<refentry id="refsect1.element">
<?dbhtml filename="refsect1.html"?>
<refentryinfo>
<pubdate>$Date$</pubdate>
<releaseinfo>$Revision$</releaseinfo>
</refentryinfo>

<refmeta>
<indexterm><primary>elements</primary>
<secondary>refsect1</secondary></indexterm>
<refentrytitle>refsect1</refentrytitle>
<refmiscinfo>Element</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>refsect1</refname>
<refpurpose>&refsect1.purpose;</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>

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

<para>Reference pages have their own hierarchical structure. A
<sgmltag>RefSect1</sgmltag> is a major division in a
<sgmltag>RefEntry</sgmltag>, analagous to a <sgmltag>Sect1</sgmltag> elsewhere
in the document.
</para>

<para>
The value of a separate hierarchical structure is that it allows
the content model of sections in reference pages to be
customized differently than the content model of sections
outside.  For example, because of this split, it was easy to add
a recursive sectioning element (<sgmltag>Section</sgmltag>) as a peer
to <sgmltag>Sect1</sgmltag> in DocBook <acronym>V3.1</acronym> without introducing it to
<sgmltag>RefEntry</sgmltag>s, in which it would not be desirable.
</para>

<refsect2><title>Processing expectations</title>
<para>
&format.block;
</para>
<para>
In some environments, the name, number, and order of major divisions
in a reference page is strictly defined by house style.  For example,
one style requires that the first major section after the synopsis
be the <quote>Description,</quote> which it must have as its title.
</para>
<para>
In those cases, it may be useful to replace <sgmltag>RefSect1</sgmltag> in
the content model with a set of named sections (following the pattern
of <sgmltag>RefNameDiv</sgmltag> and <sgmltag>RefSynopsisDiv</sgmltag>).
</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>


&refsect1.parents.gen;
&refsect1.children.gen;
</refsect1>
<refsect1 condition='ref.elem.attrdesc'><title>Attributes</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>status</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<sgmltag class="attribute">Status</sgmltag> identifies the editorial or publication 
status of the <sgmltag>RefSect1</sgmltag>.
</para>
<para>
Publication status might be used to control formatting (for example,
printing a <quote>draft</quote> watermark on drafts) or processing (perhaps
a document with a status of <quote>final</quote> should not include any
components that are not final).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 condition='ref.elem.seealso'><title>See Also</title>
&refsect1.seealso.gen;
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>Examples</title>

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

