Re: [docbook] Indexterms - see and seealso linked to another indexterm

[moving this over to the docbook-apps mailing list where 
stylesheet issues are discussed]

 

Hi Maria,

This has been a long standing feature request.  I always 
thought it would be difficult because of the complexity of the indexing 
machinery, but I just looked again and I think it can be done without too much 
trouble.

 

The basic problem is that the entries in the index are 
generated from indexterm elements that reside in the document. You cannot 
directly use the id of an indexterm, because that is used to link back into the 
text.  So an index entry needs to generate its own unique id.  Then 
the stylesheet needs to match the text from the <see> to the first 
<primary> element that matches (there may be many). 

 

To insert the index entry id attributes, you would need to 
customize the template in autoidx.xsl that starts with:

 

<xsl:template match="indexterm" 
mode="index-primary">

For the HTML version, the change would look like this, which 
uses the id of the indexterm but prepends 'ientry-' to it to differentiate 
it.

 

Change:

 

  <dt>

 

To:

 

  <!-- add an id for the indexentry itself, not the 
term in the para -->
  <xsl:variable name="id" 
select="concat('ientry-', generate-id())"/>
  <dt 
id="{$id}">

Then you would need to customize the 
mode='index-see' template with something like this:

 

<xsl:template match="indexterm" 
mode="index-see">

<xsl:template match="indexterm" 
mode="index-see">
  <xsl:param name="scope" 
select="."/>
  <xsl:param name="role" select="''"/>
  
<xsl:param name="type" select="''"/>

  

  <!-- get the text to match on -->

  <xsl:variable name="see" 
select="normalize-space(see)"/>

  <!-- use the 'primary' key that is already 
defined to locate the matching indexterm, then select the first with [1] 
-->
  <xsl:variable name="target" select="key('primary', 
$see)[1]"/>

 

  <!-- form the href -->

  <xsl:variable name="href">
    
<xsl:if test="$target">
      <xsl:value-of 
select="concat('#ientry-', generate-id($target))"/>
    
</xsl:if>
  </xsl:variable>

 

  <xsl:text> (</xsl:text>
  
<xsl:call-template name="gentext">
    
<xsl:with-param name="key" select="'see'"/>
  
</xsl:call-template>
  <xsl:text> 
</xsl:text>
  <xsl:choose>

   <!-- if there is a target, form the link 
-->
    <xsl:when 
test="$target">
      <a 
href="">
        
<xsl:value-of select="see"/>
      
</a>
    </xsl:when>
    
<xsl:otherwise>
      <!-- you might 
generate an error message here if you expect all see elements to link 
-->

      <xsl:value-of 
select="see"/>
    </xsl:otherwise>
  
</xsl:choose>
  
<xsl:text>)</xsl:text>
</xsl:template>

I did not test this much, so there may be issues that arise 
when you try it.  For example, I just remembered that  the 'primary' 
key is actually constructed as follows:

 

<!ENTITY primary   'normalize-space(concat(primary/@sortas, " ", 
primary))'>

That means indexterms with an @sortas attribute would not 
match.  You might need to construct your own xsl:key that does not include 
@sortas, something like this (untested):

 

<xsl:key name="primaryonly"

              match="indexterm"

              
use="normalize-space(primary)"/>

 

and then use 'primaryonly' in the key() function 
above.

 

When <see> is working, then do something similar for 
see-also, and for FO output.

 

This is such a nice feature I think I'll add it to the next 
release, with a param to turn it on or off.

 

Bob Stayton
Sagehill Enterprises


From: Maria Lowas 

Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 7:11 AM

To:  

Subject: [docbook] Indexterms - see and seealso linked to another 
indexterm

Hi everyone,

I am at the point of creating an index and I though it 
would be nice if the <see> and <seealso> elements were linked to the 
term they are pointing to, that is, to another index entry. In this way, if you 
have something like this:

<indexterm>
    
<primary>group</primary>
    <see>user 
group</see>
</indexterm>

and you 
get:

    group (see user group)

you can click "user 
group" and see the index entries for this term (secondary entries, linked 
topics/pages etc.) instead of scrolling/searching for it. Is there any sensible 
way to achieve it? I've been looking through docs (DocBool XSL: The Complete 
Guide) and the mailing list, but I couldn't find any straight forward answer. My 
document is processed to HTML and PDF.

Any 
thoughts?

Regards,

Maria 
Lowas

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