Provided by: tcllib_1.19-dfsg-2_all bug

NAME

       doctools::idx - Holding keyword indices

SYNOPSIS

       package require doctools::idx  ?2?

       package require Tcl  8.4

       package require doctools::idx::structure

       package require snit

       ::doctools::idx objectName

       objectName method ?arg arg ...?

       objectName destroy

       objectName key add name

       objectName key remove name

       objectName key references name

       objectName keys

       objectName reference add type key name label

       objectName reference remove name

       objectName reference label name

       objectName reference keys name

       objectName reference type name

       objectName references

       objectName title

       objectName title text

       objectName label

       objectName label text

       objectName importer

       objectName importer object

       objectName exporter

       objectName exporter object

       objectName deserialize = data ?format?

       objectName deserialize += data ?format?

       objectName serialize ?format?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       This package provides a class to contain and programmatically manipulate keyword indices

       This  is one of the three public pillars the management of keyword indices resides on. The
       other two pillars are

       [1]    Exporting keyword indices, and

       [2]    Importing keyword indices

       For information about the Concepts of keyword indices, and their parts, see the same-named
       section.  For information about the data structure which is used to encode keyword indices
       as values see the section Keyword index serialization format.  This  is  the  only  format
       directly  known  to  this  class.  Conversions from and to any other format are handled by
       export and import manager objects. These may be attached to a container, but do  not  have
       to be, it is merely a convenience.

CONCEPTS

       [1]    A keyword index consists of a (possibly empty) set of keywords.

       [2]    Each keyword in the set is identified by its name.

       [3]    Each keyword has a (possibly empty) set of references.

       [4]    A reference can be associated with more than one keyword.

       [5]    A reference not associated with at least one keyword is not possible however.

       [6]    Each  reference is identified by its target, specified as either an url or symbolic
              filename, depending on the type of reference (url, or manpage).

       [7]    The type of a reference (url, or manpage) depends only on the reference itself, and
              not the keywords it is associated with.

       [8]    In  addition  to  a type each reference has a descriptive label as well. This label
              depends only on the reference itself, and not the keywords it is associated with.

       A few notes

       [1]    Manpage references are intended to be used for  references  to  the  documents  the
              index  is  made for. Their target is a symbolic file name identifying the document,
              and export plugins may replace symbolic with actual file names, if specified.

       [2]    Url references are intended on the othre hand are inteded to be used for  links  to
              anything else, like websites. Their target is an url.

       [3]    While  url  and  manpage  references  share a namespace for their identifiers, this
              should be no problem, given that manpage identifiers are symbolic filenames and  as
              such they should never look like urls, the identifiers for url references.

API

   PACKAGE COMMANDS
       ::doctools::idx objectName
              This  command  creates  a new container object with an associated Tcl command whose
              name is objectName. This object command is explained in full detail in the sections
              Object  command  and  Object  methods. The object command will be created under the
              current namespace if the objectName is not fully qualified, and  in  the  specified
              namespace otherwise.

   OBJECT COMMAND
       All objects created by the ::doctools::idx command have the following general form:

       objectName method ?arg arg ...?
              The  method  method and its arg'uments determine the exact behavior of the command.
              See section Object methods for the detailed specifications.

   OBJECT METHODS
       objectName destroy
              This method destroys the object it is invoked for.

       objectName key add name
              This method adds the keyword name to the index. If the  keyword  is  already  known
              nothing is done. The result of the method is the empty string.

       objectName key remove name
              This method removes the keyword name from the index. If the keyword is already gone
              nothing is done. Any references for whom this keyword was the last association  are
              removed as well.  The result of the method is the empty string.

       objectName key references name
              This  method  returns a list containing the names of all references associated with
              the keyword name. An error is thrown in the keyword is not known to the index.  The
              order of the references in the list is undefined.

       objectName keys
              This method returns a list containing the names of all keywords known to the index.
              The order of the keywords in the list is undefined.

       objectName reference add type key name label
              This method adds the reference name to the index and associates it with the keyword
              key.   The  other  two  arguments  hold  the  type  and  label  of  the  reference,
              respectively.  The type has to match the stored information, should  the  reference
              exist already, i.e. this information is immutable after the reference is known. The
              only way to change it is delete and recreate the reference.  The label on the other
              hand  is  automatically  updated  to  the  value  of  the argument, overwriting any
              previously stored information.  Should the reference exists already  it  is  simply
              associated  with the key.  If that is true already as well nothing is done, but the
              label updated to the new value.  The result of the method is the empty string.

              The type argument has be to one of manpage or url.

       objectName reference remove name
              The reference name is removed from the index. All associations  with  keywords  are
              released  and  the  relevant reference labels removed.  The result of the method is
              the empty string.

       objectName reference label name
              This method returns the label associated with  the  reference  name.  An  error  is
              thrown if the reference is not known.

       objectName reference keys name
              This method returns a list containing the names of all keywords associated with the
              reference name. An error is thrown in the reference is not known to the index.  The
              order of the keywords in the list is undefined.

       objectName reference type name
              This  method  returns  the  type  of  the reference name. An error is thrown in the
              reference is not known to the index.

       objectName references
              This method returns a list containing the names of  all  references  known  to  the
              index. The order of the references in the list is undefined.

       objectName title
              Returns the currently defined title of the keyword index.

       objectName title text
              Sets  the  title  of the keyword index to text, and returns it as the result of the
              command.

       objectName label
              Returns the currently defined label of the keyword index.

       objectName label text
              Sets the label of the keyword index to text, and returns it as the  result  of  the
              command.

       objectName importer
              Returns the import manager object currently attached to the container, if any.

       objectName importer object
              Attaches  the  object  as  import  manager  to the container, and returns it as the
              result of the command.  Note that the object is  not  put  into  ownership  of  the
              container. I.e., destruction of the container will not destroy the object.

