DTD desgin for forms

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2 total messages Started by Bernd Nordhausen Wed, 06 Jan 1993 09:13

#592

Author: Bernd Nordhausen
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 09:13

19 lines
1233 bytes

I am in the process of writing DTD's for forms, eg. tax forms, application
forms, etc.  I think SGML is ideal for representing forms as form in SGML 
will be more structured, and can be better queried. However, there are some 
interesting questions that arise.

For example,  when one designs several forms, should each form have a 
separate DTD, or should you have one general DTD with each separate 
form an instance of that DTD?

Has anybody else designed DTD's for such purposes? I would like to exchange 
some ideas and thoughts.

Cheers, Bernd
-- 
   Bernd Nordhausen (bernd@iss.nus.sg)
   Institute of Systems Science                           Ph: +65 772-6240 
   National University of Singapore                      FAX: +65 778-2571
   Singapore 0511

Re: DTD desgin for forms

#594

Author: Larry Beck
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 14:25

25 lines
1560 bytes

In article <1993Jan6.091326.14930@nuscc.nus.sg> bernd@melon.iss.nus.sg (Bernd Nordhausen) writes:
>
>I am in the process of writing DTD's for forms, eg. tax forms, application
>forms, etc.  I think SGML is ideal for representing forms as form in SGML 
>will be more structured, and can be better queried. However, there are some 
>interesting questions that arise.
>
>For example,  when one designs several forms, should each form have a 
>separate DTD, or should you have one general DTD with each separate 
>form an instance of that DTD?
>
I've had the same idea, as a matter of fact, an RFP came out last year where
using SGML to answer the forms design part would've been perfect. Unfortunately
we decided not to bid the thing.

Anyway, I think you wouldn't need a DTD for each specific form. A single DTD
could support a whole group of related forms. The thing I'm curious about is
what software you'll use to process the SGML encoded forms. I don't know of any
COTS package that does this, so you'll probably have to write something.

If you know of COTS software that'll support SGML based forms, I'd like to hear 
about it.

Larry Beck

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