Attached is an attempt at a usuable DTD for taxonomic descriptions. It is modified from a Taxonomic Document Markup based largely on DELTA format data. I modified the original based on the mailing list contributions of Steve Shattuck, L. Dodds, and G. Rousse.
The most visible difference is use of attributes to hold information without real-world meaning. This is based on current modelling techniques and is explained by Rouse in his posting of Nov. 23 much more clearly than I could explain it. There are also many attributes derived from the DELTA format which may not be applicable.
I would like to omit the attribute for order from the standard. If each taxon/specimen, character, and state is uniquely identified, then ordering is more flexibly handled in XSL. This would allow those who want to order based on alphabet, a character state (as in field guides), inferred relationships, etc. to do as they please without changing the data. Because of the nature of XML, each description will be part of a higher element, usually either a specimen or a taxon. It is these entities that are ordered, not the descriptions themselves. Within a description, the ordering and selection of characters is easiest with XSL or other processing. This allow the author (or compiler) of the document to arrange characters in a way that makes sense for the treatment.
The summary outline is also included in the DTD.
Description Heading Character CharName codedCharName textCharName State Connector Qualifier codedStateName textStateName Comment Comment Character
For those still looking for XML/XSL tools, I recommend XML Cooktop for Windows http://www.xmleverywhere.com as a good general editor, it handles DTD's and Schema' as text files for editing, but otherwise is good and the XSL editing and testing is excellent.
I apologize for using DTDs instead of Schemas. It is the language I know and have been using for a while now. For me, they are a little clearer and easier to understand, even if they are not quite as flexible. If the group wants only Schemas, I will learn that next. There is a good utility for converting DTDs to Schemas at http://puvogel.informatik.med.uni-giessen.de/dtd2xs/
In the next few days, I will send in some markup of challenge cases and XSL routines.
Kerry
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Kerry Barringer (Curator of the Herbarium)
Herbarium 718-623-7318 (office) Brooklyn Botanic Garden 718-941-4774 (fax) 1000 Washington Avenue 718-623-7312 (herbarium) Brooklyn, NY 11225-1099 U.S.A.
kbarringer@bbg.org http://www.bbg.org/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^