The DTD needed corresponds to a given XML document, which is why you won't find a program wide setting for a default DTD. Each XML file should have a DOCTYPE, where you can specify the location of the DTD. Here's ours: <!DOCTYPE ead PUBLIC "+//ISBN 1-931666-00-8//DTD ead.dtd (Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002)//EN" "../../../ead/ead.dtd"> The last part has a relative path for the DTD file. If this path does not exist or points to someplace where the DTD doesn't exist, XMetaL can't find the DTD and will ask you to supply one (but it won't remember the next time, since the path wasn't saved in the file). If you have all of your finding aids stored in one folder, I would put a copy of the DTD there, and your relative path can just be "ead.dtd". If they're in multiple folders, I would try and find a base folder to dump the DTD file in, and then reference that in all of your finding aids with a relative path (like in my example DOCTYPE). If I remember correctly, the Rules subfolder is for XMetaL to recognize the document type when you create a new EAD document from within XMetaL. Ryan Wick Information Technology Consultant Special Collections - OSU Libraries Oregon State University 541-737-2075 [log in to unmask] http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections ________________________________ From: Encoded Archival Description List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dana M. Miller Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 2:14 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: rudimentary XMetal question Hello, I'm having some minor difficulty with what I think should be a rather simple function of the XMetal software- setting the DTD to default to EAD. When I first open the program and open an existing xml document, it says that the file cannot be opened because a DTD could not be found, so I have to browse for my dtd each time. I have both an ead.dtd file and an ead.rlx file saved in the Rules folder in XMetal, and I've been choosing ead.dtd instead of rlx since I don't really understand the difference. I'm using the current Trial version while waiting for an upgrade to 4.6, but nowhere in the Help does it seem to say anything about setting a default DTD to use everytime I open the program. Is this actually something that can be done? Thanks! Dana Miller Technical Services Archivist Special Collections UNLV Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas 4505 S Maryland Pkwy Box 457010 Las Vegas NV 89154-7010 Ph: 702-895-2234 Fax: 702-895-2253 Email: [log in to unmask]