Adding a new type of PI or comment to the XML/XHTML DTD

[sbwoodside]

Hi there. I'm writing code in eRuby (aka ERB) which is basically XHTML
+ ruby code contained inside <% these kind of %blocks. My editor
uses an XML parser which doesn't recognize these blocks and complains
about them. (oXygen/Xerces).

I spent a couple of hours looking at the DTDs to see how they
implement the existing processing instruction and comments blocks. But
I can't find it in there. The best I found was:

xhtml/dtd/xhtml1.dcl: PIC "?>"

Looks like it could mean "Processing Instruction Close"?

Anyway, is there even a way to modify the DTDs to allow the eRuby
block or would I have to edit the source code of Xerces?

--simon

PS I think that if eRuby had used <?ruby ?things would be a lot
easier .....

[Joseph Kesselman]

sbwoodside wrote:

Hi there. I'm writing code in eRuby (aka ERB) which is basically XHTML
+ ruby code contained inside <% these kind of %blocks. My editor
uses an XML parser which doesn't recognize these blocks and complains
about them. (oXygen/Xerces).

That's correct. The <%%markup is simply not compatable with a normal
XML parser. It must be handled by a preprocessor of some kind, or by a
nonstandard parser specifically modified to handle it. You *may* be able
to process it using SGML tools rather than XML tools; I'm not sure about
that.

Anyway, is there even a way to modify the DTDs to allow the eRuby
block or would I have to edit the source code of Xerces?

No, there isn't. See above.

PS I think that if eRuby had used <?ruby ?things would be a lot
easier .....

Absolutely. Or, perhaps better, use real XML elements in a namespace
reserved for this scripting markup.

If you're working with an XML-based language such as XHTML, there really
is no excuse these days for introducing non-XML-compatable syntax. Note
that Java Server pages, which seems to be where the <%%syntax comes
from, eventually introduced an XML-compatable alternative. The eRuby
folks should be ***STRONGLY*** pressured to do likewise.

--
Joe Kesselman / Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden