The use of SGML and XML at the Publications Office

The use of SGML and XML
at the Publications Office
Dr. Holger Bagola
Dir A – Cell “Formats”
Holger.Bagola@cec.eu.int

Table of contents
Historical overview
Formex
Other areas of XML usage
Conclusion
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
2

Table of contents
Historical overview
Formex
Other areas of XML usage
Conclusion
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
3

Historical overview
Among the missions of the Publications
Office:
– Archiving of legislative publications
Choice of SGML
– Independent from any platform
– Distinction between structure and presentation
– Support for synoptic document management in
a multilingual environment
Migration to XML
– Basic advantage: availability of tools
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Table of contents
Historical overview
Formex
Other areas of XML usage
Conclusion
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
5

SGML versions
Formex (1)
– Version 1: adopted in 1984
First deliveries in 1985
Characteristics:
– Mixture of SGML and CCF (Common
Communication Format) for meta-data,
– Markup not very detailed
– Character encoding based on ISO 2022
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (2)
– Version 2: adopted in 1989, revised in
1992
First deliveries in 1989
Characteristics:
– Mixture of SGML and CCF (Common
Communication Format) for meta-data,
– Introduction of a logical table model
– Character encoding based on ISO 2022
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (3)
– Version 3: adopted in 1999
Beginning of the specifications 1994
First deliveries in 1999
Characteristics:
– Markup of semantic role of a document
component
– Definition of text entities for 11 languages
– Character encoding based on ISO 2022 (after
discussion of moving to Unicode UTF-8)
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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XML version
Formex (4)
– Version 4: adopted in 2004
First deliveries in 2004
Characteristics:
–XML,
– Character encoding based on Unicode (UTF-8)
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Basic principles
Formex (5)
– XML Schema instead of DTD
– One single schema
– Number of root elements 12 instead of
30
– Number of elements about 350 instead
of 1200
– Distinction between semantic and
physical markup
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (6)
ARTICLE (TI.ARTICLE, (PARAG+ | ALINEA+))
TI.ARTICLE (#PCDATA)
PARAG (NO.PARAG, ALINEA+)
NO.PARAG (#PCDATA)
ALINEA
. . .
((#PCDATA | NOTE | HT| FT)* |
(P | LIST | TABLE)+)
Blue: semantic markup
Red: physical markup
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Table model
Formex (7)
– Analysis of CALS, HTML, Formex v. 3
– Choice:
Model close to HTML (top-down approach,
nested tables)
Maintenance of semantic information such
as in Formex v. 3
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (8)
Footnotes
– Distinction between notes in text and
tables for readability and production
simplicity
– Insertion of text notes into the
surrounding text
– ID/IDREF to signal identical footnotes
– Numbering is an object of presentation
– Table notes assembled at the top of the
table
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
13

Quotations
Formex (9)
– Structured quotations vs. ‘#PCDATA’
quotations
– Elements signaling start and end of a
quotation (quotation marks)
– Element with function of a container for
structured quotations.
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Example:
Formex (10)
Article 2
In article 1(2) of regulation (EC) 1234/94 the word ‘car’ is replaced by ‘bus’.
Article 6 of the same regulation is replaced by the following text:
‘Article 6
This is the new text of article 6.’
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Example:
Formex (11)
Article 2
In article 1(2) of regulation (EC) 1234/94 the car is replaced by bus.
Article 6 of the same regulation is replaced by the following
text:
Article 6
This is the new text of article
6.
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (12)
Splitting large documents
– Fragmentation by definition of inclusions
for the main document
– Secondary instances referencing the
inclusions by means of XML entity
mechanism
– Inclusions may not necessarily be valid
XML instances
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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main.xml
title
Formex (13)
frag-1.frg
…
…
container.xml
&cnt;
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Character set
Formex (14)
– OJ publications in 20 (21) languages
– Different alphabets
– International character set definition
Unicode (UTF-8)
– Definition of allowed character ranges
– Special font ‘EU-Albertina’
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Meta-data
Formex (15)
– OJ publications are composed of
different levels:
Publication
Document
‘Contents’
– Meta-data separated according to these
levels
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Publication
Meta-data
concerning the
publication
Structure of the
publication with
references to
documents
ProCat
Formex (16)
Document
Meta-data for
document
References to
components
Document
Meta-data for
document
References to
components
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
Contents
main part
001
Contents
Annex 1
001.001
Contents
Annex 2
001.002
Contents
main part
002
21

