[sword-devel] virtual modules

[Chris Little]

DM Smith wrote:
> I think that there is more that can be done in the API.

I merely meant that we are nearly feature complete. That doesn't mean we 
won't still have plenty of work ahead of us in the area of improving the 
API.

> If I understand correctly, the osisIDs are to form a nesting hierarchy. 
> If it weren't for the fact that an element with an osisID can start in 
> one document element and finish outside of it, I think elements with 
> osisIDs could be represented with begin and end tags and not milestoned.
> That is,
> <tag osisID="y" sID="y">... <tag eID="y">...<tag osisID="w" 
> sID="w">...<tag eID="w">
> and never
> <tag osisID="y" sID="y">...<tag osisID="w" sID="w">... <tag 
> eID="y">...<tag eID="w">
> 
> If it is truly nesting then it may be fairly straightforward to 
> understand a non-bible.

Ideally osisIDs might be nested, but realistically there is no reason to 
trust that they are.

Since you can (and often must) place osisIDs not only on elements that 
represent the basic structure of a document (e.g. book/chapter/verse in 
a Bible), but also on elements that frequently cross these boundaries, 
like paragraphs, quotations, poetry, and pages. And that is to say 
nothing of the possibility of multiple reference systems marked within a 
single document (potentially on the same tags). So you have to be smart 
about which elements (and which osisIDs) you actually index if your 
objective is just to pull out a good reference system into the text.

--Chris