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Subject: Re: DOCBOOK: What are the semantics of list number continuation?
Norman Walsh wrote: > > Given the following structure > > <orderedlist id="list1"> > <listitem>...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > <listitem> > <orderedlist id="list2"> > <listitem>...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > </orderedlist> > </listitem> > </orderedlist> > > <orderedlist id="list3" continuation="continues"> > <listitem id="citem">...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > </orderedlist> > > What is the proper value for the numeration of listitem "citem"? > > The answer hinges on the semantics of continuation, but the > documentation is, um, insufficiently precise: > > If Continuation is specified, it indicates how list numbering > should begin relative to the immediately preceding list. > > The question is, what is the immediately preceding list? My > first reaction is that I want the answer to be "5", but I think > it has to be "3", and I think that answer is justifiable: the > immediately preceding list is "list2". > > Furthermore, I'm not sure that a set of semantics that made the > answer "5" would be easy to express. Consider the isomorphic > hierarchy: > > <note id="note1"> > <para>...</para> > <para>...</para> > <para>...</para> > <para>...</para> > <para> > <orderedlist id="list2"> > <listitem>...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > </orderedlist> > </para> > </note> > > <orderedlist id="list3" continuation="continues"> > <listitem id="citem">...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > </orderedlist> > > Here the answer must be "3", yes? > > If not, then the desired semantic is perhaps "preceding sibling". But > that would make the following ineffective: > > <section id="sec1"> > <title>...</title> > <orderedlist id="list2"> > <listitem>...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > </orderedlist> > </section> > > <section id="sec2"> > <title>...</title> > <orderedlist id="list3" continuation="continues"> > <listitem id="citem">...</listitem> > <listitem>...</listitem> > </orderedlist> > </section> > > And I expect there are some documents that rely on this. > > I'm uncomfortable trying to express the semantics in even more complex > terms such as "the nearest preceding list not itself nested inside a list > which precedes the list in question" because there's no reason that you > couldn't have structures like this: > > <orderedlist> > <listitem> > <orderedlist id="foo">...</listitem> > </listitem> > <listitem> > <orderedlist id="bar" continuation="continues">...</listitem> > </listitem> > </orderedlist> > > Where "bar" should appear to be a continuation of "foo". > > In these days of more powerful stylesheet languages (we worked out > some of the semantics long before there were popular implementations of > DSSSL or XSL which have considerable expressive power), I think I would > argue that continuation ought to be an IDREF back to the list that is > to be continued, but it's too late for that now. > > In summary, I think that the definition of continues should be more > carefully worded: > > If Continuation is specified, it indicates how list numbering > should begin relative to the immediately preceding list. The > immediately preceding list is the closest OrderedList, in > document order, which begins before the current list but is > not an ancestor of the current list. > > Restarts, the default, indicates that numbering should > begin again at 1. Continues indicates that numbering should > begin where the immediately preceding list left off. Does the "not an ancestor" mean that I can't do this: <orderedlist id="list1"> <listitem>...</listitem> <listitem>...</listitem> <listitem>...</listitem> <listitem>...</listitem> <listitem> <para> Some comments <orderedlist id="list2" continuation="continues"> <listitem>...</listitem> <listitem>...</listitem> </orderedlist> </para> </listitem> <listitem>...</listitem> </orderedlist> or is there some other way to do just that - I'm not familiar with this stuff. In Domino, Peter -- __ /__ Peter B. West pbwest@netscape.net / http://www.powerup.com.au/~pbwest / "Lord, to whom shall we go?"
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