Re: [docbook] Automatically create index of commands

[Bob McIlvride <robert@cogent.ca>]

Hi David,

On Thu, 2003-08-28 at 04:05, David N. Welton wrote:
> davidw@dedasys.com (David N. Welton) writes:
> 
> > Hrm... I had really hoped to get an index on the same page as the
> > commands.  I don't have enough, yet, to break them all out into
> > separate pages.  Is the ref stuff still appropriate in that case?
> 
> Apparently not - it doesn't output anything when contained in a
> section.

Yes, I see what you mean.  But it will work if you put them all into one
chapter.  Is that possible for you?  They will still be on separate
pages, but there should be a way to print multiple refentries on a
single page by customizing the XSL stylesheet.  I've looked, and there
isn't a parameter for doing this in XSL (I believe there is in DSSSL),
but it should be possible in a customization layer of XSL.

A bonus of putting refentries into a chapter is that (on my system at
least) they don't appear in the books table of contents, which is what I
understand that you want.

> 
> > In any case I'm pretty sure I also want the index either on the same
> > page or a second page, but not in the table of contents.  I guess
> > it's time to start hitting the XSL file.
> 
> ... with which I've had a little bit of success.  But I'm still not
> sure what the appropriate elements are to make the index with.  I need
> a name and a short description, akin to refpurpose, that will not be
> printed along with the 'main' cmdsynopsis.

Again, there should be a way to suppress the output of the refpurpose in
the output of the refentry, if you want.  It means more exploration of
the XSL stylesheets.  

If you really need that brief description following the name of the
command, and you want to do it the most straightforward way, I don't see
any other choice but using <refentry>.

> 
> indexterm doesn't look right...  I'm stumped.

Keep at it.  The gain is worth the pain.

Bob
-- 
---------------------------
Robert McIlvride, Cogent Real-Time Systems, Inc.
robert@cogent.ca  (888) 628-2028  www.cogent.ca