As some of you know I'm working on an idea for a new AbiWord XML file
format and DTDs for the new format and also for XHTML with extra mark-up.
Web standards... everytime I think I'm beginning to understand them I
stumble across a whole new learning curve... fun stuff :-)

Anyway, I still have a lot to learn about DTDs and even more to learn
about AbiWord's current file format, so it's a length process. The design
goals for the new file format are:

(1) [critical]
    round-trip import/export with zero data loss
(2) [invaluable]
    CSS property names and values wherever possible
(3) [useful]
    use of attribute names traditional in HTML and other XML
    formats, e.g.,

    (a) class= instead of style=
    (b) style= instead of props=

    and I'm working on a new table structure.

Anyway, the DTD is still fluid and the latest version complete with a mess
of comments can be found in webcvs or by:

wget http://www.abisource.com/2003/awml-qname-1.mod
wget http://www.abisource.com/2003/awml.mod

Of course, for any of this to be really interesting I need to do two
things:

(1) provide clear documentation of the new file format; and
(2) provide an implementation.

I will work on (1) from time to time, though a sketch of the DTD of the
existing file format can be found at http://www.abisource.com/2003/

For (2) I'm working on a new PD_AbiWord_2 class which constructs a tree in
memory representing the new file format. I haven't even thought about
compiling it yet, so it's probably buggy as hell, and there's still a long
list of TODOs... currently working on tables and then I need to rewrite
the CSS property handling.

Anyway, putting it in CVS as an "awml" plugin - and at some point I'll
probably turn it into a real plugin for testing. So:

o development code for a proposed new AWML format and import/export helper

CVS:----------------------------------------------------------------------
CVS: Enter Log.  Lines beginning with `CVS:' are removed automatically
CVS:
CVS: Committing in .
CVS:
CVS: Added Files:
CVS:    wp/impexp/awml/ReadMe.txt wp/impexp/awml/xp/pd_AbiWord_2.cpp
CVS:    wp/impexp/awml/xp/pd_AbiWord_2.h
CVS:----------------------------------------------------------------------

Regards, Frank

Francis James Franklin
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

In this instance, the miraculous Gulf War virus failed to do its job
because the U.S. Air Force accidentally bombed the building where Iraq
stored the virus-laden printers.
                  - http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/29665.html


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