Subject: Re: SGML and Forms From: "W. Eliot Kimber" <eliot@xxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 11:38:51 -0900 |
At 10:38 AM 3/4/98 -0600, Kendall G. Clark wrote: >I'd kill for some suggestions or tips or even notes about software >packages, commercial or otherwise, which are suited to handle forms in >SGML. The Dialog Tag Language (DTL), originally developed for OS/2 1.2 and still used CICS (IBM's mainframe panel-based interaction system) is a pretty good model, at least as an example of how complex forms can be represented in SGML (my first real exposure to SGML was writing a program to format DTL dialogs into character graphic representations of the panels). You should be able to still get the DTL manuals from your local IBM branch office--have them search on "dialog tag language" in the online manual catalog. The HTML form approach also provides a clue of how to do it, although the HTML forms markup is too simpleminded for production tasks (it lacks the containment and grouping structures you'd need to really do forms well). Forms are like tables in that they combine graphical presentation aspects with content-specific aspects. In the DTL, the basic idea was that you had elements for the different control types that could be grouped together in vertical or horizontal "regions". By nesting regions in clever ways, you could define the relative positioning of controls or groups of controls without having to define the geometry explicitly (much as you can have tables with auto widths). Controls were bound to application variables using attributes and conventions for mentioning application variables. The markup design also provides elements for describing menus. Another place to look is Visual Basic. If you look at a VB .frm file, you'll see that it looks very much like an SGML document--you could almost just add angle brackets and you'd have it. Given something like DTL, then it's just a matter of programming to generate the executable and printed versions of the forms. It's non-trivial style work, but it can all be done with DSSSL. You could also do things like write Java or VB code to interpret your forms markup directly ala HTML forms (but more sophisticated). Cheers, Eliot -- <Address HyTime=bibloc> W. Eliot Kimber, Senior Consulting SGML Engineer Highland Consulting, a division of ISOGEN International Corp. 2200 N. Lamar St., Suite 230, Dallas, TX 95202. 214.953.0004 www.isogen.com </Address> DSSSList info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/dsssl/dssslist
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