Re: [Caml-list] ocamlnet: Netheml: simple-dtd: how does this work?

[Gerd Stolpmann <info@gerd-stolpmann.de>]

Am Sonntag, den 06.03.2011, 23:52 +0100 schrieb oliver:
> Hello,
> 
> tried around using the simple-dtd argument
> for Nethtme.parse.
> 
> It changes the behaviour compared to
> the default behaviour, but I could not find out
> how this works.
> 
> Someone here who can explain me this
> argument and describe, how it can be used?

Maybe the HTML specification would be a good reference here:
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224. You will see there that
most HTML elements are either an inline element, a block element, or
both ("flow" element). The grammar of HTML is described in terms of
these classes. For instance, a P tag (paragraph) is a block element and
contains block elements whereas B (bold) is an inline element and
contains inline elements. From this follows that you cannot put a P
inside a B: <B><P>something</P></B> is illegal.

The parser needs this information to resolve such input, i.e. do
something with bad HTML. As HTML allows tag minimization (many end tags
can be omitted), the parser can read this as: <B></B><P>something</P>
(and the </B> in the input is ignored).

If all start and all end tags are written out, changing the
simplified_dtd does not make any difference.

There is no normative text that says how to read bad HTML. Because of
this, it is - to a large degree - an interpretation of HTML what you put
into simplified_dtd.

> The description IMHO is not sufficient to explain
> this feature.

I'd say your formal knowledge about HTML is insufficient. It is
impossible to explain all the basics of HTML in the scope of an mli.

Gerd

> I created a simplified dtd and used it as
> is mentioned in the manual. But changing the
> Arguments of element-class and model constraint
> did not brought any results that make sense to me.
> Usint that argument jsut creates a different behaviour than
> using no such arg, but more is not clear to me.
> 
>   An explanation or a pointer to explanational docs would be fine.
> 
> Ciao,
>   Oliver
> 


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