file format RFE -- document metadata

From: Paul Rohr (paul@abisource.com)
Date: Fri May 10 2002 - 11:50:20 EDT

  • Next message: Paul Rohr: "file format RFE -- more section props"

    As mentioned in the previous note, I like the idea of creating inheritable
    document-level PROPS:

      http://www.abisource.com/mailinglists/abiword-dev/02/May/0384.html

    Note, however, that we're also going to need a parallel mechanism for
    *user-visible* document-level metadata (as displayed in those infamous
    tabbed dialogs.) Unlike the css-like PROPS we already have, these tend
    to be:

      - much more verbose,
      - localized, and
      - can even include line and paragraph breaks.

    Thus, this metadata will need more verbose XML markup than PROPS just to
    accomodate the more complex content model. Since this stuff gets edited
    using a separate mechanism anyhow (the dialog), it makes sense to store them
    separately too. For example, just before/after the <styles> block, we could
    add something like:

      <metadata>
          <m label="Summary">Secret plans for world domination</m>
          <m label="Pages">273</m>
          <m label="Author">Abi the Ant</m>
          <m label="Role">Evangelist</m>
          <m label="Organization">AbiSource</m>
          ...
      </metadata>

    In short then, we need *two* orthogonal sets of document-level attributes:

      - PROPS for the formatter
      - METADATA for the user and/or indexing software

    Hopefully no developers will get too confused by the fact that that the
    latter may well be accessed via a "File / Properties..." menu item. ;-)

    Paul,
    still thinking about file formats

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