in Docbook

["Kerry, Richard" <richard.kerry@siemens.com>]

Possibly because docbook is defined by a specific dtd or schema it is
not possible to add an element.  If you include an undefined element
your file is not docbook any longer.

I thought I recalled there being an element <role> which could be used
with an attribute to indicate what you want.  Eg <role
name="guimenuitem">.  However, I've just looked and it's not there.  
Looking a bit further indicates that role is actually an attibute,
available on many elements, allowing you to subclass an element.  That
might do what you need ?


Helpfully,
Maybe,
Richard.




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oscar Pereira [mailto:oscar.pereira@anubisnetworks.com] 
> Sent: 22 January 2008 12:10
> To: Kerry, Richard
> Cc: docbook@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: Re: [docbook] Custom tags in Docbook
> 
> Ok, after consulting the DocBook element reference 
> (http://docbook.org/tdg/en/html/part2.html), I can see your point...
> Granted, the list is enormous, but what I meant with my 
> question was how 
> to proceed when in a situation for which no suitable (pre-defined) 
> elements exist...
> 
>  From what I can make of the answers, DocBook appears (in 
> this matter at 
> least) to follow a philosophy of "quantity over quality"... 
> not really 
> what I was expecting, but it'll have to do.
> 
> (BTW, quality in this case means trying to provide all 
> elements anyone 
> is ever likely going to need, instead of providing a way for new 
> elements to be added should the need arise. I want to make 
> this clear to 
> avoid starting a possible flame :-) )
> 
> Kerry, Richard wrote:
> > What needs to be custom ?
> >
> > <guibutton> is an existing docbook element.......
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Uncertainly,
> > Richard.
> >  
> >
> >
> >   
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Oscar Pereira [mailto:oscar.pereira@anubisnetworks.com] 
> >> Sent: 22 January 2008 00:31
> >> To: docbook@lists.oasis-open.org
> >> Subject: [docbook] Custom tags in Docbook
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> I am a novice user of Docbook, who has just subscribed this 
> >> list hoping 
> >> to see answered a question that a lot of googling could not. 
> >> I was just 
> >> tasked with completing a docbook document (using xml) that 
> >> someone else 
> >> had already drafted. As I analysed that document, I found 
> that word 
> >> emphasis were being done with <emphasis> tags, throughout the 
> >> document. 
> >> I found this odd because, some of the words represent classes 
> >> of data, 
> >> that should have a coherent formatting. I have some 
> experience using 
> >> LaTeX, and one of the first things you learn is how to define 
> >> commands 
> >> for specific things (which is rather simple to achieve). 
> Making the 
> >> transition from commands to tags, I was hoping there would 
> >> some equally 
> >> simpler way of defining tags that could be applied to custom 
> >> classes of 
> >> data. This way, instead of writing 
> >> <emphasis>search</emphasis>, I would 
> >> like to write something like <guibutton>search</guibutton>. 
> >> This way, if 
> >> at a later time it was found that gui buttons should be 
> >> written in bold, 
> >> changing it would be simple: which is not the case is you use 
> >> <emphasis> 
> >> all document long (and for other things that are "gui 
> buttons" in my 
> >> example). Googling for a way to do this yielded a lot of 
> things about 
> >> dtds and xsl, but nothing that answered my question. Is there 
> >> a way to 
> >> do this? Or I making some error regarding the way DocBook 
> >> should be used 
> >> (perhaps from my previous background working with LaTeX)?
> >>
> >> Please note that I have a somewhat limited knowledge of XML 
> >> and XSL, and 
> >> so I was really looking for a simple solution...
> >>
> >> Thanks in advance (and apologies for the long mail),
> >> Oscar
> >>
> >> 
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> >>
> >>     
> >
> > 
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