[tei-council] @predeclare

[Sebastian Rahtz]

On 23 May 2012, at 16:48, Martin Holmes wrote:

> When I come to look at @predeclare, I find I don't really understand the 
> purpose of it.

few are chosen for the journey to the dark lands, fewer return

> 
> When I look at the actual guidelines, the attribute is only used on 
> <classSpec> elements, and it's only ever "true".
> 
>  - What is its default value?

the Spec says 

<defaultVal>false</defaultVal>

so I'd believe that :-}

> 
>  - What is it actually doing? In other words, what are the implications 
> of a <classSpec> being predeclared or not predeclared?
> 

when you make a DTD, the classes and macros are turned into DTD entities, in
the order in which they appear in the source. However, some are so
magical that they need to occur before all the others. These
are flagged with @predeclare=true

why, you ask, can't the ODD processor sort this out for itself?

cos. just cos.

come the revolution…..

--
Sebastian Rahtz      
Head of Information and Support Group
Oxford University Computing Services
13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. Phone +44 1865 283431

Sólo le pido a Dios
que el futuro no me sea indiferente