Thank you Thomas and Wolfgang,
About startletter / starttext: the contents of my test file reflect a moment. I
have made numerous tests with and without starttext/stoptext. The state of the
test file is one in an endless row of tests.
I am not without total experience in programing. I more or less understand
program scripts when they are not too complicated and I like tweaking them, yet
I cannot think up a new program from scratch.
But anyway, I will go ahead with your suggestions!
Thank you very much again!
Robert
> Op 30 jul. 2017, om 17:38 heeft Schmitz Thomas A.
> <thomas.schm...@uni-bonn.de> het volgende geschreven:
>
>
>> On 30. Jul 2017, at 14:15, r.erm...@hccnet.nl wrote:
>>
>> Let me as a turcologist compare my problem to learning Kazakh: I am prepared
>> to give you a manual with the grammatical rules, provide you with lists of
>> nouns, verbs, adjectives and postpositions, explain the application of
>> phonological rules, transliterations of the alphabet, give you a insight in
>> the nominal cases and verb structure, and read with you a text in Kazakh.
>> Nevertheless, without being rude, I bet that even then you are unable to
>> flawlessly produce a poem or even a brief text in Kazakh yourself.
>
> OK, I see your desperation, and I take your analogy (I’m a scholar myself,
> not a programmer): if someone came to you with the Iliad and explained that
> he doesn’t know a word of Kazakh but wants all of Homer’s poem, every line,
> every word, every nuance, expressed in Kazakh with the help of a grammar and
> a dictionary, you’d reply that this is not how learning languages works. You
> begin with simple sentences and work your way up. You have shown us several
> times examples that don’t work, and I have expressed my suspicion that this
> may be due to using the correspondence module. You weren’t sure whether you
> need it or not; which is something only you can know. What does this module
> offer that can’t be accomplished otherwise? If you look at the documentation
> of the module, you see that the \startletter … \stopletter pair starts an
> environment within a \starttext … \stoptext context document. When you look
> at your setup, you will see that you have a \startletter … \stopletter, then
> a few setups, and then a \starttext … \stoptext document. I’m not a
> programmer, but I see that this will not work.
>
> So for some simple rules: when you process an xml buffer (or document), you
> define xmlsetups for the different xml elements. When you write
> \xmlprocessbuffer, that’s when these elements will be processed - which
> means: that’s when your document will be built. You can’t go through your xml
> buffer/document and then add further text (well you can, but that’s more
> complicated), so what you have to do is add your text (for the sake of this
> example: \input knuth) WITHING THESE SETUPS. So let’s start with a simple
> document that will work:
>
> \startbuffer[participants]
> <contacts>
> <contact class='participant' label='Hendriks'>
> <formalname>Hendriks</formalname>
> <informalname>Karel</informalname>
> <prefix>mr.</prefix>
> <initials>K.</initials>
> <city>Arnhem</city>
> <address>
> <p>Mr. K. Hendriks</p>
> <p>Grotestraat 5</p>
> <p>1234 BB Arnhem</p>
> </address>
> <kix>1234bb5</kix>
> </contact>
> <contact class='participant' label='Janssen'>
> <formalname>Janssen</formalname>
> <informalname>Piet</informalname>
> <initials>P.</initials>
> <prefix>mr.</prefix>
> <city>Nijmegen</city>
> <address>
> <p>Mr. P. Janssen</p>
> <p>Kortestraat 8</p>
> <p>1234 AA Nijmegen</p>
> </address>
> <kix>1234aa8</kix>
> </contact>
> </contacts>
> \stopbuffer
>
> \startxmlsetups xml:setups
> \xmlsetsetup{#1}{contacts|contact|formalname|informalname|prefix|initials|address|city|text|kix|p}{xml:*}
> \stopxmlsetups
>
> \xmlregistersetup{xml:setups}
>
> \startxmlsetups xml:contacts
> \xmlflush{#1}
> \stopxmlsetups
>
> \startxmlsetups xml:p
> \xmlflush{#1}\par
> \stopxmlsetups
>
> \startxmlsetups xml:contact
> \xmltext{#1}{/address}
> \blank [3*line]
> Subject: your life in \xmltext{#1}{/city}
> \blank [2*line]
> Dear \xmltext{#1}{/prefix} \xmltext{#1}{/formalname},
> \blank [line]
> \input knuth \relax
>
> Kind regards
> \blank [line]
> X
> \page
> \stopxmlsetups
>
> \setuppagenumbering [state=stop]
>
> \starttext
> \xmlprocessbuffer{main}{participants}{}
> \stoptext
>
> So you see what I’m doing here: I process every simple <contact> element, and
> I add all the stuff that will go into the letter for every single contact.
> Start with this document and then find out what you need in addition: a logo,
> some fancy lines across the letters, a special placement for the address and
> the subject, etc.? I’m guessing that it would be easier to do this with
> simple setup commands rather than using the correspondence module, but we
> have no idea what you need to accomplish. Once you find out what’s missing,
> you can modify the example and ask additional questions. But, to take your
> analogy: don’t start with irregular verbs and special cases that will
> complicate the picture. How is this line
>
> \setuplanguage[nl][date={year, –, mm, –, dd}] % ISO 8601 date
>
> from your original example relevant to your problem? And again: please don’t
> give me the “I’m not a programmer” response; I’m not a programmer either, but
> I know that you have to reduce the complexity in problems to find a solution.
> You’re adding extra complexity.
>
> The way I describe above is the easiest path. There are other approaches, of
> course: you can combine elements from several xml documents, or you can
> process the xml data with Lua. All of this may be unnecessary in your case,
> but nobody will be able to help unless we understand what you need. And to
> explain this, you will have to start with simple examples, not with a complex
> document.
>
> Sorry for being somewhat stern, but I’m sure you would give similar advice to
> your students…
>
> All best
>
> Thomas
>
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