Re: shape.dtd, diagram.dtd

[Andrew Ferrier <andrew junk new-destiny co uk>]

On 2002-07-10 at 23:36 -0500, Lars Clausen wrote:

> >> The dtds are not actually used by Dia, they are for
> >> informational purposes.
> >
> > I didn't know that.  Is it undesirable for Dia to use its
> > DTD?
>
> I have no idea.  It just doesn't.  I'm not sure what using
> the DTD would do.  But it's good to have a definition in any
> case.

Well, normally, 'using' a DTD would involve validating the
input XML/SGML (or whatever format is derived from it), to
ensure that the syntax is valid. That's really the only 'use'
of a DTD as far as I know.

In this case, ensuring validation would probably be a waste of
time unless it was (very) trivial (which, incidentally, it
might be if the appropriate XML libraries supported it). Mainly
because the DTDs under discussion, to my knowledge, are to
document the structure of the limited-case SVG files which are
used to describe objects, and thus are kinda internal to Dia.
If it were a _user_ modifying these files, that would be a
different matter entirely (for example, if a user typically
modified .dia files it would be well worth validating these
against a DTD --- or, better, an XML schema, DTD's
less-well-supported but more featureful cousin).

Regards,
Andrew.

-- 
Andrew Ferrier

email: andrew.junk@new-destiny.co.uk
web:   http://www.new-destiny.co.uk/andrew/