Gary Schnabl wrote:
Jean Hollis Weber wrote:
Gary Schnabl wrote:
Maybe it's time for a well written How-to on some of these exports,
etc. because I and others might not want to go back through the
recent posts, especially for us who do not retain all of them.
Gary,
Maybe I'm just slow and fuzzy today, but what do you have in mind for
a "how-to" on exports? A checklist of things to consider when making
layout decisions in the original ODT file, because of the effects on
exported files? Or something else?
I've never even tried using most of the export (or even save-as)
formats that OOo provides, other than PDF export and now a bit of
MediaWiki export, so I don't know what people might need or want to
know.
DocBook is a big candidate for a good writeup: I know so little about
DocBook export and import (and working with DocBook files) that I
have trouble even asking an intelligent question. I've read some of
the info on the subject but have been unable to translate it into
anything that makes sense to me in practical terms... and the tools
I've heard about all seem to either cost a lot or be too techie for
me, or I have to work about the embedded XML codes. What I want to do
is open a DocBook file in OOo and edit it there, then save it out
again. I'm not concerned about the specifics of layout, but I
definitely don't want the codes in my way.
--Jean
Some information about DocBook or XML:
XML is not concerned with formatting documents but with their content.
Formatting XML content is performed with style sheets or some such
files used with the particular software involved. In our case, these
could most likely be OOo, with MS Word or FrameMaker also used in the
real world of authoring (or drafting of templates by those more
advanced).
OOO 2.3 (plus my older FrameMaker 7.0--some five years old) seemingly
uses DocBook 4.1.2, which was issued in December 2003. DocBook 4.5 was
released in its present form in October 2006. So, it appears that OOo
is not current with the most current DocBook version.
However, DocBook 5 is scheduled to be the official DocBook version
sometime in August 2007--maybe even by now. This version will be a
break from the W3 to the RELAX NG Schema.
Because OOo is somewhat tardy in its DocBook XML implementation, what
version of DocBook should be used for documentation--the older 4.1.2,
the current 4.5 (due to be superseded in a matter of days and is not
yet implemented by OOo 2.3 anyways), or the soon-to-be official
DocBook 5 (even further from any OOo implementation)?
The real question is when will OOo ever adopt DocBook 5? This should
obviously be the focus of any serious writing of XML for OOo. However,
a chapter or so based on DocBook 4.1.2 should be the first attempt by
OOoAuthors and later incorporate DocBook 5 (which is quite a bit
different from 4.1.2) by the time that OOo ever gets around to being
current in its XML.
I spent some time recently going over (and rewriting a short version
for my own FM benefit) an XML tutorial produced by Adobe for its FM
7.0. It was somewhat useful, although it was not accurately written
(includes some unnecessary nonsensical steps for some reason--possibly
from improperly being cut-and-pasted from an earlier FM version--and
it did not discuss some practicalities).
So, I now feel quite comfortable editing any future OOo XML tutorial
or instructional chapter for the /Writer Guide/. Still, we need
somebody to author it/them.
So, what type of structured authoring does OOo have that might be
comparable to what FrameMaker already has for several years? I really
haven't scoped that out much. Even my old FM 7.0 version is up-to-date
with DocBook 4.5 XML. Whether Adobe will update FM 7.0 to the
soon-to-be-adopted DocBook 5 is yet to be seen. OOo DocBook XML is
currently at DocBook 4.1.2, unless I'm mistaken.
Although, I haven't tried it, it's probably possible to accomplish with
OOo what FM does using XML with authoring of templates for users of
XML-structured authoring.
So, what is possible using OOo (and/or the SDK) along these two lines:
(1) structured authoring and (2) XML-structured template programming for
producing templates for those users in part (1)?
Having a writer for XML would help fill a wide hole in OOo documentation.
--
Gary Schnabl
2775 Honorah
Detroit MI 48209
(734) 245-3324
