OASIS Mailing List ArchivesView the OASIS mailing list archive below
or browse/search using MarkMail.

 


Help: OASIS Mailing Lists Help | MarkMail Help

docbook message

[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]


Subject: Re: [docbook] Sections and topics


Kate,

I think there may be a solution that does not require a change to the
schema.

I presume the toc becomes bloated because everything ends up getting
pushed down an extra level. If that's the case, try the following:

<book>
...
  <chapter>
    <title><xi:include href="section-to-include.xml"
xpointer="xmlns(d=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(/d:section/d:title/text()))"/></title>
    <xi:include href="section-to-include.xml"

xpointer="xmlns(d=http://docbook.org/ns/docbook)xpointer(/d:section/d:title/following-sibling::*))"/>
  </chapter>
...
</book>

This snippet throws away the section wrapper, promotes the title to be
the chapter title, and then pulls in everything after the title inside
the section. I've used it when I needed to turn a chapter into an
appendix or when I've needed to insert something (e.g., a graphic) and
didn't want to touch the source.

You need to be cautious about the content; it's not hard to end up with
a file that won't parse, but it might be worth a try.

Hope that helps.
Dick Hamilton
---------------------------------
XML Press
XML for Technical Communicators
http://xmlpress.net
(970) 231-3624 

> 
> Hello, 
> 
> Here's the problem that I am increasingly running into: We have a
> <section> in one book that we want to reuse as a <chapter> in another
> book and vice versa. 
> 
> For example, in book A, there is section about using a tool with
> product A and in book B, we need to include the same information, but
> it must exist at the chapter level. 
> Currently, in order to solve this problem, in Book A we create a
> <section> that contains the information and we xinclude this <section>
> into an essentially empty <chapter> element in Book B. As a result,
> our TOC becomes bloated and we end up with these funny chapter pages
> (in HTML Help) that only contain vague sentences followed by links to
> sections. 
> 
> It would be easier for us if the book structure allowed the <section>
> element to exist at the same level as the <chapter> element. 
> So that, for example, the following would be valid: 
> <book><title>titletext</title> 
>         <section>text.... 
>         </section> 
> </book> 
> 
> I understand that the section element is supposed to contain
> information that is a section of something else and so the committee
> has been reluctant to see the <section> as a direct element of the
> <book> element. I had hoped that the <topic> element in modular
> DocBook would offer a better alternative. Unfortunately, from what I
> understand, you 
> cannot have a topic embedded within a topic. So, even if we switched
> to using topics, we'd have the same problem as described above. 
> 
> Apologies if I am bringing up a subject that has already been
> addressed. Any suggestions as to how to solve this problem would be
> greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Thank you, 
> Kate 
> 
> 
> .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 
> 
> 
> Kate Wringe | Tech Writer 2| Sybase
> 445 Wes Graham Way, Waterloo, ON,
> N2L 6R2 Canada | Tel: (519)
> 883-6838 | kate.wringe@sybase.com |
> www.sybase.com 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 



[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]