Implementation of Context-Sensitivity

["Tony Self" <tself@hyperwrite.com>]

Dear All

I have added a new page to the DITA Help Wiki to try to flesh out how CSH
would be implemented in different development scenarios: 

http://wiki.oasis-open.org/dita/Implementation_Scenarios

I've included some diagrams that might be useful.

One particular question that arises relates back to something that Alan
raised in an earlier thread. He said:

>>
I must admit that I'm cautious about the complexity and implementation 
issues that may arise from supporting hooks in both topics and maps. I'm 
also concerned about supporting variant "hooks" within topics and even 
maps. I think these should be invariant, with an external mapping file 
(possibly DITA, XML, or text-format) used to define relationships that 
are particular to a specific help deliverable.
<<

If we allow four different strategies to add context hooks, should we also
make a "best practice" recommendation on a preferred (invariant) approach,
and permit others but describe them as invariant? 

I've just been involved briefly in a CSH project for a Web application for
one of my clients, and have thought about which approach this client would
prefer. In this case, they want to automatically allocate context ids to all
relevant topics, and then pass those allocated ids to the developers. The
automatic mapping would suit an external XML file approach. But if this had
been a modular system, the answer might have been different.

What does everyone think?

Tony Self