This query is being cross-posted between comp.text.sgml and the TEI-L
list.  My thanks to those on comp.text.sgml who answered my earlier
question concerning WP7 and Linux.
 
I am responsible for a number of documents encoded in the TEI SGML DTD.
These documents are presently maintained in a UNIX environment using a
collection of command-line oriented tools (sgmls, CoST, etc.) I am
currently investigating the use of WordPerfect 8 for Windows (WP8) to
maintain these documents in a WYSIWYG environment.
 
However, I am encountering some fairly basic difficulties with
WordPerfect.  Each of these difficulties seems to be over a fairly
simple matter; I did not expect to encounter them.  Yet each is serious
enough to render WP, which otherwise looks quite promising, unsuitable
for our use.  I would very much appreciate ANY suggestions for the
resolution of these issues.
 
The problems I am encountering are these:
 
A typical file might be encoded beginning with the following fragment:
 
<!-- comment here -->
<!-- another comment here -->
<tei.2>
<teiHeader>
   <fileDesc>
      <titleStmt>
         <title>
            The Title Here
         </title>
...
 
I'm actually using the TEI-Lite DTD for this WordPerfect work,
as it has all of the features I need and compiles cleanly from
one file.
 
 
Problem 1 - WP strips spaces in comments
 
If I take a document written on another system and load it as an
SGML file in WP8, the SGML comments are translated into WordPerfect
comments.  So far so good.  However, if I then
save the document as an SGML file, WP8 strips the whitespace from
inside the SGML comments.  They appear in the saved file as:
 
<!--commenthere-->
<!--anothercommenthere-->
 
The spaces seem to be truly gone; I've both re-loaded the
file as an SGML file and taken a look at it with Notepad,
and they're not there.  This problem seems to occur regardless
of the "Preserve Whitespace" settings (it happens even when
I "SelectAll" in the Preserve Whitespace window.
 
Since these documents include extensive SGML comments,
this is a serious problem.
 
 
Problem 2 - WP and whitespace between elements
 
These documents contain valid whitespace between elements.
This whitespace is important, as the line-oriented nature
of these documents permits the use of good source code
revision control tools.  It also allows the editing of these
documents in conventional text editors such as UNIX's vi.
 
I can instruct WP8 to retain this whitespace.  However, when I do this,
the whitespace is not only retained but displayed.
 
In the fragment above, this means that the newline at the end of
each of the opening elements ("<tei.2>", "teiHeader", etc.)
shows on the printed page.  This whitespace (these newlines)
appear on the printed page whether or not the SGML tags are
displayed.
 
I need to discover how to instruct either WP8 or the WP8 layout designer
how to retain whitespace in a document but not to display it in the
document as it appears on the page.
 
 
Problem 3 - hidden text
 
I can discover no way in the WP8 layout designer to instruct
it to hide (make invisible) the text associated with a particular
markup.  In ordinary WP, the "hidden" option is in the FONT selection
window.  However, in the WP layout designer the FONT window,
which otherwise much resembles that of ordinary WP8, does not have
this option.
 
There are many instances where it is of use to have tagged hidden text.
For example, in the TEI (and TEI-Lite) the "<teiHeader>" section
contains much useful information about a document which is best left out
of printed versions.  To take a specific example, in the header one can
encode the names of those responsible for the document.  This is of
value; however, in the corporate world documents such as manuals
typically are produced without identification of the author.  This
information must therefore be hidden.  Example:
 
<respStmt>
   ...
   <name>
      David M. MacMillan
   </name>
</respStmt>
 
I need to discover how to tell the WP8 layout designer how to
make the text between <name> and </name> hidden.  As-is, I can
make it any font I want, italicize it, etc., but I cannot make
it hidden.
 
Thanks for any and all help!
 
Sincerely,
David M. MacMillan
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