How to use a DOCTYPE statement in a dtd and SGML document

Issue:

Why does the dtd reader generate an error message on a dtd starting with a DOCTYPE markup declaration?

For example, the first line of my dtd is:

<!DOCTYPE imidoc [

The dtd reader error is:

DOCTYPE markup declaration not permitted here; declaration ended

Solution:

According to the SGML Standard, this is a misplaced DOCTYPE statement. The DOCTYPE statement should occur in the SGML document.

A document instance is not something that can exist in isolation; an SGML document must have a prolog as well as a document instance. However, the Standard makes it possible for the prolog to be pretty simple; it can consist of a single declaration:

<!DOCTYPE name SYSTEM "sysid">

(no square brackets are needed). The Standard does not dictate what the system identifer ("sysid") means; in many systems, it is a filename. Our SGML Utilities interpret it as a filename and do not require a complete path; you can define a search path in your fmsgmlconfig file.

The Standard requires the document type declaration in the document

for three reasons:

1) It specifies the document type name

2) It specifies the element, entity, and related declarations to be

used

3) It gives the author of the document control over both these pieces

of information

The DTD specified in an SGML Utilities SGML application provides 2) but neither 1) nor 3). In an environment where 1) and 3) are always completely predetermined, it is possible to write an API client that will construct the SGML document by prefixing the required DOCTYPE declaration to an existing document instance and invoking the SGML Utilities through

the F_ApiCallClient mechanism. Note that this approach assumes there are no document-specific entities such as those used for graphics or for separating individual chapters in a book into different files.


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