RE: XML mantra, from Sean McGrath

[cbullard@hiwaay.net]

I wrote:  "In fact, I use XInclude to take advantage of the depth and  
select partials.  It makes no difference to the end result but it  
reduces the process cost so I don't have to strip out pieces when  
building an aggregate.  My only point is the need to preserve options  
based on an understanding of fundamentals.  I can make it work either  
way by moving processes into the FOSI and paying the cost of reduced  
re-applicability of the FOSI."

Gotta quit drinking coffee...

The goal is to create master/document sets (documents composed of  
documents) and to be able to print the master or a module from the  
same style sheet without the end-user being aware of the details.   
Like most software, it should just work.

In fact, I use XInclude because locals understand it and it is a  
little simpler.  However, the system I have doesn't support Xpointer  
so a major advantage for it, to select fragments, isn't there.  In  
this particular case, I use the FOSI to suppress the bits I don't want  
and it works fine with entities or the XIncludes.  The latter is  
simply easier to teach the less stellar monkeys.

The advantages of XSLT or XSLT-FO in this situation are almost nil  
because the rendering engine already creates PDFs from the FOSI and  
there is no advantage to down-translating to say, Docbook.  The output  
is NOT an S1000D clone-render (bad stereo-instructions) but a TM (goes  
in S1000D; comes out 24784-ish).   XSLT is a good way to slice and  
dice but because 1.0 can't create files (yes later versions can), one  
resorts to code and the xml library or bears the cost of manual tasks.  
 I still use XSLT but upstream from the rendering phase, eg., to get  
data out of the spreadsheets as XML then transform those into other  
items.

Again, my point is to be nimble and adaptable given the platform  
churn, the fact that standards may be half-implemented, tools may be  
awkward and the local environment may not be able to sustain clever  
solutions.

YMMV.  Keep a light hand on the tiller.

len