Mark_Overton@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> I would love to use the Core Flow objects.  I originally went in this
> direction.  I was unable, however, to find a clear and simple explanation
> of these objects.  I looked over the DSSSL references that I could find but
> everything was described in SGML terms and I had difficulty understanding
> it (I have no SGML/DSSSL background).  Do you know where I could find an
> explanation of the core flow objects which someone new to SGML could
> understand.

Actually, chapter 12.6 of the DSSSL spec. defines the flow objects and
says almost nothing about SGML at all. 

> I still think there will be a need for format specific flow objects. 

Only very, very occasionally.

> For
> example, RTF allows a table of contents to be created.  I could build this
> from core flow objects but this would not allow the page numbers to be
> synchronized in the document.  Is there a DSSSL flow object for a table of
> contents?  Or am I thinking about this in the wrong way?

There is a DSSSL feature for getting the page number of an element. This
is used for cross references, tables of contents and indexes (among
other things).

"(page-number-sosofo) 

Returns an indirect-sosofo whose content is a sequence of character flow
objects representing the 
page number of the page on which the first area resulting from the
indirect flow object specified 
by the indirect-sosofo occurs."

This paragraph certainly uses a lot of new terminology, but none of it
is SGML terminology. All of it is DSSSL terminology, described in the
DSSSL spec.

 Paul Prescod  - http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

"Unwisely, Santa offered a teddy bear to James, unaware that he had 
been mauled by a grizzly earlier that year." - Timothy Burton, "James"


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