Re: Comments within DTDs

Chris Maden (crism@ora.com)
Thu, 9 Apr 1998 11:53:28 -0400

[Steve Robertson]
> One thing missing from the syntax of ATTLIST declarations is support
> for comments. This would have provided helpful clues if updating old
> schemas at some time in the future.
>
> Has this been a case of simplicity being given preference over
> readiblity (!), Or is there an historical reason behind the lack of
> such provisions?

It's for simplicity, but I don't feel it affects readability. The way
I comment XML DTDs is thus:

<!-- thiselement: a sample element -->
<!ELEMENT thiselement (contentmodel)>
<!-- id: unique identifier for the element
role: one of
good: looks like Toshiro Mifune
bad: looks like Clint Eastwood
ugly: looks like Paula Jones
whatever: I don't care; put something here -->
<!ATTLIST thiselement
id ID #IMPLIED
role (good|bad|ugly) "good"
whatever CDATA #REQUIRED>

HTH,
Chris

-- 
<!NOTATION SGML.Geek PUBLIC "-//Anonymous//NOTATION SGML Geek//EN">
<!ENTITY crism PUBLIC "-//O'Reilly//NONSGML Christopher R. Maden//EN"
"<URL>http://www.oreilly.com/people/staff/crism/ <TEL>+1.617.499.7487
<USMAIL>90 Sherman Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 USA" NDATA SGML.Geek>


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