Re: Attributes of Top-Most Element

Subject: Re: Attributes of Top-Most Element
From: Daniel Speck <dspeck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1998 16:07:15 -0400
Chuck Darney wrote:

> Is it possible to use attributes assigned to the top-most element within
> the style sheet to change some processing options?  Is it, as suggested
> by David Pawson, a limitation based on the "side-effects" discussion of
> a while ago?

Yes, you can use attributes on almost any element in the document to control
processing. You just need to create a function that can retrieve the value
of the attribute whenever and whereever required.

> I have several types of deliverables I want to produce.  The style of
> these deliverables is the same with certain exceptions.  All use the
> same DTD.  It would seem rather silly to maintain a separate DSL for
> each deliverable when the only difference might be the use (or lack of)
> of a footer.

Remember that you can include multiple style specifications within a single
style sheet using the style-sheet DTD provided by Jade:

<!doctype style-sheet "-//James Clark//DTD DSSSL Style Sheet//EN">

<style-sheet>

<style-specification id="print" use="common">
...
</style-specification>

<style-specification id="web" use="common">
...
</style-specification>

<style-specification id="common">
...
</style-specification>

The definitions and rules in higher-level style-specifications can override
those in lower-level style specifications.

By default, the first style-specification is used if one is not specified
explicitly on the command line. To specify another style specification, use
the following:

jade -d "mystyle.dsl#web" ...

> Passing the "deliverable type" as an attribute of my top-most element
> seemed the logical thing to do.  Is there another way I should appraoch
> this problem?  Will I need to maintain several, almost identical, DSLs?

See above. I think that "deliverable type" is not really part of the
document proper and should be communicated outside of it (but that's just my
opinion).

-dan

--
Daniel Speck                              e-mail: dspeck@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Systems Engineer                           voice:     +1 301.548.7818
Thomson Technology Services Group            fax:     +1 301.527.4094
1375 Piccard Drive, Rockville, MD 20850      WWW:    www.thomtech.com

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Current Thread
  • Attributes of Top-Most Element
    • Chuck Darney - from mail1.ability.netby web4-1.ability.net (8.8.5/8.6.12) with ESMTP id OAA14822Mon, 6 Apr 1998 14:42:57 -0400 (EDT)
      • Norman Walsh - from mail1.ability.netby web4-1.ability.net (8.8.5/8.6.12) with ESMTP id PAA15440Mon, 6 Apr 1998 15:06:48 -0400 (EDT)
      • Daniel Speck - from mail1.ability.netby web4-1.ability.net (8.8.5/8.6.12) with ESMTP id QAA16487Mon, 6 Apr 1998 16:15:05 -0400 (EDT) <=
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      • Reynolds, Gregg - from mail1.ability.netby web4-1.ability.net (8.8.5/8.6.12) with ESMTP id PAA15879Mon, 6 Apr 1998 15:48:04 -0400 (EDT)