Re: API to formatters and grove engines

["James Clark" <jjc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> I therefore understand the question of formatting an element 'as part of
a
> complete SGML document' as double-sided:
>         - items related to the sequential formatted output, such as page
> numbers. I can easily think that this is harder to implement and, in any
> way, forces into formatting the entire document. It brings with it the
> convenience of being able to output just one CHAPTER of a BOOK, without
> loosing consistency with the rest of the BOOK in terms of page numbers.

If you want to get page numbers right, you have to format everything up to
the element you're interested in, so there's not much Jade can do to help. 
But for (almost?) everything except page numbers you can get the formatting
for a CHAPTER, say, right without having to format the whole document. 
Jade isn't just for print, and for online display page numbers aren't an
issue.

The sort of thing I have in mind is this.  Suppose I have a style sheet
like this:

  (root (make sequence font-family-name: "Times"))

  (element book (make simple-page-sequence))

  (element chapter (do-chapter))

and I want to format a chapter by itself.   Then Jade should be able to
give be the same result that I would get if I applied this rule to the
chapter node:

  (make sequence font-family-name: "Times"
     (make simple-page-sequence
        (do-chapter)))

>         - items related to elements outside the element you want to
output,
> such as a NAME of a referenced PROCEDURE. The question here is not to
format
> the entire SGML document but rather to allow a style sheet the access to
an
> item not in the scope of the node it is supposed to format. In more
simple
> words, when formatting a specific node, would I still have access to
> siblings or parents ?

Yes, absolutely.  The whole grove has to be available.  This is necessary
to get things like chapter numbering right.

> Furthermore though this is pure speculation and I don't need it for the
time
> being, I wonder if this method would not simplify the access to nodes
> outside the specific node you want to output. Having the grove in memory,
> could a 'PROCEDURE.DSL' file make reference to a sibling PROCEDURE's NAME
?

Huh?  The Grove OLE automation interface doesn't provide any functionality
not in SDQL.

James



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