def parse(self):
"""
Parse the forms list and return a list of VariantForm objects.
"""
# Build a list of all the elements of the vfsectLoose, in sequence,
# including all tagged nodes (vd, variant_form, grammar, etc.)
# and all text
elements = []
# Handle any text preceding the very first tag
pretag_nodes = _handle_tail(self.node.text)
elements.extend(pretag_nodes)
for node in self.node.xpath(SALIENT_NODES_XPATH):
elements.append(VfsectLooseNode(node=node))
# Handle any significant text following the element (tail)
tail_nodes = _handle_tail(node.tail)
elements.extend(tail_nodes)
# Add the previous and following tags to each element as 'previous'
# and 'next'
for i, element in enumerate(elements):
try:
element.previous = elements[i - 1].tag
except IndexError:
element.previous = None
try:
element.next = elements[i + 1].tag
except IndexError:
element.next = None
vf_list = _build_vflist(elements)
return utilities.unpack_parentheses(vf_list)
