DocBook 5: The Definitive Guide

Name

indexterm — A wrapper for an indexed term

Synopsis

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

Attribute synopsis

Common attributes and common linking attributes.

Additional attributes:

• class (enumeration) = “singular”

• pagenum

• scope (enumeration) = “all” | “global” | “local”

• significance (enumeration) = “normal” | “preferred”

• type

• zone (IDREFS)

Description

An indexterm identifies text that is to be placed in the index. In the simplest case, the placement of the indexterm in the document identifies the location of the term in the text. In other words, the indexterm is placed in the flow of the document where the indexentry in the index should point. In other cases, attributes on indexterm are used to identify the location of the term in the text.

An indexterm marks either a single point in the document or a range. A single point is marked with an indexterm placed in the text at the point of reference. There are two ways to identify a range of text:

• Place an indexterm at the beginning of the range with class set to startofrange and give this term an xml:id. Place another indexterm at the end of the range with startref pointing to the xml:id of the starting indexterm. This second indexterm must be empty.

  The advantage of this method is that the range can span unbalanced element boundaries. (For example, a range could span from the middle of one paragraph to the middle of the next.)

• Place the indexterm anywhere ...