Re: [office] One strictly conforming document?

[Patrick Durusau <patrick@durusau.net>]

Doug,

Doug Mahugh wrote:
> It's worth noting that the ODF metadata mechanisms don't allow for the use of a private/custom schema to tag content within a document.  And that use case has value to many users.  So if we decide that ODF won't be able to support those types of scenarios, for whatever reason, we should not be surprised to find that users who need such capabilities will look elsewhere.
>
>   
To others: Doug and I have had some off-list traffic on this issue and I 
wanted to share my response to Doug's questions here.

Take the following example (using ISO 29500 markup):

<customXml element="SomeSpecializedTypeOfDocument">
  <customXml element="abstract">
    <p>My paragraph of abstract.</p>
  </customXml>
  <customXml element="body">
    <p>First pararagraph of content.</p>
    <p>Second pararagraph of content.</p>
    <p>Third pararagraph of content.</p>
  </customXml>
  <customXml element="summary">
    <p>My summary.</p>
  </customXml>
</customXml>

The trick to realizing how to do this in ISO 26300 is to understand that 
what is at issue is the marking of locations in the text stream and 
*not* foreign elements or attributes. The "customXML" element is defined 
by ISO 29500 so in no case is it a "foreign" element.

Here is how I would do the same thing in ISO 26300:

<text:bookmark-start  text:name="SomeSpecializedTypeOfDocument"/>
 <text:bookmark-start  text:name="abstract"/>
   <p>My paragraph of abstract.</p>
 <text:bookmark-end  text:name="abstract"/>
 <text:bookmark-start  text:name="body"/>
   <p>First pararagraph of content.</p>
   <p>Second pararagraph of content.</p>
   <p>Third pararagraph of content.</p>
 <text:bookmark-end  text:name="body"/>
 <text:bookmark-start  text:name="summary"/>
   <p>My summary.</p>
 <text:bookmark-end  text:name="summary"/>
<text:bookmark-end  text:name="SomeSpecializedTypeOfDocument"/>

Perfectly readable by any ODF application that supports bookmarks. And 
capable of being used by applications that attach some peculiar 
significance to the text:name attributes of the <text:bookmark-*> elements.

Note that the <text:bookmark-*/> element is defined by ODF so it doesn't 
qualify as a foreign element. Its text:name attribute is simply a string 
so it can represent whatever a user deems it to represent.

The <text:bookmark-*/> elements can overlap each other as well as other 
markup.

Now, with ODF 1.2, there are expanded possibilities. Metadata can be 
associated with the bookmark elements that is more sophisticated than 
simply providing the name of an element, a la ISO 29500.

It was the "foreign elements and attributes" that made this so 
confusing. What was at issue was the supporting of metadata on elements 
to facilitate viewing them as existing in some other markup structure. 
One you make that leap, the rest just "falls out" as Eliot Kimber would 
say. ;-)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Patrick

-- 
Patrick Durusau
patrick@durusau.net
Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)