[sword-devel] Getting stuff done (Re: External links)

[Chris Little]

[Sorry, I sent this earlier, but from the wrong address, so it didn't 
get through, and may show up again if Troy lets it through the queue.]

Matthew Talbert wrote:
>> What really needs to be done, is to finalize how we are going to use
>> osisRefs.
>> I'd like to see modules being able to contain some mapping from osis ids to
>> display names. I don't show the user Gen.2.2 in my application (or
>> /Gen/2/2), why should I show them Ant.1.8.2 or (/Ant/1/8/2)?
> 
> While I agree that this should be done, what is a person supposed to
> use in the meantime? I am working on an enhanced Easton module (well,
> it's been put on hold due to the gnomesword stuff), and I want these
> features:
> 
> 1. Cross-references. Any word mentioned (except for some short,
> trivial ones) should be linked to the appropriate entry. I am doing
> this wikipedia style where only the first mention is linked.
> 2. Greek/Hebrew references. There are lots of mentions of the original
> language words that I would like linked to the Greek/Hebrew
> dictionaries.
> 3. Scripture references. Of course, this is supposed to work with OSIS.
> 
> So currently I can use thml and sword:// style links and this works in
> gnomesword. If I use Osis cross-references, it won't work anywhere.
> And I have no idea how long it will be until there exists a sword
> version that will work (1 year, 2 years?)


The problem is basically on the frontend side, and has probably been 
neglected for lack of content to support. The format of an osisRef has 
long been defined and likewise its interpretation in Sword (which 
basically follows from the private protocol URI definition).

I don't see that there is anything more to be done within Sword proper, 
so it's essentially a matter for frontend developers to address and they 
could release new versions of their frontends tomorrow (or whenever 
their release schedule permits) if they wanted to.

Frontend developers simply need to be on the lookout for 
osisRef="Josephus:Ant.1.8.2" and know how to handle that themselves. 
That may simply entail converting it to <a 
href="sword://Josephus/%2Ant%2F1%2F8%2F2"> in the case of GnomeSword. 
(And the same for TEI: <ref target="Josephus:Ant.1.8.2">.

Explicit links to particular works are well-defined. Links to Bibles (in 
general, rather than a specific translation) are well-defined. Generic 
links to other works, including dictionaries, aren't particularly well 
defined, except for the case of strong:[GH][0-9]{1,5}

> I would like to mention as well that the documentation for creating
> dictionaries is quite lacking. I would be glad to contribute to this,
> but it would be nice to get this issue sorted out first.

I agree, though to a large extent, the dictionary documentation amounts 
to: go read a standard TEI reference. But we should at least explicate 
some of the conventions to be used in Sword content that goes undefined 
by TEI. And some examples would go a long way towards encouraging good 
markup.

--Chris