OASIS Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) TC

 View Only
  • 1.  [dita] DITA 1.2 - implementation-specific attributes

    Posted 02-27-2007 17:36
    
    
      
      
    
    
    

    A brief, perhaps placeholder, proposal for DITA 1.2 to support implementation-specific attributes on arbitrary elements.

    --Dana

    DITA Proposed Feature
    Implementation-Specific Attributes

    Allow DITA adopters to add implementation-specific metadata attributes to any element that can contain a data element, or be referred to by a data-about element.

    Longer description

    Problem
    DITA currently provides the data and data-about elements to hold arbitrary, implementation-specific metadata about most if not all of its elements.

    Many implementation prefer to hold such metadata in attributes instead, especially when the metadata is maintained by automated processes, and not by authors.

    Such an approach is isomorphic with allowing metadata in data and data-about elements. It is hard to explain or justify why DITA adopters are not given a choice between putting their metadata in elements, or putting it in attributes, as they prefer.

    Solution
    Allow DITA adopters to add implementation-specific attributes to arbitrary any element that can either contain the data element, or be referred to by the data-about element.

    DITA toolkits would provide transforms to change any  non-standard attributes they find into data or data-about elements with a name attribute of the same name as the implementation-specific attribute, and a value attribute having the same textual value as the implementation-specific attribute has.

    DITA toolkits would provide a method of transforming data and data-about attributes whose names match implementation-specific attributes back into those attributes.

    Scope

    Minor. Data and data-about elements already provide this functionality. Implementation-specific attributes merely more them to a slightly different place in the document type model.

    Costs

    • Documenting the new alternative.
    • Updating existing generalization/respecialization tools, or new renaming tools, to make the transforms.

    Benefits

    Major. DITA gains much greater implementation flexibility, making it easier to adopt.

    Time Required

    A day for the documentation.




  • 2.  Re: [dita] DITA 1.2 - implementation-specific attributes

    Posted 02-28-2007 15:32
    Dana Spradley wrote:
    > A brief, perhaps placeholder, proposal for DITA 1.2 to support 
    > implementation-specific attributes on arbitrary elements.
    
    Obviously we need to put some design thought into this feature, but I 
    think that having this apply to *any* unrecognized attribute is probably 
    a little too strong.
    
    I would suggest that it would make more sense to have a separate 
    "metadata attributes" declaration attribute. DITA-aware processors would 
    then use this attribute to determine which attributes are in fact 
    metadata attributes, e.g.:
    
    

    Cheers, Eliot -- W. Eliot Kimber Professional Services Innodata Isogen 8500 N. Mopac, Suite 402 Austin, TX 78759 (214) 954-5198 ekimber@innodata-isogen.com www.innodata-isogen.com



  • 3.  Re: [dita] DITA 1.2 - implementation-specific attributes

    Posted 02-28-2007 16:40
    
    
      
      
    
    
    Glad to hear you also think it's an important
    feature, Eliot.

    I'm sure we can work out the details during the 1.2 development process.

    I didn't want to overengineer it in the proposal.

    Nor afterwards, for that matter...enough of that in the high tech world already.

    --Dana

    W. Eliot Kimber wrote:
    Dana Spradley wrote:
    A brief, perhaps placeholder, proposal for DITA 1.2 to support implementation-specific attributes on arbitrary elements.

    Obviously we need to put some design thought into this feature, but I think that having this apply to *any* unrecognized attribute is probably a little too strong.

    I would suggest that it would make more sense to have a separate "metadata attributes" declaration attribute. DITA-aware processors would then use this attribute to determine which attributes are in fact metadata attributes, e.g.:

    <p metadata-atts="foo bar"
      foo="a metadata value"
      bar="another metadata value"
      fred="not a metadata attribute">

    Cheers,

    Eliot


  • 4.  Re: [dita] DITA 1.2 - implementation-specific attributes

    Posted 02-28-2007 16:43
    Dana Spradley wrote:
    > Glad to hear you also think it's an important feature, Eliot.
    
    Yes, in the specializations I'm doing now, having to put all the local 
    metadata into subelements is really annoying. It doesn't prevent me 
    doing what I need to but it does lead to more verbose markup than would 
    otherwise be required and requires more work to explain to my clients 
    why it has to be that way.
    
    Cheers,
    
    Eliot
    -- 
    W. Eliot Kimber
    Professional Services
    Innodata Isogen
    8500 N. Mopac, Suite 402
    Austin, TX 78759
    (214) 954-5198
    
    ekimber@innodata-isogen.com
    www.innodata-isogen.com