XML DTDs -- offtopic?

[manderson@xxxxxxxxxx]

Um, this is sort of offtopic, but I couldn't think
of a better group to ask -- the XML listservs are
all clogged up with "Why Standard XYZ sucks/rulez" posts
and don't seem to be interested in the sort of question
I've got.

With that in mind, here's my question:

I am starting to design DTDs for the set of manuals I
support. One of my design goals is to support "revision marking"
at the paragraph level -- so that each paragraph can store a
number that indicates how many times it has been revised since
the last full manual release, as well as who revised it and when.

So, does anyone have any recommendations regarding how this
might be achieved (ideally, in an efficient and elegant way, but
I'll settle for anything)??

I am considering giving every element in my DTD a "RevNum"
attribute, but that seems kind of brute-force -- and then I'm a bit
worried about the implications for parent/child elements.

I am also considering using an XML+Database solution for some of these
docs, if that makes a difference . . . I'll be custom-building one, since I
can't even afford FM+SGML, never mind a full-blown DMS.

HOW this relates to Framemaker:
Well, I'm writing the docs in FM, and will be using the XML capabilities
(or lack thereof) that are supposedly found in the next version of FM.

Anyway, does anyone have recommendations? I expect that this sort
of thing has been handled for *ages* in the SGML world, which I'm
not even remotely familiar with right now.

Martin Anderson
ALS Evanston
manderson@amlibs.com



** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **