Re: Inline macros

Paul Prescod <papresco@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca> writes:
>At 01:40 PM 4/25/96 -0700, David Ornstein wrote:
>>Is there some literal introduction character we could use (back tick or
>>something) that would allow the lexer to simply gobble this stuff up into
>>one big binary chunk?  This would allow something like:
>>
>><mimesection type=txt/x-funk>
>>`%my(funcky, macro);
>>more stuff in the funk language`
>></mimesection>
>
>You are both trying to reinvent SGML marked CDATA sections. There is no need
>to reinvent it. It does exactly what you are suggesting. Most SGMLers
>consider it a Bad Idea to mix SGML and non-SGML data in the same file, but
>if you want to do it, SGML already allows it.
>
> Paul Prescod

And it's not syntactically ugly or complicated, won't make your palms hairy
or anything. Given that HTML is *an application of SGML* it is already part
of HTML. Because this feature is simply not available in *most* browsers
doesn't make it invalid HTML. No need to reinvent anything here, folks:
Just implement what is already there.

('MSC' is SGML-eze for 'marked section close', which is ']]'.)

    <![ CDATA [
        -- any durned thing in here you want except MSC --
    (This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)
    :$QeKBh"RF$)f-fNZFfPd!&0*9%46593K!*!$"d3&!*!%IHC6593K!!%!"d3&FNa
    KG3)!N!3@!6!J)!TYB@0`Ch!b0M0T!*!9H(%!N!2$!-F"I`*E!*!$"J#3$iB!!!&
    [...]
    Jbkh-,Td[Yk!YN!#!))e3$p)+Iq9r0V!VQ5BUMqeJb5M[#*`lbHq-S(Y$L[m$!!!
    K)3TYB@0`Ch!b0M0T!*!D``$(!Am#@`#3!`%!"cS6!*!(&J#3!iB!!!&Jrj!%!3#
    Y66a3V9CI+`#3"3HIm`#3"3G$$`#3#MHF#mm!!!:
    ]]>

That's it. Not much of a barn burner. And legal, just not widely supported.

Oh, just read David O's latest message. MSC is not ']', rather ']]', so I
don't think that's so much of an issue. You mention describing a chunk --
well, that can be done several ways. One way it could be done in
'SGML-savvy HTML' (for lack of a better term) which would keep the SGML and
non-SGML data distinct by declaring an entity that refers to your non-SGML
data:

  -- sample embedding ----

    <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//Spyglass//DTD HTML 2.0 Extended//EN"
                          "http://www.stonehand.com/dtd/html2x.dtd" [
    <!ENTITY foo SYSTEM "http://www.stonehand.com/murray/foo.sit.hqx" >
    ]>
    <HTML>
    <TITLE>Document Title</TITLE>
    <BODY>
    <P>Here's some embedded doodad: <![ CDATA [&foo;]]> </P>
    </BODY>
    </HTML>

  ------------------------

The 'SGML Bad Idea' (but still legal) would simply be putting the contents
of 'foo.sit.hqx' in the place of '&foo;', which is what the processing
system is doing anyway.

Declaration subsets (the [part] after the PUBLIC and SYSTEM references in
the above DOCTYPE declaration) are a common SGML structure. We just don't
see them in this neck of the woods much.

Murray

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
     Murray Altheim, Program Manager
     Spyglass, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts
     email: <mailto:murray@spyglass.com>
     http:  <http://www.stonehand.com/murray/murray.html>
            "Give a monkey the tools and he'll eventually build a typewriter."

Received on Thursday, 25 April 1996 18:45:56 UTC