[Refdb-users] RE: DocBook XML V4.1.2

[<mar...@mh...>]

Hi all,

I've found an important request in the list archive. I was switching
my email provider at the time this was posted so I didn't receive it
back then. The author is apparently no subscriber, and his email
address is protected in the archive. If you have the message
(reprinted at the bottom) still in your inbox, please let me know as
I'd like to contact that person. 

Now I'll address the problems listed below:

- refdbib had a bug in the 0.8.x series so it wouldn't read the
  configuration file properly (or crash right away). This is fixed in
  0.9 and in 0.8.6.

- the 0.8.x version of the citations.dsl stylesheet indeed has a bug
  that shows up only with DocBook XML whereas DocBook SGML and TEI XML
  work properly. This bug was fixed in 0.9, but at the same time I
  couldn't resist introducing another stupid bug which makes the
  script utterly useless. Please use the current CVS version or wait
  for the upcoming 0.9.1 bugfix release

- Jade and the fixed citations.dsl do work for XML files. I'll try to
  hack a XSL stylesheet that creates the same output in the long run,
  to free XML authors from having to install Jade just for this one
  purpose.

- The closing tag issue for empty elements is a matter of using the
  correct syntax, if I understand this correctly. With DocBook SGML,
  just writing the start tag is ok for the xref element. With DocBook
  XML, use the <xref/> syntax instead.

- I'll try and fix the documentation if it indeed leaves the
  impression that RefDB works only for DocBook 3.1. In fact, it works
  with all DocBook SGML releases since 3.1 (and maybe earlier ones
  also but I've never tried), all DocBook XML versions, and TEI P4.

regards,
Markus

The original post follows:
 
 Hello,
 
 I have been looking at RefDB for a few weeks, and I've been able to get it
 running on a couple different machines in a couple different configurations.
 However, I have gotten stuck using it the way I was hoping to.  I am stuck
 in the creation of a bibliography from a DocBook XML file.  I followed
 through the documentation with an example document that I created.  If I
 stick strictly to DocBook SGML V3.1 then things seem to work; however, if I
 move to XML things don't quite work so well.  As I am relatively new to XML
 please don't discount ignorance on my part.
 
 I've attached two sample files, one SGML and one XML that I've been using.
 Note that there are some minor difference in these files as the <artheader>
 tag was superceded by the <articleinfo> tag.  This tag, the
 PUBLICID/SYSTEMID, and the <xref> closing tag--more explanation
 below--should be the only differences between the two files.
 
 Let's start with the DocBook V3.1 SGML file.  The documentation states to
 run "runbib;" however, there is a problem with this because I need to enter
 my password when the "rundbib" step is run and "runbib" doesn't forward the
 password.  So, I chose to go through the steps manually--besides I learn
 more this way.  The first step is to run Jade to transform the original
 document into the CitationList XML file.  The documentation says:
 
 	jade -t sgml -d citations.dsl /usr/lib/sgml/declaration/docbook-3.1.dcl
 foo.sgml > foo.id.xml
 
 It is interesting to note that the "citations.dsl" file gives a slightly
 different version of this command line.  Which is correct?
 
 For me the following works:
 
 	jade -t sgml -c /etc/sgml/catalog -d
 /usr/local/share/refdb/dsssl/citations.dsl
 /usr/share/sgml/docbook/sgml-dtd-3.1-1.0-8/docbook.dcl pa-ref.sgml >
 pa-ref.id.xml
 
 The documentation also shows the <xref> tag without a close tag or trailing
 "/".  While this is apparently correct for SGML, I should still be able to
 use a closing tag if I choose.  this doesn't work and produces an error:
 
 	"end tag for element \"XREF\" which is not open."
 
 I didn't take it any further than successfully creating the CitationList
 (pa-ref.id.xml) file--I assume RefDB will do what it is supposed to.
 
 But, I want to create my documents in XML, and RefDB allegedly supports
 DocBook XML documents.  Since there is "no official" version of DocBook XML
 before 4.0, I have been using what was installed on my RedHat 7.3 system:
 DocBook XML V4.1.2.
 
 I would expect that the Jade command only needs to change to select XML as
 the type and point to the XML declarations instead of the SGML declarations.
 However, this does not work; when I run OpenJade I get errors:
 
 	jade -t xml -d /usr/local/share/refdb/dsssl/citations.dsl -c
 /etc/sgml/catalog /usr/share/sgml/xml.dcl pa-ref.xml > pa-ref.xml.id.xml
 
 This gives the following error for each XREF tag I have:
 
 	jade:/usr/local/share/refdb/dsssl/citations.dsl:156:16:E: 1st argument for
 primitive "string-length" of wrong type: "#f" not a string
 
 If I change the type back to SGML, then I get different errors--something
 about entities in the entity files not being functions.  It appears that any
 line with a "#" in it causes an error.
 
 I'm guessing this is because I really want to use an XSL stylesheet instead
 of a DSSSL stylesheet for the transformation to the CitationList.  If this
 is true, shouldn't RefDB supply one if it claims to support XML?  If not,
 what am I doing wrong?
 
 For clarity I am using a stock RedHat 7.3 installation with "everything"
 installed.  As such I use OpenJade 1.3.1.  I have RefDB 0.8.4a installed on
 two machines and 0.8.6 installed on a third machine, and the problem exists
 in all cases.  FYI, I have validated the docs using onsgmls and xmllint, and
 I can process the xml files normally, i.e. create HTML and PDF from the
 source using xsltproc and pdflatex.
 
 I hope I have described the problem sufficiently.  If you need anything else
 from me, I'd be happy to provide it.
 
 One last question, the documentation states in several places that RefDB can
 handle DocBook V3.1; does this mean that any version above this would not be
 supported yet?  If so, how soon with newer DocBook versions be supported?
 If not, what are the implications of using V4.1 or V4.2 instead of V3.1?
 
 Thanks for the effort in making RefDB and helping me with this problem.
 
 Al
-- 
Markus Hoenicka
mar...@ca...
(Spam-protected email: replace the quadrupeds with "mhoenicka")
http://www.mhoenicka.de