<mapref> does not allow <ditavalref> (and can this be supported in DITA 2.0?)

[Chris Papademetrious <Christopher.Papademetrious@synopsys.com>]

Hello DITA TC folks!

 

To apply <ditavalref> to a map, a <topicref> map reference is valid:

 

<topicref href="" format="ditamap">

  <ditavalref href="">

</topicref>

 

but a <mapref> map reference is not valid:

 

<mapref href="">

  <ditavalref href="">

</topicref>

 

The first example is taken from Figure 1 at

 

https://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/dita/v1.3/os/part1-base/archSpec/base/example-ditavalref-with-mapref.html

 

I confirmed this in the DITA 1.3 content models:

 

topicref = element topicref { topicmeta?, (anchor | data | sort-as | data-about | navref | topicref | anchorref | keydef | mapref | topicgroup | topichead | topicset | topicsetref | ditavalref)* }

mapref = element mapref { topicmeta?, (data | sort-as | data-about)* }

 

and in the DITA 2.0 content models:

 

topicref = element topicref { topicmeta?, (data* | navref | topicref | ditavalref | keydef | mapref | mapresources | topicgroup | topichead)+ }

mapref = element mapref { topicmeta?, (data*)+ }

 

I understand that a map reference is a convenience element that by nature cannot contain content, but I suspect that the omission of <ditavalref> from its content model might have been unintentionally omitted when it was reduced.

 

If unintentional, can this be supported in DITA 2.0? <mapref> provides valuable visual differentiation when scanning down the left side of a map, avoiding the need to wade further into the sea of attributes to look at @href file extensions and @format values.

 

Thanks!

 

- Chris

 

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Chris Papademetrious

Tech Writer, Implementation Group

(610) 628-9718 home office

(570) 460-6078 cell