Section 14 Beyond sentences

This page is based on a page of the wiki for the original SimpleNLG.

We've seen a lot of ways to create individual sentences. But what do you do if you want to put those sentences together, for example, to create a larger paragraph? SimpleNLG can do this using the DocumentElement class. The DocumentElement class is used to define elements that form part of a larger textual structure (documents, sections, paragraphs, sentences, lists).

To create a paragraph, you would combine some DocumentElement instances using createParagraph. To create a section, you would combine DocumentElement instances using createSection. Similarly, to create a list, you could combine these elements using createList, and to create a document, you would use createDocument. Below, we discuss the use of createParagraph and createSection.

Creating a Paragraph

The createParagraph method takes either an array of sentences or individual sentences added via addComponent. These sentences are then placed together as a paragraph.

As a first step, let's add the following to the import statement at the beginning of the file:

    import java.util.Arrays;

This will let us pass an array to the createParagraph method later. Okay, now we're ready to format a paragraph. First, we define some sentences:

    SPhraseSpec p1 = nlgFactory.createClause("Marie", "gooien", "de bal");
    SPhraseSpec p2 = nlgFactory.createClause("de bal", "vallen"); 
    SPhraseSpec p3 = nlgFactory.createClause("Marie", "oprapen", "hem");

Next, we define these sentences as being DocumentElement instances:

    DocumentElement s1 = nlgFactory.createSentence(p1);
    DocumentElement s2 = nlgFactory.createSentence(p2);
    DocumentElement s3 = nlgFactory.createSentence(p3);

We can then pass these elements as a list to the createParagraph method:

    DocumentElement par1 = nlgFactory.createParagraph(Arrays.asList(s1, s2, s3)); //[1]

And then realise the paragraph:

    String output = realiser.realise(par1).getRealisation();
    System.out.println(output);

The resulting output is:

    Marie gooit de bal. De bal valt. Marie raapt hem op.

Note that in the last couple steps, we're using the realiser differently than in all of the previous examples: Instead of using realiser.realiseSentence(), as we did for individual sentences, we're now using the more general realiser.realise().getRealisation().

Creating a Section

Let's say you want to have a bunch of paragraphs, organized together under one section header. To do this, you would use createSection().

With our earlier code in place, you can create a section with a header like this:

    DocumentElement section = nlgFactory.createSection("Het verhaal van Marie en de bal");

A paragraph can then be added to this section:

    section.addComponent(par1);

You can then realise this section as in the previous example:

    String output = realiser.realise(section).getRealisation();
    System.out.println(output);

→ For more examples of DocumentElements, look at testsrc/DocumentElementTest.java.

HTML Output

By default, SimpleNLG produces plain text output. SimpleNLG-EnFr, on which SimpleNLG-NL was based, does not have a formatter that outputs HTML marked-up text. If that is required, please take a look at the SimpleNLG HTMLFormatter.

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[1] You may also add individual sentences thus:

    DocumentElement par1 = nlgFactory.createParagraph();
    par1.addComponent(s1); // ...etc.