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

[DM Smith]

On Nov 25, 2008, at 11:12 PM, Matthew Talbert wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 11:05 PM, Matthew Talbert <ransom1982 at gmail.com 
> > wrote:
>>> Since Chris already answered the second one - OSIS has the <a ...>  
>>> tag
>>> - can we just add the osisRef-to-URI and be done with it?  I've  
>>> messed
>>> around in the OSIS filters a bit with my mod2osis edits, and this
>>> could easily be added to the logic in there in a few minutes.  What
>>> other features do you need, Karl, that SWORD's OSIS
>>> implementation/filters doesn't support?
>>
>> I can't speak for Karl, but I think this would be enough to convince
>> me to use OSIS instead of ThML. I would certainly appreciate if that
>> were included in the HTML filter.
>>
>> Matthew
>
> I would just like to add that some short examples of how to use OSIS
> and TEI for dictionaries would be very helpful. By examples I just
> mean a few entire entries done with different options with comments
> explaining what was going on. Linking to the TEI page doesn't help me
> very much, because it's hard to tell easily what's relevant and what
> isn't. Also, the xsd is huge and a bit overwhelming to me. A few
> examples showing how things are commonly used would be a help. What is
> confusing is things like Entry vs EntryFree which has been discussed
> here, but I'm afraid there are more things like that that *could* be
> done different ways, but I really can't tell which is preferred.

I'm working on a TEI dictionary and this is a good suggestion.

TEI is an extensible and tailorable definition. Chris has produced a  
schema for us to validate our dictionaries.

Here are my observations concerning the differences between <entry>  
and <entryFree>.

<entry> is strongly structured. It is more like a database row  
definition. Elements have particular parenting. And whitespace is  
insignificant.

<entryFree> is weakly structured. Allowable elements appear pretty  
much anywhere. Text can appear anywhere. Thus, whitespace is  
significant.

<superEntry> can be used as a collector for several <entry> or  
<entryFree>. The tei2mod module creator will create an entry for the  
<superEntry> and one for each <entry> and <entryFree> in it.

The SWORD engine in it's TEI filters passes all text, without  
reorganization. The "n" attribute of the <entryFree> element is output  
as bold. A few other elements are output as bold or italic. The <rend>  
element can be used for Other than that <entry> and <entryFree> are  
treated identically.

When we create TEI dictionary modules, I think that we won't be using  
<entry> as it is to constraining. We need to preserve the publisher's  
text. I tried to use <entry> for a publisher's work and was unable to  
produce their desired output.

Just use <entryFree> and be done with it. Don't use <rend> when  
another tag will do better. Use <usg>, <orth>, <pron>, .... to provide  
semantic content.

The weakness in the TEI filters right now is their handling of self- 
referential references. Every non-trivial dictionary has these. I'm  
not sure if the filters handle biblical references either, but it  
should. However, this should not hold up a release.

I realize that this is not the example you ask for. Sorry for that.

In Him,
	DM