<refentry id="refsynopsisdiv.element">
<?dbhtml filename="refsynopsisdiv.html"?>
<refentryinfo>
<pubdate>$Date$</pubdate>
<releaseinfo>$Revision$</releaseinfo>
</refentryinfo>

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

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

<para>
<sgmltag>RefSynopsisDiv</sgmltag> contains a syntactic synopsis of 
the function or command described by the <sgmltag>RefEntry</sgmltag>.  When
<sgmltag>RefEntry</sgmltag>s are used to describe other sorts of things, 
<sgmltag>RefSynopsisDiv</sgmltag> should be used for whatever succinct, synopsis
information seems appropriate.<footnote><para>
In this book, each element of the &DTD; is described on a reference page,
and the <sgmltag>RefSynopsisDiv</sgmltag> is used for
the synopsis at the beginning of each entry.</para></footnote>
</para>

<refsect2><title>Processing expectations</title>
<para>
&format.block; <sgmltag>RefSynopsisDiv</sgmltag> usually generates a
section heading, in the same typographic style as a
<sgmltag>RefSect1</sgmltag> <sgmltag>Title</sgmltag>, called <quote>Synopsis.</quote>
</para>
<para>
Formatting reference pages may require a fairly sophisticated
processing system.  Much of the meta-information about a
reference page (its name, type, purpose, title, and
classification) is stored in wrappers near the beginning of
the <sgmltag>RefEntry</sgmltag>.
</para>
<para>
Common presentational features, such as titles and running
headers, may require data from several of these wrappers plus
some generated text. Other formatting often requires that
these elements be reordered.
</para>
</refsect2>



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

</refentry>

