OASIS Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) TC

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  • 1.  [dita] Clarification needed on attribute precedence when resolving key references

    Posted 09-19-2011 13:51
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    We’ve recently had a customer issue crop up related to handling of the @type attribute when resolving key references. I’m pretty sure we need to change our handling here, but I also think we implemented things according to the spirit of the spec, so I wanted to run this by the TC and get your thoughts.   The situation is that when you have an xref with a keyref that specifies a sub-topic element ID, should the effective @type attribute come from the key reference or the key definition?   <keydef keys=”footnotes” href= type=”concept”/>   <xref keyref=”footnotes/fn1” type=”fn”/>   We’ve always taken the position that the key referencing element’s attributes take precedence over the key definition’s except for those related to the reference, specifically @href, @scope, @format, and @type . It’s pretty clear that the effective @scope and @format should always come from the key definition, but for @type it’s not quite so obvious.   I couldn’t find any specific language in the spec for anything besides @href, so I think this is something that we’ll need to clarify somehow. I think we’re going to modify our processing to have the key reference’s @type take precedence when a sub-topic ID is specified on the keyref. In the meantime I’d appreciate any thoughts.   Chris   Chris Nitchie Senior Software Engineer T   734.352.2879     F   734.997.0201 E   cnitchie@ptc.com PTC.com    


  • 2.  Re: [dita] Clarification needed on attribute precedence when resolving key references

    Posted 09-19-2011 14:03
    It would be nonsensical for @type on <href> to be overridden by @type on <keydef> for two reasons: 1) They are two different domains of addressing. Key definitions are strictly limited to maps and topics, xref is to any element that takes @id, so the two @type domains are necessarily distinct. 2) The referencing element is saying what it expects the the ultimate target to be. That can only be known by the referencing element--it wouldn't be knowable or sensible or, in the case of non-topic or non-map elements, possible to specify on <keydef>. But I understand the precedence rules to be that the initial reference governs, just as for conref. Cheers, E. On 9/19/11 8:50 AM, "Nitchie, Chris" <cnitchie@ptc.com> wrote: > We¹ve recently had a customer issue crop up related to handling of the @type > attribute when resolving key references. I¹m pretty sure we need to change our > handling here, but I also think we implemented things according to the spirit > of the spec, so I wanted to run this by the TC and get your thoughts. > > The situation is that when you have an xref with a keyref that specifies a > sub-topic element ID, should the effective @type attribute come from the key > reference or the key definition? > > <keydef keys=²footnotes² href=²footnotes.dita² type=²concept²/> > > <xref keyref=²footnotes/fn1² type=²fn²/> > > We¹ve always taken the position that the key referencing element¹s attributes > take precedence over the key definition¹s except for those related to the > reference, specifically @href, @scope, @format, and @type. It¹s pretty clear > that the effective @scope and @format should always come from the key > definition, but for @type it¹s not quite so obvious. > > I couldn¹t find any specific language in the spec for anything besides @href, > so I think this is something that we¹ll need to clarify somehow. I think we¹re > going to modify our processing to have the key reference¹s @type take > precedence when a sub-topic ID is specified on the keyref. In the meantime I¹d > appreciate any thoughts. > > Chris > > < http://www.ptc.com/ > > > Chris Nitchie > Senior Software Engineer > > T 734.352.2879 F 734.997.0201 > E cnitchie@ptc.com < mailto:cnitchie@ptc.com > > > PTC.com < http://www.ptc.com/ > > > -- Eliot Kimber Senior Solutions Architect "Bringing Strategy, Content, and Technology Together" Main: 512.554.9368 www.reallysi.com www.rsuitecms.com


  • 3.  RE: [dita] Clarification needed on attribute precedence when resolving key references

    Posted 09-19-2011 14:08
    Thanks, Eliot. We treat the reference as taking for precedence for all attributes not related to the thing being referenced - @href, @scope, and @format - and we erroneously had @type on that list. We'll fix that. I still think we need to clarify this in the spec somehow. Chris