              It  is  expected that object provides a method named import text which takes a text
              and a format name, and returns the canonical serialization  of  the  keyword  index
              contained in the text, assuming the given format.

       objectName exporter
              Returns the export manager object currently attached to the container, if any.

       objectName exporter object
              Attaches  the  object  as  export  manager  to the container, and returns it as the
              result of the command.  Note that the object is  not  put  into  ownership  of  the
              container. I.e., destruction of the container will not destroy the object.

              It  is  expected  that object provides a method named export object which takes the
              container and a format name, and returns a text encoding keyword  index  stored  in
              the container, in the given format. It is further expected that the object will use
              the container's method serialize to obtain the serialization of the  keyword  index
              from which to generate the text.

       objectName deserialize = data ?format?
              This  method  replaces the contents of the index object with the index contained in
              the data. If no format was specified it is assumed to be the regular  serialization
              of a keyword index.

              Otherwise  the object will use the attached import manager to convert the data from
              the specified format to a serialization it can handle.  In that case an error  will
              be thrown if the container has no import manager attached to it.

              The result of the method is the empty string.

       objectName deserialize += data ?format?
              This method behaves like deserialize = in its essentials, except that it merges the
              keyword index in the data to its contents instead of replacing it.  The method will
              throw an error if merging is not possible, i.e. would produce an invalid index. The
              existing content is left unchanged in that case.

              The result of the method is the empty string.

       objectName serialize ?format?
              This method returns the keyword index contained in the object. If no format is  not
              specified the returned result is the canonical serialization of its contents.

              Otherwise  the  object  will use the attached export manager to convert the data to
              the specified format.  In that case an error will be thrown if the container has no
              export manager attached to it.

KEYWORD INDEX SERIALIZATION FORMAT

       Here  we  specify the format used by the doctools v2 packages to serialize keyword indices
       as immutable values for transport, comparison, etc.

       We distinguish between regular and canonical serializations. While  a  keyword  index  may
       have more than one regular serialization only exactly one of them will be canonical.

       regular serialization

              [1]    An index serialization is a nested Tcl dictionary.

              [2]    This dictionary holds a single key, doctools::idx, and its value. This value
                     holds the contents of the index.

              [3]    The contents of the index are a Tcl dictionary  holding  the  title  of  the
                     index, a label, and the keywords and references. The relevant keys and their
                     values are

                     title  The value is a string containing the title of the index.

                     label  The value is a string containing a label for the index.

                     keywords
                            The value is a Tcl dictionary, using the keywords known to the  index
                            as  keys.  The associated values are lists containing the identifiers
                            of the references associated with that particular keyword.

                            Any reference identifier used in these lists has to exist as a key in
                            the references dictionary, see the next item for its definition.

                     references
                            The  value  is  a  Tcl  dictionary,  using  the  identifiers  for the
                            references known to the index as  keys.  The  associated  values  are
                            2-element  lists  containing  the type and label of the reference, in
                            this order.

                            Any key here has to be associated with at  least  one  keyword,  i.e.
                            occur  in at least one of the reference lists which are the values in
                            the keywords dictionary, see previous item for its definition.

              [4]    The type of a reference can be one of two values,

                     manpage
                            The identifier of the reference is interpreted as symbolic file name,
                            referring to one of the documents the index was made for.

                     url    The  identifier  of the reference is interpreted as an url, referring
                            to some external location, like a website, etc.

       canonical serialization
              The canonical serialization of a keyword index has the format as specified  in  the
              previous item, and then additionally satisfies the constraints below, which make it
              unique among all the possible serializations of the keyword index.

              [1]    The keys found in all the nested Tcl dictionaries are  sorted  in  ascending
                     dictionary  order,  as  generated by Tcl's builtin command lsort -increasing
                     -dict.

              [2]    The references listed for each keyword of the index, if any, are  listed  in
                     ascending  dictionary  order  of their labels, as generated by Tcl's builtin
                     command lsort -increasing -dict.

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This document, and the package it describes,  will  undoubtedly  contain  bugs  and  other
       problems.    Please   report  such  in  the  category  doctools  of  the  Tcllib  Trackers
       [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist].  Please also report any ideas for enhancements you
       may have for either package and/or documentation.

       When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the output of diff -u.

       Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments can
       be made by going to the Edit form of the ticket immediately after its creation,  and  then
       using the left-most button in the secondary navigation bar.

KEYWORDS

       HTML, TMML, conversion, docidx markup, documentation, formatting, generation, index, json,
       keyword index, latex, manpage, markup, nroff, parsing, plugin,  reference,  tcler's  wiki,
       text, url, wiki

CATEGORY

       Documentation tools

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2009 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>