Management of document multistructurality: Case of document versions

Abstract

Documents, either complex or not, can have several structures. This multistructurality can be due to different kinds of structures as well as different versions of a same document. Moreover, the document contents are dynamic and they change in the course of time. In this paper we show how the different document versions can be handled according to a model of multistructured documents. This model should ensure the representation of each version, the management of common contents and the monitoring of version evolution. Thus, our design methodology is based on a fragmentation according to which the document is fragmented in structuring nodes (elements, attributes, metadata) while keeping the relations between these nodes. These relations ensure the rebuilding of each document and the management of document versions.