The aim of this section is to outline the essentials of SGML and how and why it integrates with 3B2. The main objectives of SGML are to enable documents to be interchanged and processed by many systems, in many different ways. SGML is platform independent, so people do not have to use the same system in order to communicate with each other.
The fundamental feature of SGML is that it gives a document's content structure. It is not concerned with the layout of the document, but the actual content itself.
Working with SGML in 3B2 means that your data is controlled. Black box (completely automated) solutions can be produced for the composition and pagination of documents from SGML with no manual intervention. For more information about automation in 3B2 see the Automation topic.
SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) is an international standard for describing the structure of information.
Some of the main features of SGML are shown below:
The points below describe some of benefits of choosing to use SGML:
One major advantage of 3B2 is that the internal markup uses delimiters identical to those used by SGML. This makes the manipulation and presentation of SGML based data much easier. For more information on data handling in 3B2 see the Data Handling topic.
3B2 deals with the practical aspect of formatting SGML and XML files for output. There are many tools available to enter and edit SGML/XML data but very few actually produce high quality typeset output automatically from the data. Because SGML is concerned with the structure of the document, the markup is extensive and not generally suited to direct use as typeset markup.
Other existing systems require the SGML files to be modified in some way either by pre or post processing. Normally this will require some form of filtering, substitution or search and replace routine and the suppression of the original SGML tags. This is sometimes a long, tedious and complex routine that the typesetter has to accomplish before processing the file. The end result is that the final data is no longer in SGML for distribution or archiving.
3B2 addresses the problem of conversion by allowing fully tagged SGML documents to be imported, validated, parsed, edited and typeset using the embedded markup. This is achieved without any addition, substitution or compromise to the original file and allows the final (typeset) marked up document to be validated and saved for archiving as SGML.
Parsing is simple and allows any Document Type Definition (DTD) and Declaration to be loaded, parsed and changed, if required, in the same session. Parsing is done from within 3B2 using the internal parser or via a preferred third party parser. After parsing, error messages are displayed together with an error log. These errors may be corrected through a user-friendly interface that not only identifies the location, type and nature of the error, but also places the cursor at the position of the error.
3B2 provides optional context sensitive help that will identify the current position in relation to the DTD. It will inform the user which elements are open of any relevant group structures, entities, attributes, the tag content and the permitted options at the cursor position therefore reducing the need for SGML trained operators.
3B2 integrates the industry standard ‘OpenSP’ SGML/XML parser with the ability to parse, expand and transform the markup. The power of 3B2's showstrings and scripts enable 3B2 to cater for any SGML standard markup and specialised formatting requirements from the data.
The initial design of 3B2 as a toolbox recognised the importance that SGML would have in the future. SGML complements the already extensive capabilities of 3B2 and provides a solution for the need to import, format, output and save SGML and XML data.
With its native SGML internal mark-up system, 3B2 enables document data to become portable, freeing it from the traditional constraints of paper-based publishing. Consequently, you can easily reuse document data and publish it in forms other than just paper, for example, electronically via the Internet, or for the purposes of archiving and database publishing. Furthermore, unlike other 'SGML-aware' systems 3B2 allows you to edit and format fully marked-up SGML data without compromising the integrity of that data.
3B2 is the most productive and cost effective tool to address one of the most fundamental needs in SGML/XML document processing in a simple, effective manner. 3B2’s ability to process and maintain the original markup provides considerable savings in time and cost.
You can find out more about SGML by visiting:
SGML links at the W3C - General and in-depth information about SGML:
See also