xml-dev - Re: XML DTD Creation

[John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>]

"Pierre, Sebastian" wrote:

>    (  link | see | anchor  |  em | quote | citation | copyright | date | name  | #PCDATA )*

Move #PCDATA to the front, that's all.  XML syntax is inflexible in this respect.

>  - I don't know if I can imbricate more than one level of parenthesis in element content declaration, ie:
>    ( (first-name, last-name)+, address )*
>    [This example is silly, but the important fact is imbricated parenthesis]

Yes, that is legal.  It says you can have any number (greater than one)
of first-name followed by last-name elements, and finally a single
address element.

As a side issue:

Separate first-name and last-name elements are not good internationalization,
because some people don't have identifiable first names and last names,
or if they do, they may not mean what you expect; e.g. Hungarian, Japanese,
and Chinese names have the family name first.

It's probably better to use "cname" (common name) and "sname" (surname or
sortable name) elements, where sname is typically last name and cname is
typically the whole name in normal order.  That way
<cname>John Cowan</cname><sname>Cowan</sname> works
well, but so does <cname>Murata Makoto</cname><sname>Murata</sname>.
The minor redundancy is well worth it.

-- 

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)

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