<refentry id="mediaobject.element" revision='3.1'>
<?dbhtml filename="mediaobject.html"?>
<refentryinfo>
<pubdate>$Date$</pubdate>
<releaseinfo>$Revision$</releaseinfo>
</refentryinfo>

<refmeta>
<indexterm><primary>elements</primary>
<secondary>mediaobject</secondary></indexterm>
<refentrytitle>mediaobject</refentrytitle>
<refmiscinfo>Element</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>mediaobject</refname>
<refpurpose>&mediaobject.purpose;</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>

&mediaobject.synopsis.gen;
<refsect1 condition='ref.description'><title>Description</title>

<para>
This element contains a set of alternative
&ldquo;media objects.&rdquo; In DocBook V3.1, three types of
external objects are defined: <sgmltag>VideoObject</sgmltag>s,
<sgmltag>AudioObject</sgmltag>s, and <sgmltag>ImageObject</sgmltag>s. Additional
textual descriptions may be provided with <sgmltag>TextObject</sgmltag>s.
</para>

<refsect2 id="dbreproc.mediaobject"><title>Processing expectations</title>
<para>
&format.block;
</para>

<para>
The primary purpose of the <sgmltag>MediaObject</sgmltag> is to provide
a wrapper around a set of alternative presentations of the same
information.
</para>
<para>
If possible, the processing system should use the content of the
first object within the <sgmltag>MediaObject</sgmltag>.  If the first
object cannot be used, the remaining objects should be
considered in the order that they occur.  A processor should use
the first object that it can, although it is free to choose any
of the remaining objects if the primary one cannot be used.
</para>
<para>
Under no circumstances should more than one object in a
<sgmltag>MediaObject</sgmltag> be used or presented at the same time.
</para>
<para>
For example, a <sgmltag>MediaObject</sgmltag> might contain a video, a high
resolution image, a low resolution image, a long text description, and
a short text description.  In a &ldquo;high end&rdquo; online system,
the video is used.  For print publishing, the high resolution image is used.
For other online systems, either the high or low resolution image is used,
possibly including the short text description as the online alternative.
In a text-only environment, either the long or short text descriptions are
used.
</para>
</refsect2>

<refsect2 role='fu' revision="5.0"><title>&FutureChanges;</title>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>DocBook DTD</primary><secondary>Changes for <acronym>V5.0</acronym></secondary>
</indexterm>
In DocBook V5.0, <sgmltag>MediaObject</sgmltag> will replace
<sgmltag>Graphic</sgmltag>.
</para>
</refsect2>




&mediaobject.parents.gen;
&mediaobject.children.gen;
</refsect1>
<refsect1 condition='ref.elem.seealso'><title>See Also</title>
&mediaobject.seealso.gen;
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>Examples</title>

&mediaobject.example.seealso.gen;
</refsect1>
</refentry>

