xml-dev - DTD extensibility

["Brian Fitzpatrick" <bmf@opentext.com>]

What would be the best way to model a DTD for a system that contains 20-30
objects that all inherit from a base object? In addition, new objects can be
added to the system as a customization.

Would it be better to create unique elements for each object and allow the
users to extend the DTD through parameter entities overriden in the internal
subset.  (e.g. <document>, <purchaseorder>, <expensereport>, etc.)

(OR)

Would it be better to try to model the generic object that they all inherit
from and add attributes to identify the unique subtype (e.g. <object
type="document">, <object type="expensereport">).

However, with the generic model, it then becomes tricky to model the
attributes that describe each different object type, since they will be
different based on the object type.

Does it even make sense to have a DTD for a system that can be extended so
easily?  Will having one static DTD with overrides in the internal subset
make it hard for programs that want to consume the XML.

I'd appreicate any suggestions or pointers to similar problems.

Thanks.


***************************************************************************
This is xml-dev, the mailing list for XML developers.
To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@xml.org&BODY=unsubscribe%20xml-dev
List archives are available at http://xml.org/archives/xml-dev/
***************************************************************************