WebHelp tiles from nested ditamaps

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Bas10R
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu May 25, 2023 4:08 pm

WebHelp tiles from nested ditamaps

Post by Bas10R »

Hello,
(Oxygen XML Editor 26.0)

By default, the tile version of the WebHelp output uses first-level topics as the source for tiles, with the title being pulled from the topic's <title> element, and the tile description being pulled from the topic's <shortdesc> element.

However, I have a bigger project which has a root map with a number of nested ditamaps.
Is it possible to change the default behaviour to instead create tiles with titles pulled from the <title> element of such nested ditamaps? And preferably some description that I could adjust for each such tile (or maybe pulled from some meta description from each ditamap).

Kind regards,
Konrad
ionela
Posts: 406
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 6:08 pm

Re: WebHelp tiles from nested ditamaps

Post by ionela »

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback.

Unfortunately, it is it possible to change the default behavior. The workaround would be to use topichead element that warps each mapref, as described the the DITA 1.3 specifications:
DITA 1..3 <mapref>

Code: Select all

<map id="standardlib">
  <topichead navtitle="Developing with standard libraries">
    <mapref href="lib.ditamap"/>
  </topichead>
  <!-- ... -->
</map>
I hope this helps.

Regards,
Ionela
Ionela Istodor
oXygen XML Editor and Author Support
Bas10R
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu May 25, 2023 4:08 pm

Re: WebHelp tiles from nested ditamaps

Post by Bas10R »

Ionela,

Thank you for your reply and confirmation.
I noticed that your User Guide uses a slightly different approach to customise the text on the tile:
https://github.com/oxygenxml/userguide/ ... amap#L5-L8
Instead of pulling the shortdesc from the topic itself, the tile description is being pulled from the <topicmeta> shortdesc instead.
Result:
image.png
image.png (17.49 KiB) Viewed 1533 times
Can you provide some more information on how to set this up?

Kind regards,
Konrad
radu_pisoi
Posts: 404
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2003 11:36 am
Location: Craiova
Contact:

Re: WebHelp tiles from nested ditamaps

Post by radu_pisoi »

Hi,

Indeed, you can specify shortdesc information in DITA map as well as in the topics that the map references.

Deciding where to set metadata like `shortdesc` in a DITA map or topic depends largely on your specific use case and how readers will interact with your content.

You can read more in the Metadata in maps and topics topic from the DITA 1.3 specification.
Radu Pisoi
<oXygen/> XML Editor, Schema Editor and XSLT Editor/Debugger
http://www.oxygenxml.com
chrispitude
Posts: 918
Joined: Thu May 02, 2019 2:32 pm

Re: WebHelp tiles from nested ditamaps

Post by chrispitude »

Hi Konrad,

I have a DITA-OT plugin that does exactly what you describe:

DITA-mapref-topichead (github.com)

We use it so that book submaps in our WebHelp map automatically contribute their titles as navigation hierarchy. The plugin even ensures that variables and conditional text inside the submap are reflected in the inferred title.
Bas10R
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu May 25, 2023 4:08 pm

Re: WebHelp tiles from nested ditamaps

Post by Bas10R »

Hi Chris,

This is perfect, thank you very much!

Kind regards,
Konrad
pieterjan_vdw
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:30 am

Re: WebHelp tiles from nested ditamaps

Post by pieterjan_vdw »

Hi Chris,

Thank you for the plug-in. This also does exactly what I need.
IMHO this should/could become a default part of DITA-OT with a separate parameter.

Kind regards,
PJ
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