RE: [dita] Language specification items

["Ogden, Jeff" <jogden@ptc.com>]

In general I think your reply makes sense, but let me check my
understanding.

In all four of the cases you outlined in your reply, when you say with
or without navtitle you mean with or without @navtitle and with or
without a <navtitle> element within <topicmeta> within the current
element, right?

What makes something a topichead or a topicgroup?  Is it that a class
attribute value starts out with "+ map/topicref mapgroup-d/topichead "
or "+ map/topicref mapgroup-d/topicgroup "?  Anything else?

Imagine a new specialization for use in maps based on topicref or a
specialization of topicref, but not based on topichead or topicgroup or
a specialization of either. The new specialization could have
topichead-like or topicgroup-like behaviors based on allowing or
disallowing @navtitle, navtitle, @href, and @keyref, but it wouldn't
automatically get the error conditions outlined in your first two items.
Or would it?

Or said another way, the error conditions are defined for compatibility
with DITA 1.0 and 1.1 and are based on an element being a topichead or
topicgroup or a specialization of topichead or topicgroup.  Everything
else (topichead or topicgroup-like behaviors) is based on the element
being a topicref or a specialization of topicref and the presence or
absence of @navtitle, <navtitle>, @href, and @keyref.

    -Jeff

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert D Anderson [mailto:robander@us.ibm.com]
> Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 6:14 PM
> To: Ogden, Jeff
> Cc: dita@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: RE: [dita] Language specification items
> 
> Hi Jeff,
> 
> My thoughts on the topicref/topichead/topicgroup item are as follows,
> subject to discussion -
> 
> * A topichead without navtitle is an error condition
> * A topicgroup with a navtitle is an error condition (can be warned
about
> or the title may be ignored)
> * A topicref with no navtitle, href, keyref is functionally the same
as a
> topicgroup
> * A topicref with a navtitle but no href or keyref is functionally the
> same as a topichead
>
> That's based on a combination of my memory of how those elements were
> defined, how I know some processing works, and how I know some people
> author their maps or specializations. Currently, I think most tools
don't
> actually check for topichead or for topicgroup because the behaviors
match.
> The change here would be that if you do actually use one of those in
the
> error conditions, processors are expected to do something different
than
> they would for the base topicref. I don't think this would change any
> behaviors for base topicref or other topicref specializations.
> 
> Does that make sense?
> 
> Robert D Anderson
> IBM Authoring Tools Development
> Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit
> (507) 253-8787, T/L 553-8787 (Good Monday & Thursday)
> 
> "Ogden, Jeff" <jogden@ptc.com> wrote on 08/11/2008 04:24:49 PM:
> 
> > Comments/questions below.
> >
> >    -Jeff
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Robert D Anderson [mailto:robander@us.ibm.com]
> > > Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 3:34 PM
> > > To: dita@lists.oasis-open.org
> > > Subject: [dita] Language specification items
> > >
> > . . .
> > >
> > > 2. We're adding a navtitle element to <topicmeta>. This means that
> > > <topicgroup>, which allows metadata, will now allow navtitle to
slip
> > in.
> > > Should the language specification say that navtitle has no meaning
in
> > a
> > > topicgroup, in order to maintain its title-less identity?
> >
> > I'm pretty confused about topicgroup, topichead, vs. topicref in
DITA
> > 1.2.
> >
> > In DITA 1.1 a topicref without an href or navtitle was treated as a
> > topicgroup (or perhaps it was really the other way around, a
topicgroup
> > was just a topicref without a navtitle or an href).
> >
> > In DITA 1.2 does this change?  Do we now recognize a topicgroup as a
> > topicgroup based on the element name or class attribute value as
your
> > question suggests or do we still base this on the presence or
absence of
> > specific attributes?
> >
> > Does a topicref element without @navtitle, @href, or @keyref still
act
> > like a topicgroup?  Does the presence or absence of a navtitle
element
> > within topicmeta within a topicref change anything?
> >
> > @navtitle on topichead becomes optional in DITA 1.2 and the navtitle
> > element within topicmeta within a topicref or specialization is also
> > optional. Is a topichead without @navtitle and no navtitle element
still
> > a topichead or does it now act like a topicgroup?
> >