A test file

Unpublished

No source A file demonstrating x-pointer syntax

Now, everyone knows how to link to a thing with an Id: you can do it with a ptr (like this ), or with a ref like this.

Using extended pointers you can do the same: like this , or like this

But suppose the thing you're pointing at doesn't have an ID? Take this list for example: A simple listfirst item in a list second item in the list third and last item in the list

Let's point!

This is the first list in the document, so we can point to it like this: a pointer to the first list in the document. a pointer to its second item. Note that this is not the same as the second child of the list.

Here are three different ways of looking at the header of the list: It's the first child of the list It's whatever precedes the first item in the list It's the second head in the document

Family Values

We can point anywhere within the SGML document tree in this way. For example, here are some ways of pointing here , and to my parent, and to my grandparent, and to, yes, my great grand parent.

Let's point again

We can also point to a continuous sequence within the document using one link, by using the to attribute as well as the from: the last two items in the list

Furthermore, the things we point at don't have to be well behaved as regards the document structure. For example: This is a link to one of the x-pointers above and This is an arbitrary chunk of the document, delimited by an anchor

The TEI scheme also allows us to point to discontinuous sequences, for example, by using the join element. This mechanism depends on the ability to specify that a pointer whose target is another pointer is in fact pointing to that pointer's target, which is not currently supported by Panorama.

Let's venture abroad!

So far, we've only been looking at this document. An xref can also link to some other entity.

the whole of another document or just a part of it

For example, I can link to one of the images in my picture album like this or like this