Re: A bit long: What is the right way to add extensions to wml?

[Denis Barbier <nospam@thanx>]

Hi Joey

On Wed, 3 May 2000, Joey wrote:

> There are a few things I want to do to WML, and I am not sure what is the
> right way to do them, so I will propose them here, and if anyone has any
> input, please make sure to include me in the email list, as I am not
> currently subscribed to the WML list...though this may change if there is
> interest in this stuff.

And traffic on this list is low... see archives.

> Here are the things I am considering:
> 
> #1: Adding an XHTML option to (possibly htmlstrip). This would be nothing
> more than lowercasing all element names and attributes, and double quoting
> attribute values. I think it can all be done inside of StripHTMLTag, part
> of htmlstrip (pass 8). I am definitely going to be doing this somehow, I
> am just wondering if you all have any input on whether this would be good
> for the "language proper", perhaps as a level in htmlstrip. Notice I am
> not looking to do validation or anything in this stage.

Seems more logical to perform this in htmlfix.

> #2: Adding #if, #else, and #endif in pass 1. This is still in the "idea"
> phase, not even sure if it would be useful. I'm sure I am not the first
> person to approach this subject, so if someone could quickly enlighten
> me (please don't flame me...I'm really a nice guy!) on the current
> theory/plans/reasoning here, I'd really appreciate it.

These tests may be done with current variable substitution, but a syntax
a la cpp will be much more familiar to newcomers. So yes it would be
useful to have such directives (and #define #undef #ifdef #ifndef).

> #3: Perhaps adding a pass that runs the phase 9 output through a
> validator? Again, still in the idea phase.

See the -E flag.

> Also, in general, if I want to extend WML, is it possible to add
> additional phases?

Same answer.

All your suggestions look nice, and should not break backward
compatibility. So you have either to wait until i implement them, or to
do it yourself (of course the latter will incredibly speed up the
process ;-))
The best solution to contribute is to download the latest snapshot from
     http://www.engelschall.com/sw/wml/distrib/
and send me a patch file obtained with `diff -u'. If you have low
connectivity, a diff against any WML release is okay too.

-- 
Denis Barbier
WML Maintainer


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