[sword-devel] subsection references -- OSIS equivalent of ThML #anchor?

[Jonathan Morgan]

Hi Karl,

I first asked about this over a year ago, and got no response (see
http://n4.nabble.com/Linking-to-a-specific-location-in-an-article-td357981.html).
 As I didn't really have time for the project I was wanting it for (linking
the table of contents entries in dictionary articles like in the ISBE to
that section in the lengthy article), I didn't end up pursuing it.  I did
look at the OSIS manual, and it didn't seem to have any support for doing it
with either the <a> element and <a name> or with placing a marker in some
other way, nor did OSIS refs support such things.  It was a long time ago,
though, so my memory could be faulty.  Another possibility I considered but
did not investigate further was using the identifier for an OSIS section and
putting in an <a name> element based on that and then linking to it.  This
would work fine for the section navigation problem, but is probably

I would support the use of links to arbitrary points in an OSIS / ThML
document, especially if modules where it made sense used it.  I don't have
strong opinions on how to represent it, but I do think that the HTML support
is reasonably well known and seems to work.  That being said, if work needed
to be done to make BPBible support it I probably wouldn't do it any time
soon (probably not until there were modules using it).

Jon

On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 2:13 PM, Karl Kleinpaste <karl at kleinpaste.org>wrote:

> As folks here know, I continue to generate ThML modules, mostly due to
> its simplicity of use via its "HTML plus goodies" nature, the goodies
> being <note>, <scripRef>, and some <div> cases.  I'm looking for
> information or opinion about whether something I've worked on, currently
> specific to ThML, has an equivalent interpretation in OSIS.
>
> This week, I've done some work in Xiphos so as to be able to support
> #anchor references.  The immediate use is for how I roll my own NET and
> NETnote modules, NET being my most-used translation these days.  In NET,
> I generate this kind of footnote content:
>
> <note><a href="sword://NETnote/Ge1:2#n13">Note 13</a></note>
>
> Now, in Xiphos, passing over a footnote marker "*n", "Note 13" goes to
> the previewer, as a link.  Clicking the link kicks our main URL handler,
> separating module+verse reference from anchor, navigates the reference
> (in both Bible and commentary), then jumps to the anchor.
>
> Similarly, NETnote now has each note self-identified thus:
>
> <a name="n13" href="sword://NETnote/Ge1:2#n13"><font size="-1"><b>13
> -</b></font></a>
>
> This provides the anchor reference name to be used from the NET
> footnote, and also makes each note self-clickable, meaning that I can
> click a footnote marker within NETnote itself (whether it's from the
> current verse or not), to induce that footnote to home to top of pane
> and force the Bible pane to navigate to the relevant verse as well.
>
> This content is easy and directly implementable for paired (companion)
> modules like NET + NETnote.  Another use case for this markup is
> e.g. the possibility of bookmark references in genbooks, where
> /The/Section/Under/This/Complicated/Key may be very long, and
> availability of references to individual paragraphs could be very
> useful.  Tack on #paragraph12 to such a key, and now getting to a
> particular reference in a 50-paragraph theological thesis section
> becomes easy.
>
> I'm thinking about this kind of issue especially in terms of user
> content authoring, that is, Xiphos now has personal commentary,
> prayerlists and journals, and highlighter-style verse annotations, all
> due to user requests for more user-contributed content.  Users who want
> to author serious content in their own personal commentaries or journals
> should be able to provide these kinds of markers in their own content,
> and to reference others' markers when they write.
>
> Two problems, for which I'd like to see comment:
>
> [a] This capability is Xiphos-specific at the moment; I'm not aware that
> any other Sword UI contemplates #anchor-specific navigation.  How do
> others feel about making such a capability available?
>
> [b] One question is whether there is a semantic equivalent of #anchor in
> OSIS.  Does the syntax for osisRef provide for subsection indication?
> Can it escape the filtration system so as to arrive at the app in this
> kind of URL #anchor?  Generally, what's the state of osisRef support?
>
> --karl
>
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