From CrossWire Bible Society
Much of what follows applies to any OSIS file, but there are a few features unique to genbooks (mainly in structure). This document aims to provide a complete, though not exhaustive, account of how to encode an OSIS genbook to become a SWORD module.
Keep in mind that, as with any XML document, elements are arranged hierarchically. The root node ends with the </osis> element, so the rest of the document occurs within that container. Within that is the Work node. Within that is the Header and then the Body of the text, which are parallel to each other. For a complete OSIS XML file, see Example OSIS Genbook below.
The root node for a Genbook is the same as any other OSIS document.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <osis xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.bibletechnologies.net/2003/OSIS/namespace http://www.bibletechnologies.net/osisCore.2.1.1.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.bibletechnologies.net/2003/OSIS/namespace"> </osis>
The Work container for a Genbook is the same as any other OSIS document except the reference system (osisRefWork) is simply "book".
<osisText osisRefWork="book" xml:lang="en" osisIDWork="WorkID"> </osisText>
The Header should contain work elements for the current work and any other works to which this document links. In this example, the Bible is linked through Scripture references, and the KJV default reference scheme is used. More detailed information can be added, but the following is sufficient for a simple book with one author.
<header> <work osisWork="WorkID"> <title>OSISGenbook</title> <creator role="aut">Author's Name</creator> </work> <work osisWork="Bible"> <refSystem>Bible</refSystem> </work> </header>
A <body> element is not used in OSIS. Instead, the body consists of <div> elements in a hierarchical structure. If you are encoding a collection of works by the same author, you can use the element <div type="bookGroup"> for the outer container. Otherwise start with <div type="book">. The following represents several levels of containers.
<div type="book" osisID="Book"> <div type="majorSection" osisID="majorSection 1"> <div type="chapter" osisID="Chapter 1"> <div type="section"> <div type="subSection"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>
Of course you decide what is in the osisID (within the bounds of what the schema allows--basically you should stick to letters, numbers, and spaces), and the <title> element can be used to create titles for each chapter, etc. You may define your hierarchy to as much detail as you like. However, remember that readers of SWORD genbooks can only read one container at a time, so if you define lots of subsections it forces the reader to flip through them. If those parts are short, consider just adding section titles and limiting your containers to chapters for ease of reading.
Titles are defined using the <title> element:
Paragraphs are defined using the <p> element.
<p>Your paragraph goes here.</p>
For italics, use the <hi type="italic"> element.
<hi type="italic">Italic text</hi>
To make text display in bold type, use the <hi type="bold"> element.
<hi type="bold">Bold text</hi>
Superscript and Subscript
To make text superscript and subscript, just use the <hi> element with the type defined as "super" for superscript text and "sub" for subscript text.
<hi type="super">Superscript text</hi> <hi type="sub">Subscript text</hi>
Footnotes and Endnotes
Footnotes and endnotes are encoded in the same way except for their type name. Both use the <note> element. Using the "n" attribute you can define the number, letter, or symbol which you want to appear for the note, but not all front-ends will display that.
<note type="x-footnote" n="1">Footnote text</note> <note type="x-endnote" n="i">Endnote text</note>
Scripture References and Other Links
Scripture references may be encoded as links which some front-ends will use to open that reference in a Bible window. This is done using the <reference> element with the attribute "osisRef" defining the target verse or passage. Note the variety of possibilities for these kinds of references below.
<reference osisRef="Gen.1.1">Genesis 1:1</reference> <reference osisRef="Ps.119">Psalm 119</reference> <reference osisRef="Prov.1-Prov.9">Proverbs 1-9</reference> <reference osisRef="2Cor.6.14-2Cor.7.1">
Bible book names are those abbreviations found in the OSIS manual (they basically follow the SBL abbreviations), and each portion of the reference is separated by a period. In a range of verses the book and chapter must be repeated and separated by a dash.
Links from an OSIS module to a non-verse-keyed OSIS module should use an osisRef of the format:
Hence, if the module "EarlyFathers" were OSIS, the introduction page may look like:
<div type="section" osisID="Introduction"> <title>The Early Church Fathers Series</title> <p> This module is a massive 37-volume compendium of writings of the early church fathers including <reference osisRef="EarlyFathers:ANF01.Ignatius">Ignatius</reference>, <reference osisRef="EarlyFathers:ANF01.Justin_Martyr">Justin Martyr</reference>, <reference osisRef="EarlyFathers:ANF01.Irenæus">Irenaeus</reference>, and <reference osisRef="EarlyFathers:TOC">many others</reference>. </p> </div>
Links from one OSIS genbook to another OSIS genbook uses the same syntax as the internal links, above.
You can easily place images in your books using the <figure/> element. This element is "milestoned," meaning it isn't a container. The forward slash near the end signals that fact. Use the "src" attribute to define the location of the image relative to the compiled module. In the example below, the image "crosswire.jpg" resides in a folder "images" in the same folder as the compiled module.