assembly metadata

I'm following up on my action item to initiate a 
discussion of metadata in assembly. Here are the minutes from the last 
meeting:

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Scott raised the issue of adding info to module and 
other
assembly elements to support metadata.  Norm had
added info in 
order to hold a title that would override
the title in the resource it 
pointed to. Bob objected
to using info for override content as well 
as
metadata for assembly elements.  It was agreed that
they need to 
be differentiated.

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I'll start the discussion by suggesting that we add 
an info element, but document it as holding information to describe the current 
assembly-level element, not the element pointed to.  I would also suggest 
adding another element, perhaps named <override>, whose purpose is to 
contain content that is to override the content of the element pointed 
to.   So if you want a new title to replace the title in a topic, you 
would put that title into a module's override element.

 

<assembly>

  <info>may contain author, 
revhistory, etc. to this assembly element</info>

  <resources>

    <info>may contain 
information on who maintains the resource list, etc.</info>

    <resource 
...>

      
<info>although resource is normally an empty element, it could contain an 
optional info element</info>

    
</resource>

    ...

  </resources>

  <structure>

    <info>contains 
metadata about this structure element</info>

    
<module>

      
<info>contains metadata about this module 
element</info>

      
<override>

        
<title>This title overrides the title in the resource that this module 
points to</title>

        
<pubdate>This pubdate overrides that in the topic's info element, if it 
has one.</pubdate>

        
...

      
</override>

    
</module>

  </structure>

</assembly>

Here some suggestions for discussion:

 

1. Permit <info> on any element in an 
assembly.

 

2.  Define the content of info like the 
DocBook 5 info element.

 

3.  An info element in <structure> can 
contribute to the output, just like the info element on the root element of a 
document.

 

4. An info element in any other assembly element 
generally does not contribute to the output, although I'm sure there are cases 
where it could.

 

5.  Permit <override> only on 
<module>.

 

6.  Define the content of <override> to 
be only those elements that make sense to be overridden.  Not sure what 
that list is, though.

 

7. Any element in <override> is merged with 
the content that the module points to, and overrides it if the corresponding 
element exists in the resource.

 

I don't much like the name <override>, so I'm 
open to suggestions.

 

 

Bob Stayton
Sagehill Enterprises