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Re: xreflabel
- From: Bob Stayton <bobs at caldera dot com>
- To: Jeff Beal <jeff dot beal at ansys dot com>,"DocBook Mailing List (E-mail)" <docbook-apps at lists dot oasis-open dot org>
- Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 11:07:19 -0800
- Subject: Re: DOCBOOK-APPS: xreflabel
- References: <E08C8F26F6901D42B1201763D125853815B3A5@ntdevexc.win.ansys.com>
On Fri, Dec 13, 2002 at 11:46:39AM -0500, Jeff Beal wrote:
> In "The Definitive Guide", our only piece of documentation on the xreflabel
> attribute seems to be: " holds text to be used when a cross reference (XRef)
> is made to the element." It seems that the stylesheets use the xreflabel
> and only the xreflabel for an xref when it encounters one, ignoring any
> labels generated for the target element.
>
> I would prefer it if the xreflabel were only used as a replacement for the
> title in a cross-reference. For example, if I have in my document:
>
> <figure id="fig1" xreflabel="Short Title">
> <title>Really, really, long but necessarily descriptive title</title>
> <graphic/>
> </figure>
>
> And I create an xref to this element, I would like to have "Figure 13.2:
> Short Title", not "Short Title". (Assuming that the gentext template for a
> figure in the xref template were "%n: %t" instead of "%n"
>
> In other words, I think that the xreflabel should only be picked up when the
> gentext template mechanism encounters a '%t'. I don't think the xreflabel
> should override the gentext template as it does now.
>
> I'm certain that I can make the necessary customizations for us, I'm just
> wondering if this idea makes sense and if the default behavior should
> change. Any thoughts?
I think it is a fine idea, but I would worry about changing
the default behavior. If someone has invested lots of
time entering xreflabels and are happy with the results,
then changing the behavior might be a shock. How about
a 'use.xreflabel.as.title' parameter to make it optional?
--
Bob Stayton 400 Encinal Street
Publications Architect Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Technical Publications voice: (831) 427-7796
The SCO Group fax: (831) 429-1887
email: bobs@sco.com