Re: [docbook-apps] Word to DocBook conversion and applying XSLT

[Giuseppe Bonelli <peppo.bonelli@gmail.com>]

Bob's book is "the book" on the subject, so, yes it explains everything, but if you have never wrote an xslt before i would suggest an xml/xslt manual as your starting point.

If you just need to "use" xslt someone else wrote, you can do what Peter suggested, but you can also use oxygen directly. See the oxygen docs and a good guide on xslt for the details.

Remember that any conversion from word/indesign/ pages/xpress to any xml vocabulary (docbook or other) using *any*means (xslt or others) can be only as good as the styling present in the original files. Forget about any serious conversion if your original files have been authored without using styles (or have been authored using styles, but not in a consistent manner).

My 2 eurocents

__ peppo

Inviato da iPad

Il giorno 30/gen/2012, alle ore 20:23, Donna Saporito <dsnyder7427@gmail.com> ha scritto:

Hi everyone,

 

I am still in the process of testing different ways to convert Microsoft Word docs to DocBook. I have also tested some good commercial tools, but I still want to learn about XSL stylesheets.

 

One conversion method I tried was to use OpenOffice to save a Word file as either an RTF or HTML file, and then save that file as DocBook XML. As I expected, the output needs to be cleaned up considerably.  Some people have suggested that I write an XSLT stylesheet to clean up XML sources from Word documents so I can convert them directly to DocBook. I read about DocBook roundtripping and XSL stylesheets to use for conversion from WordML to DocBook at the following Explain website:

http://www.explain.com.au/oss/docbook/

 

That website lists stylesheets that transform WordML to DocBook. I am a newbie, so I am unsure of where I would apply these stylesheets. Do I use OpenOffice’s XML Filter Settings dialog box to edit the DocBook file? I see a
Transformation tab in OpenOffice’s XML Filter’s dialog that has options for DocType, DTD, XSLT for export, XSLT for import and Template for import. (I should also mention that I need to create DocBook 5 output, not DocBook 4, which is the default DocType in OpenOffice.)

 

What is the best resource for a newbie to learn about writing or editing XSLT stylesheets?  Would the book, “DocBook XSL: The Complete Guide” by Bob Stayton explain this, or is that book more useful for advanced DocBook users? (I have a little bit of DocBook experience by editing files in Oxygen XML Editor. I have never written an XSLT.)

 

Thanks.

Donna