Re: [docbook-apps] Conceptual problem formatting <preface> material

["Bob Stayton" <bobs@sagehill.net>]

Hi Chris,
I've done similar books like this using preface elements with role attributes, and 
then customizing the book template to output them in the order you want.  The 
titlepage template system is not really appropriate for that kind of extended 
information.

For each special preface, I add a template with match="preface[@role = 'something']" 
to handle its formatting, and then add the following to the book template to apply it:

  <xsl:apply-templates select="preface[@role = 'something']"/>

That way if a book instance does not have such a preface, this step is just skipped.

You'll also want to add an empty template in normal mode to prevent the preface 
element from being processed again in book order:

  <xsl:template match="preface[@role = 'something']"/>

You'll need to decide which of these have their own fo:page-sequence, and call the 
template name 'page.sequence' with that as content.

And you'll need to customize the templates named 'page.number.format' and 
'initial.page.number' to get the right page numbering scheme.

The trickiest part in this design is getting the copyright and "Contacting" 
information on the same page.  The copyright info is normally processed in the 
titlepage page-sequence.  For that case, I would customize the template named 
'book.titlepage.verso' to apply templates to that preface element, and leave that one 
out of the book template.

Bob Stayton
Sagehill Enterprises
bobs@sagehill.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Ridd" <chrisridd@mac.com>
To: <docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org>
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 7:09 AM
Subject: [docbook-apps] Conceptual problem formatting <preface> material


> Hi,
>
> I am trying to reproduce the structure of existing manuals written in Framemaker, in 
> 2 new manuals written using Docbook and I'm having a little trouble working out how 
> one is supposed to do radical formatting of front matter.
>
> Our manuals are <book>s.
>
> I have a custom title page constructed via a titlepage template, which just has the 
> front cover. So far so (relatively) easy...
>
> But then I have some pages with different page numbering (eg i .. vi) that include a 
> slightly custom formatted TOC, an untitled copyright section, and then some titled 
> (but un-numbered) sections describing Typographical Conventions etc. (One of the 
> existing Frame manuals is accessible at 
> <http://www.isode.com/Documentation/SWADMINT.pdf> in case I'm not explaining this 
> well.)
>
> The copyright section feels like it should come from the book info, but the 
> remaining stuff feels like preface material.
>
> What's the best approach for arranging these things? I'm starting to look at 
> overriding the "book" template from fo/division.xsl, but have a sneaking suspicion 
> that I really should be doing this all in the titlepage template.
>
> Or is there another way?
>
> I did look at Bob's otherwise excellent book, but didn't really get a good feeling 
> for the best approach here.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
>
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