Re: ConTeXt to XML?

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

Elena Fraboschi wrote:

> So, I have been delving into ConTeXt, and I like its syntax:  far 
> "cleaner" than LaTeX.  I have also read that there is work in progress
> to convert XML to ConTeXt --- my question is, any thoughts, hints,
> recommendations about reverse-engineering, that is, from ConTeXt to
> XML?  If the IUMJ switched production to ConTeXt, we would still want
> to preserve on "archival" copy in XML.
>
> (As of now we translate LaTeX to XML using "hermes", but it would
> not work with ConTeXt.)  If nothing is contemplated in the
> area of *from ConTeXt to XML", might this strategy work

There are several things involved in such a translation

- the general structure, this is not that hard and can easily be scripted
- special characters, also easy to script
- special markup, like math, chemistry etc

concerning math, one can use:

- content mathml, which is very structured and configurable
- presentation mathml, which looks like tex, and does not always lead to 
nice looking output
- embedded tex, which is ok

as a start one can consider "structure in xml and embedded tex for 
formulas",  its not that hard to generate web pages from that

i'm considering adding open math support (needed for a project)

> ConTeXt -> pdf - pdf to XML ?

the best way is:

xml -> context
xml -> html
xml -> anything

normally magazines are not that complex so oen can use context's direct 
mapping; depending on the amount of manipulations, one can

xml -> context reading xml -> pdf
xml -> xslt -> xml -> context reading xml -> pdf
xml -> xslt -> context code -> context reading tex -> pdf

in any case, try to cut the problem into small parts and find solutions 
for that; so far i never ran into things/demands that could not be solved

> I apologize if the topic is off bounds, and will be grateful if anyone 
> decides to think outloud on this subject.  Best, elena

no problem, if you want to know more you can either use this list (it 
could also be a nice thread for those who want to do similar things)

if you don't want to bother the list., you may also mail me directly

pdf is pages while xml is structured markup, so converting pdf into xml 
is non trivial,

(btw, the dutch math societies journal is made up in context, i.e. non 
standard layout (2/3 columns, grayscales, two non cm font sets, 
graphics, pictures etc; the main reason why we now have the columnsets 
mechanism-)

Hans

 

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