Newbie Question about DTDs

[MarcusStringer]

Lets say I have a book created in InDesign CS2 which could export to XML (using a DTD)...

How would I go about creating a DTD which relates to that specific job?

Does any know of a site which will list step by step instructions?

and is there anywere which will have the complete list of commands and explain how it is supposed to be layed out etc.

Keeping in mind I know nothing about XML and DTDs, but need to get some of my jobs to XML

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[tsuji]

I'm in no position to advise. Maybe you know this tech ref which looks focus well on the subject.

http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/pdfs/InDesign_and_XML_Technical_Reference.pdf

and adobe generally produces very good documentation.

 

[MarcusStringer]

Thanks

Is there anywere which will have the complete list of commands for making a DTD and explain how it is supposed to be layed out etc.

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[k5tm]

http://www.w3schools.com/dtd/default.asp

Tom Morrison

http://www.liant.com

 

[MarcusStringer]

Thanks Tom

Another question...Do I really need a DTD? because I can map my Paragraph Styles to tags

eg. body text (Paragraph style) and then map to to a Tag I made called Bodytext



Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[k5tm]

Marcus,

You are asking an application domain question, about which I have no knowledge. I had a look at the reference provided by tsuji and from that I would guess that you will do fine without a DTD.

Most decent XML tools these days do a very good job of inferring XML document structure from an example document. Some will even build a DTD from an example document.

If your goal is to 'just get it exported' and then manipulate the result, I would try bypassing the DTD option.

[small]But it is just a guess![/small]

Tom Morrison

http://www.liant.com

 

[MarcusStringer]

Thanks Tom,

I wasn't really asking an App question, more of a general:

Do I need a DTD when making an XML File?

If I do, how do I make one (DTD)?

Does anyone know of a list of commands and explainations to what they do on the web?

The InDesign bit was more background info, so you know what I'm doing...

So, for an example if I was to turn a backlist of books into XML Files.
Do you think I would better off putting together a DTD which would encompass every book on the backlist or just do it without.

Once again, thanks Tom.



Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[k5tm]

just do it without

That's what I would do. DTD is no fun, and probably will get in your way as you experiment with what you want to export.

Why don't you d/l a trial copy of Stylus Studio (my favorite) or Altova XMLSpy to use as you look at your export result.

Tom Morrison

http://www.liant.com

 

[tsuji]

The quoted documentation page 24.

To ­export ­XML:
...(excerpt)...
6 ­Set ­the ­export [blue]­options[/blue]:
• [blue]­To ­include ­a ­reference ­to ­your ­DTD ­in ­the ­XML ­file, ­select ­the ­corresponding ­ ­option.[/blue]
• ­To ­display ­the ­XML ­after ­it ­is ­created, ­select ­View ­XML ­Using ­and ­specify ­the ­editor ­of ­your ­choice.
• ­To ­export ­starting ­with ­the ­element ­you ­selected ­in ­step ­2, ­select ­Export ­From ­Selected ­Element.
• ­Choose ­a ­text ­encoding ­method. ­The ­default ­is ­UTF-8.

It seems you don't necessarily need a dtd to export.

 

[MarcusStringer]

Thanks Tsuji,

That PDF you found put me in the right direction.

I think my client want the XML for ebooks, but I was thinking wouldn't they really want HTML instead? Because they are only going to have to convert the XML to HTML anyway?

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au