Re: DocBook in ConTeXt - any new ideas?

["R. Ermers" <r.ermers@hccnet.nl>]

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Op 4 jun 2011, om 11:06 heeft Hans Hagen het volgende geschreven:

> On 4-6-2011 10:21, R. Ermers wrote:
> 
>> Adding the prefix cals: to the tag names (thus making the file invalid, which is contrary to the docbook philosophy), using the cals table module and the directives is not enough, at least the cals tables in my valid xml docbook document were never typeset.
> 
> can be any prefix (namespace) ... the code that implements it uses a namespace in order to avoid a mixup
> 
>> With help from Aditya I managed to typeset a document which contains merely a cals table. I then thought this was going to be the first step to processing my xml file which contains a number of tables. But alas ....
>> 
>> The tables in my document were skipped like any other unknown xml tag. I must have done something wrong. But what? There were no replies to my postings. In the end I felt silly for daring to posing a problem other people apparently had no problems with whatsoever.
> 
> well, providing solutions for specific user cases depends on available time etc ... even making a simple example ...
> 
>> So, if you should embark on this track, be aware that typesetting xml is more complicated than a ConTeXt document, that the knowledge about it is not widespread yet, that you rely on the happy few who do know, and it may take a lot of time to find out things yourself.
> 
> sure, and eventually it will be covered by manuals (or test files in the test suite -- actually there are some xml ones in there) ... there's only so much you can expect for a free system so some patience is needed
> 
> ps. although a lot of help can be gotten from this list, the wiki etc, users who want to do complex things (or workflows) cannot expect all their problems to be solved here as we all have jobs to fulfill ... it might help to make wiki pages and let others fill in the gaps
> 

Of course, I agree that typesetting a xml docbook in itself is a complex matter. And yes, I read every single letter of the complex xml manuals.

I also agree that people no doubt have many other things to do, including myself. Anybody working with Context and TeX must bear in mind that his problems will not be solved immediately, that knowledgeable people will voluntarily look into questions and problems, depending on their time and their interest in specific problems.

However, on the other hand since docbook is a very well known and therefore attractive standard, and most problems in xml can be described quite straightforward. As a result the problem of typesetting cals tables cannot be depicted as a 'specific user case'. After all, there is a module cals tables, and it is expected to work.

The problem was: how can I typeset a cals table with a minimal installation? Comparable to: how do I typeset a header? What settings are needed apart from the module? This should not be a 'complex' problem.

My conclusion remains that the knowledge on xml is not widespread, that those who possess the knowledge do not always have time to help, and as a result my problem was not solved.

For the record: note that my problem was not of the type: how to discard the nth line of a cals table? How to color the header of a cals table? Or how to only typeset cals tables with id="abc".

Robert


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