RE: [dita] constraints support? (Was: Problems with the task model)

[Erik Hennum <ehennum@us.ibm.com>]

Hi, Su-Laine:

As Eliot pointed out, the constraining part is defined entirely in generic DTD or Schema.

An editor that

** supported all of DTD or Schema but
** was 100% ignorant of DITA

would validate every element in any document that had DITA constraints without a problem.

An editor that

** supported all of DTD or Schema and
** supported all of DITA specialization but
** was 100% ignorant of DITA constraints

would correctly render and edit every element in any document that had DITA constraints without a problem. (The only exception concerns the conref checks mentioned earlier.)

To put it another way, unless an editor tool actively inspects the DITA architectural attributes looking for constraints, how would the editor even know a DITA document had constraints?

Can you clarify where the challenges reside? Is there something we can tweak in the DTD or Schema design pattern?


Thanks,


Erik Hennum
ehennum @ us.ibm.com