Combining XML Content Using DTD Entities and XInclude

When documenting large projects, it is likely that there are multiple people involved. In this case, it is usually more efficient to using a modular approach so that everyone involved in the project can work in parallel. Other advantages of modular documentation include: reusable content possibilities, smaller file units are easier to edit, and better version control.

Two possible solutions for this are to use DTD Entities or XInclude to combine XML content in a main file. A main document can be created with references to various document parts, users can edit those documents individually, and then apply an XSLT stylesheet over the main document to obtain the output files in various formats (for example, PDF or HTML).