Formex (17)
• Meta-data (continued)
– Extraction of meta-data by means of
automatic processes (pre-notices)
– Extension of pre-notices by juridical analysis
– Availability of notices in ProCat for other
productions (Celex) and projects
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (18)
Final remark on Formex
specifications
– Only few complete production chains
from the author to the printer
– Concentration on publication of Official
Journal
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (19)
Validation of Formex deliveries
– In-depth validation necessary
– Automatic procedures
– Manual procedures
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (20)
Validation of Formex deliveries
(continued)
– Automatic procedures
Control of filename conventions
Parsing of various components
Control of completeness
Execution of additional validation rules
Comparison of contents between Formex
and PDF
⇒ Report (XML instance)
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (21)
Validation of Formex deliveries
(continued)
– Manual procedures
Verification of the report generated by the
automatic validation procedure
Control of the use of Formex specifications
in all language versions
⇒ Report (XML instance) = basis for
archiving or rejection
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Formex (22)
Conversion of Formex v. 3 into
Formex v. 4
– Conversion of character set (ISO 2020 – UTF8)
– Transformation of SGML instances into wellformed
XML instances
– Extraction of tables and conversion into an
intermediate model
– Generation of meta-data levels
– Conversion of old elements and generation of
new elements
– Validation of the results
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Specifications:
Formex (23)
http://formex.publications.eu.int/
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Table of contents
Historical overview
Formex
Other areas of XML usage
Conclusion
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
29

Other areas of XML usage
(1)
Index of OJ publications
– Biannual issues
– Monthly issues
– Extraction from Celex/ProCat
– Transformation into PDF by means of
XSLT and XSL FO (biannual version
only)
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Other areas of XML usage
(2)
Consolidation of legal documents
– Mainly based on Formex
– Additional administrative data in XML
– Relations between historical levels
Description of the composition of a given
historical level
Concordance of information on numbering
schemes (articles, …) for each level
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Other areas of XML usage
(3)
Conversion to RTF
– Compatibility with other EU services
– Input in SGML or XML
– Results with LegisWrite templates
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Other areas of XML usage
SGML
instance
(Formex v. 3)
Character
conversion
Transformation
into wellformed
XML
(4)
Transformation
into internal
XML format
Transformation
into RTF
(LegisWrite)
Output in
RTF (Legis-
Write)
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
XML
instance
(Formex v. 4)
33

Other areas of XML usage
(5)
Production of the EU budget
– Creation and maintenance of a common
central repository (XML)
– Markup of modified elements during the
decision process in working language
– Translation only of parts modified
– Update of repository after publication
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Other areas of XML usage
Budget
services
Printer
Budget XML
repository
(6)
Publications Office
Formex
archive
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
Translation
service
pre-printing
post-printing
35

Other areas of XML usage
(7)
‘Secondary legislation’
– Publication of legislation in force in ‘new’
languages
– XML production on basis of Formex
archive
– Transformation of translated input
– Transformation of SGML into XML of
Formex instance
– Merging of XML instances
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Other areas of XML usage
(8)
Word
document Formex
archive
Conversion
into XML
Extraction
of text
Merging
skeleton &
text
Conversion
into XML
Extraction
of skeleton
Simplify
structure
Publication
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
Celex
ProCat
37

Other areas of XML usage
(9)
European document repository
– TIFF of publications
– PDF of publications
– Formex instances of OJ publications
– Exchange of information by XML
messages
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Other areas of XML usage
(10)
Publication of calls for tender (OJ-S)
– Input in different (electronic) formats
– Harmonization in XML
– Updating database TED
– Production of CD-ROM version
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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Table of contents
Historical overview
Formex
Other areas of XML usage
Conclusion
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
40

Conclusion
Difficult start with SGML
Successful use of XML as well as of
other standards such as XSLT/XPath,
XSL FO
Powerful possibilities of re-use of
XML instances
The use of SGML and XML at the
Publications Office
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