RE: [dita] Inheritance of attributes through mapref

["Bruce Nevin (bnevin)" <bnevin@cisco.com>]

This is consistent. It enables the generalization, values cascade from
more inclusive to more particular elements (not just from parents to
childen). Blocking the inheritance of values in some places but not in
others can be a FUD generator (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt).

The general effect of cascading these values is to sharpen the
separation of content from its presentation. Not all attribute values
have to do with presentation, of course. That's a much bigger topic, and
not in question here.

	/Bruce

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert D Anderson [mailto:robander@us.ibm.com] 
> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 9:08 AM
> To: dita
> Subject: [dita] Inheritance of attributes through mapref
> 
> 
> This is a summary of the item discussed last week and the 
> week before, initially raised here:
> http://wiki.oasis-open.org/dita/MaprefResolution
> 
> The consensus at the TC as I understand it is that attributes 
> specified on a map reference are equivalent to the same 
> attributes specified on the target element. Exceptions are 
> format (which must be 'ditamap') and href (which references 
> the target).
> 
> For example, if I have this map reference:
> <topicref href="someMap.ditamap"
>           format="ditamap"
>           toc="no"
>           scope="peer"
>           print="no"
>           linking="normal"/>
> 
> In the map someMap.ditamap, the toc / scope / print / linking 
> attributes from that topicref will override whatever is set 
> or defaulted on the <map> element. From there, those 
> attributes will cascade as they normally would within someMap.ditamap.
> 
> Similarly, if I have this construct in the original map:
> <topicref toc="no">
>   <topicref href="someMap.ditamap" format="ditamap"/> </topicref>
> 
> The toc="no" attribute will cascade to the map reference, 
> which is then treated the same as in the previous example, 
> and will override the toc attribute on the map element within 
> someMap.ditamap.
> 
> An attribute that is defaulted in the DTD or Schema is 
> treated in the same way as an attribute specified in the document.
> 
> A value generally treated as a processing default does *not* 
> cascade in the same manner. For example, within a map where 
> no element specifies the scope attribute and no element has a 
> default scope attribute, there will be a processing default 
> of scope="local". That processing default will not override 
> whatever is specified at the root of someMap.ditamap.
> 
> Any questions/comments, please respond to the list...
> 
> Thanks -
> 
> Robert D Anderson
> IBM Authoring Tools Development
> Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit
> 
> 
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