package XML::Grammar::Fiction;

use warnings;
use strict;

=head1 NAME

XML::Grammar::Fiction - CPAN distribution implementing an XML grammar 
and a lightweight markup language for stories, novels and other fiction.

=head1 VERSION

Version 0.5.0

=cut

our $VERSION = '0.5.0';

=head1 SYNOPSIS

See L<XML::Grammar::Fiction::FromProto>, 
L<XML::Grammar::Fiction::ToDocBook> and
L<XML::Grammar::Fiction::ToHTML>.

=head1 DESCRIPTION

XML::Grammar::Fiction is a CPAN distribution that facilitates writing prose
fiction (= stories, novels, novellas, etc.). What it does is:

=over 4

=item 1. Converting a well-formed plain text format to a specialized XML format.

=item 2. Converting the XML to DocBook/XML or directly to HTML for rendering.

=back

The best way to use it non-programatically is using
L<XML::Grammar::Fiction::App::FromProto>,
L<XML::Grammar::Fiction::App::ToDocBook> and
L<XML::Grammar::Fiction::App::ToHTML>, which are modules implementing
command line applications for their processing.

In order to be able to share the common code and functionality more easily, 
then L<XML::Grammar::Screenplay>, which provides similar XML grammar and 
text-based markup language for writing screenplays, is now included in this 
CPAN distribution, and you can refer to its documentation as well:
L<XML::Grammar::Screenplay> .

The rest of this page will document the syntax of the custom textual format.

=head1 FORMAT

=head2 Sections

Sections are placed in XML-like tags of C<< <section> ... </section> >> or
abbreviated as C<< <s> ... </s> >>. Opening tags in the format may have 
attributes whose keys are plaintext and whose values are surrounded by
double quotes. (Single-quotes are not supported).

The section tag must have an C<id> attribute (for anchors, etc.) and could
contain an optional (but highly recommended) C<< <title> >> sub-tag. If the 
title is not specified, it will default to the ID.

Sections may be B<nested>. 

=head2 Text

Text is any of:

=over 4

=item 1. Plaintext

Regular text

=item 2. XML-like tags.

Supported tags are C<< <b> >> for bold text, and C<< <i> >> for italic
text.

=item 3. Entities

The text format supports SGML-like entities such as C<< &amp; >>,
C<< &lt; >>, C<< &quot; >> and all other entities that are supported by 
L<HTML::Entities>.

=item 4. Supported initial characters

The following characters can start a regular paragraph:

=over 4

=item * Any alphanumeric character.

=item * Some special characters:

The characters C<"> (double quotes), C<'> (single quotes), etc. are supported.

=item * XML/SGML entities.

XML/SGML entities are also supported at the start. 

=back

All other characters are reserved for special markup in the future. If you
need to use them at the beginning of the paragraph you can escape them with
a backslash (C<\>) or their SGML/XML entity (e.g: C<&qout;>).

=back

=head2 Types of top-level items.

=head3 Paragraphs

These are not delimited by anything - just a paragraph of text not containing
an empty line.

=head3 <ol>

This is an ordered list with <li>s, similar to its purpose in XHTML.

=head3 <ul>

An unordered list.

=head2 EXAMPLES

Examples can be found in the C<t/data> directory, and here:

=over 4

=item * The Pope Died on Sunday

L<http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/Pope/>

=back

=head1 AUTHOR

Shlomi Fish, L<http://www.shlomifish.org/>.

=head1 BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to
C<bug-xml-grammar-fiction at rt.cpan.org>, or through the web interface at
L<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=XML-Grammar-Fiction>.
I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on
your bug as I make changes.

=head1 TODO

=over 4

=item * Implement the correct handlind of leading special characters in lines.

=item * Check that SGML entities work properly.

=item * Convert the parsing errors from Carp::confess to Exception::Class

This will allow a friendlier diagnostic. Carp::confess was implemented due to
laziness on the programmers' part.

=item * Merge the duplicate code from XML-Grammar-Fiction

XML::Grammar::Fiction was forked from L<XML::Grammar::Screenplay>
and they still share a lot of common code. This needs to be merged in time.

=item * Refactor the Prototext parser and other parts.

Currently the code is relatively hairy and easy-to-break. Try to refactor it.

=back

=head1 MOTIVATION

I (= Shlomi Fish) originated this CPAN distribution (after forking 
L<XML:Grammar::Screenplay> which was similar enough) so I'll have a convenient
way to edit a story I'm writing in Hebrew and similar fiction, as 
OpenOffice.org caused me many problems, and I found editing bi-directional 
DocBook/XML to be painful with either gvim or KDE 4's kate, so I opted for a
more plain-texty format.

I hope a lightweight markup language like that for fiction (and possibly
other types of manuscripts) will prove useful for other writers. At the
moment, a lot of stuff in the proto-text format is subject to change,
so you'll need to accept that some modifications to your sources will be
required in the future. I hope you still find it useful and let me know
if you need any feature or bug-fix.

=head1 SUPPORT

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

    perldoc XML::Grammar::Fiction

You can also look for information at:

=over 4

=item * AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation

L<http://annocpan.org/dist/XML-Grammar-Fiction>

=item * CPAN Ratings

L<http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/XML-Grammar-Fiction>

=item * RT: CPAN's request tracker

L<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=XML-Grammar-Fiction>

=item * Search CPAN

L<http://search.cpan.org/dist/XML-Grammar-Fiction>

=back

=head1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

=head1 COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2007, 2009 Shlomi Fish.

This program is released under the following license: MIT X11:
L<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php> .

=head2 LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2007, 2009 Shlomi Fish.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.

=cut

1;

