Thank you Thomas and Wolfgang, About startletter / starttext: the contents of my test file reflect a moment. I have made numerous tests with and without starttext/stoptext. The state of the test file is one in an endless row of tests.
I am not without total experience in programing. I more or less understand program scripts when they are not too complicated and I like tweaking them, yet I cannot think up a new program from scratch. But anyway, I will go ahead with your suggestions! Thank you very much again! Robert > Op 30 jul. 2017, om 17:38 heeft Schmitz Thomas A. > <thomas.schm...@uni-bonn.de> het volgende geschreven: > > >> On 30. Jul 2017, at 14:15, r.erm...@hccnet.nl wrote: >> >> Let me as a turcologist compare my problem to learning Kazakh: I am prepared >> to give you a manual with the grammatical rules, provide you with lists of >> nouns, verbs, adjectives and postpositions, explain the application of >> phonological rules, transliterations of the alphabet, give you a insight in >> the nominal cases and verb structure, and read with you a text in Kazakh. >> Nevertheless, without being rude, I bet that even then you are unable to >> flawlessly produce a poem or even a brief text in Kazakh yourself. > > OK, I see your desperation, and I take your analogy (I’m a scholar myself, > not a programmer): if someone came to you with the Iliad and explained that > he doesn’t know a word of Kazakh but wants all of Homer’s poem, every line, > every word, every nuance, expressed in Kazakh with the help of a grammar and > a dictionary, you’d reply that this is not how learning languages works. You > begin with simple sentences and work your way up. You have shown us several > times examples that don’t work, and I have expressed my suspicion that this > may be due to using the correspondence module. You weren’t sure whether you > need it or not; which is something only you can know. What does this module > offer that can’t be accomplished otherwise? If you look at the documentation > of the module, you see that the \startletter … \stopletter pair starts an > environment within a \starttext … \stoptext context document. When you look > at your setup, you will see that you have a \startletter … \stopletter, then > a few setups, and then a \starttext … \stoptext document. I’m not a > programmer, but I see that this will not work. > > So for some simple rules: when you process an xml buffer (or document), you > define xmlsetups for the different xml elements. When you write > \xmlprocessbuffer, that’s when these elements will be processed - which > means: that’s when your document will be built. You can’t go through your xml > buffer/document and then add further text (well you can, but that’s more > complicated), so what you have to do is add your text (for the sake of this > example: \input knuth) WITHING THESE SETUPS. So let’s start with a simple > document that will work: > > \startbuffer[participants] > <contacts> > <contact class='participant' label='Hendriks'> > <formalname>Hendriks</formalname> > <informalname>Karel</informalname> > <prefix>mr.</prefix> > <initials>K.</initials> > <city>Arnhem</city> > <address> > <p>Mr. K. Hendriks</p> > <p>Grotestraat 5</p> > <p>1234 BB Arnhem</p> > </address> > <kix>1234bb5</kix> > </contact> > <contact class='participant' label='Janssen'> > <formalname>Janssen</formalname> > <informalname>Piet</informalname> > <initials>P.</initials> > <prefix>mr.</prefix> > <city>Nijmegen</city> > <address> > <p>Mr. P. Janssen</p> > <p>Kortestraat 8</p> > <p>1234 AA Nijmegen</p> > </address> > <kix>1234aa8</kix> > </contact> > </contacts> > \stopbuffer > > \startxmlsetups xml:setups > \xmlsetsetup{#1}{contacts|contact|formalname|informalname|prefix|initials|address|city|text|kix|p}{xml:*} > \stopxmlsetups > > \xmlregistersetup{xml:setups} > > \startxmlsetups xml:contacts > \xmlflush{#1} > \stopxmlsetups > > \startxmlsetups xml:p > \xmlflush{#1}\par > \stopxmlsetups > > \startxmlsetups xml:contact > \xmltext{#1}{/address} > \blank [3*line] > Subject: your life in \xmltext{#1}{/city} > \blank [2*line] > Dear \xmltext{#1}{/prefix} \xmltext{#1}{/formalname}, > \blank [line] > \input knuth \relax > > Kind regards > \blank [line] > X > \page > \stopxmlsetups > > \setuppagenumbering [state=stop] > > \starttext > \xmlprocessbuffer{main}{participants}{} > \stoptext > > So you see what I’m doing here: I process every simple <contact> element, and > I add all the stuff that will go into the letter for every single contact. > Start with this document and then find out what you need in addition: a logo, > some fancy lines across the letters, a special placement for the address and > the subject, etc.? I’m guessing that it would be easier to do this with > simple setup commands rather than using the correspondence module, but we > have no idea what you need to accomplish. Once you find out what’s missing, > you can modify the example and ask additional questions. But, to take your > analogy: don’t start with irregular verbs and special cases that will > complicate the picture. How is this line > > \setuplanguage[nl][date={year, –, mm, –, dd}] % ISO 8601 date > > from your original example relevant to your problem? And again: please don’t > give me the “I’m not a programmer” response; I’m not a programmer either, but > I know that you have to reduce the complexity in problems to find a solution. > You’re adding extra complexity. > > The way I describe above is the easiest path. There are other approaches, of > course: you can combine elements from several xml documents, or you can > process the xml data with Lua. All of this may be unnecessary in your case, > but nobody will be able to help unless we understand what you need. And to > explain this, you will have to start with simple examples, not with a complex > document. > > Sorry for being somewhat stern, but I’m sure you would give similar advice to > your students… > > All best > > Thomas > > ___________________________________________________________________________________ > If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the > Wiki! > > maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context > webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net > archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/ > wiki : http://contextgarden.net > ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________