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Version: DocBook V4.5

glossterm

glossterm — A glossary term

Synopsis

Mixed Content Model

glossterm ::=
(#PCDATA|footnoteref|xref|biblioref|abbrev|acronym|citation|
citerefentry|citetitle|citebiblioid|emphasis|firstterm|
foreignphrase|glossterm|termdef|footnote|phrase|orgname|quote|
trademark|wordasword|personname|link|olink|ulink|action|
application|classname|methodname|interfacename|exceptionname|
ooclass|oointerface|ooexception|package|command|computeroutput|
database|email|envar|errorcode|errorname|errortype|errortext|
filename|function|guibutton|guiicon|guilabel|guimenu|guimenuitem|
guisubmenu|hardware|interface|keycap|keycode|keycombo|keysym|
literal|code|constant|markup|medialabel|menuchoice|mousebutton|
option|optional|parameter|prompt|property|replaceable|
returnvalue|sgmltag|structfield|structname|symbol|systemitem|uri|
token|type|userinput|varname|nonterminal|anchor|author|
authorinitials|corpauthor|corpcredit|modespec|othercredit|
productname|productnumber|revhistory|remark|subscript|
superscript|inlinegraphic|inlinemediaobject|inlineequation|
synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|classsynopsis|fieldsynopsis|
constructorsynopsis|destructorsynopsis|methodsynopsis|indexterm|
beginpage)*

Attributes

Common attributes

Name

Type

Default

baseform

CDATA

None

linkend

IDREF

None

Description

GlossTerm identifies a term that appears in a Glossary or GlossList. This element occurs in two very different places: it is both an inline, and a structure element of a GlossEntry. As an inline, it identifies a term defined in a glossary, and may point to it. Within a GlossEntry, it identifies the term defined by that particular entry.

Processing expectations

As an inline, GlossTerms frequently get special typographic treatment, such as italics. In an online environment, they may also form a link (explicitly or implicitly) to the corresponding definition in a glossary.

GlossTerms must not be nested within other GlossTerms. Because DocBook is harmonizing towards XML, this restriction is difficult to enforce with the DTD. The processing of nested GlossTerms is undefined.

As part of a GlossEntry, GlossTerms are usually set as block and separated from the definition.

Future Changes

The InterfaceDefinition element will be discarded in DocBook V4.0. It will no longer be available in the content model of this element.

Future Changes

RevHistory will be removed.

Attributes

baseform

BaseForm, if specified, contains the root form of the word identified as a GlossTerm. If unspecified, the content of GlossTerm element should be used. BaseForm allows sorting, collating, and indexing to work properly even when different parts of speech are identifed as GlossTerms. For example, <glossterm>sort</glossterm> and <glossterm baseform="sort">sorting</glossterm> .

linkend

Linkend points to a related element, generally the GlossEntry that defines it.

See Also

firstterm.

Examples

For examples, see beginpage, firstterm, glossary, glosslist.