DocBook 5: The Definitive Guide

Name

indexterm — A wrapper for an indexed term that covers a range

Synopsis

indexterm (db.indexterm.startofrange) ::= (primary?, ((secondary, ((tertiary, (seealso+ | see)?) | seealso+ | see)?) | seealso+ | see)?)

Attribute synopsis

Common attributes and common linking attributes.

Additional attributes:

class (enumeration) = “startofrange”
pagenum
scope (enumeration) = “all” | “global” | “local”
significance (enumeration) = “normal” | “preferred”
type
zone (IDREFS)

Required attributes are shown in bold.

Description

A “start of range” indexterm marks the start of a range. It must have an associated “end of range” indexterm. The resulting index entry applies to the entire range. See indexterm (db.indexterm.singular).

Processing expectations

See indexterm (db.indexterm.singular).

It is possible to construct index terms that are difficult to parse at best and totally illogical at worst. Consider the following:

<indexterm class='startofrange' zone="id1 id2">...</indexterm>

There is no way that this can fit into the semantics of an indexterm. Although it claims to be the start of a range, it does not have an xml:id for the end-of-range indexterm to point back to. In addition, it includes zoned terms, and mixing the two different methods for indicating a range in the same indexterm is probably a bad idea.