Support for arbitrary xml vocabularies

Hi devs

I have a question not directly related to Amaya development but maybe  
somebody likes to answer nevertheless or point me to a appropriate  
place to discuss the matter.

I am currently working on a WYSIWYG-XML-editor extension for Firefox  
that will (besides other things) support XTiger. The editor lets you  
edit a xhtml view of an arbitrary xml doctype based on xslt transform  
and schema/DTD. Guided editing is achieved by a either XTiger or a  
combination of XTiger (libraries only) and schema/DTD.

Support for arbitrary xml vocabularies is a strong requirement, so  
unlike Amaya my editor has no hardwired knowledge about the semantics  
of a given target format. The data model that is dealt with by high  
level edit operations (e.g. merge two table cells, make a selection  
bold, insert a link, find a document anchor) has to be configurable  
with regards to a particular target format - given that the target  
format has ways to express it.

For example, users can specify how tables, links, embedded objects  
etc. are expressed in a given target vocabulary.

I did some extensive web search to find a standardized configuration  
format suitable for the job but didn't find anything decent. What  
would be needed is a simple syntax to bind a generalized vocabulary  
to a given target markup. So I came up with my own rdf lingo that  
does just that.


<Binding rdf:about="format:strong">
   <targetElement name="formatted" namespaceURI="http://www.elml.ch"/>
   <targetAttribute name="style" value="bold"/>
</Binding>

<Binding rdf:about="format:columnDeclaration">
   <targetElement name="columns" namespace="http://www.mozilla.org/ 
keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"/>
</Binding>

<Binding rdf:about="link:href">
   <targetAttribute name="href" namespaceURI="http://www.w3.org/1999/ 
xhtml"/>
</Binding>


In combination with schema/DTD data this seems to give me everything  
I need for providing users with the high level stuff they want.

My question is: has support for arbitrary xml vocabularies been  
considered for Amaya? If so, have you guys any hints or pointers to a  
standardized solution?

Best Regards
Thomas






------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
-----
                         Thomas Comiotto              
thomas.comiotto@id.uzh.ch

                         Universitaet Zuerich
                         Informatikdienste                Tel: +41 44  
63 54541
                         Winterthurerstrasse 190               +41 44  
63 43333
                         CH-8057 Zuerich                  Fax: +41 44  
63 54505

Received on Wednesday, 4 July 2007 19:01:52 UTC