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Subject: Re: [dita] Why There are Constraints on Conref


Hi JoAnn,

I think Eliot already answered your correctly, but you asked for a simple
answer to this question:
> > Is DITA 1.2 going to mess up all the conrefs we have set up in DITA 1.1
> > between ditabase or topic and Task?

The simple answer is "No."

Trying to explain things as simply as I can - the only time that
constraints affect conref is:
1) The conref goes between files with two different document types
2) The files include a matching topic type or domain (for example, both
include task or both include the highlighting domain)
3) One of the common modules has a constraint (such as the strictTask if
both use task, or a constraint to remove bold from the highlight domian)
4) The element that uses conref is in the file with the constraint -
meaning that the file trying to pull content removes elements, but the file
*with* the content does not

I'm guessing that still isn't perfectly clear, because this is never going
to be simple to explain architecturally, just like the class attribute and
specialization take a while to get your head around when first introduced.
Hopefully it helps though. It also shows that Su-Laine's example will
continue to work. If you store common items in a topic, you will still be
able to pull them into a strict task or a general task, and vice versa. The
original topic does not include the task module, so any constraint on the
task module is irrelevant for the purposes of conref.

Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit

ekimber <ekimber@reallysi.com> wrote on 09/27/2009 01:34:48 PM:

> Re: [dita] Why There are Constraints on Conref
>
> On 9/27/09 9:55 AM, "Joann Hackos" <joann.hackos@comtech-serv.com> wrote:
>
> > Su-Laine is asking the same question I'm concerned about. We need a
simple
> > answer. I'm having a hard time with the arcane details.
> >
> > Is DITA 1.2 going to mess up all the conrefs we have set up in DITA 1.1
> > between ditabase or topic and Task?
>
> Not as long as ditabase in 1.2 includes the task constraint. In that
case,
> conrefs between two out-of-the-box task topics, whether governed by the
> task.dtd or ditabase.dtd, will be allowed.
>
> Conrefs from 1.2 unconstrained tasks to 1.1 tasks or 1.2 constrained
tasks
> will be allowed (because the conref is from less constrained to more
> constrained).
>
> This suggests to me that the best thing to do in 1.2 is to have both
> ditabase.dtd and task.dtd use the same task constraint so that 1.1 users
who
> conref *from* standalone task topics to ditabase-based task topics will
not
> have to modify anything for those conrefs to continue to be valid.
>
> I think we can assume that, in most cases, the direction of conref would
be
> from standalone topics to ditabase-based topics given that the primary
> non-conversion use case for ditabase is organizing sets of topics
intended
> primarily or exclusively for re-use (especially since including any such
> topic from a map gets you all the topics in the ditabase document in the
> rendered result).
>
> Conrefs from non-task topics to task topics are unaffected by the use of
> constraint modules on task.
>
> Users who have custom topic types specialized from task will have to
decide
> if they want to impose the constraints on task when migrating from 1.1 to
> 1.2, since their local shells will point to the unconstrained task when
> using the 1.2 modules. But if you've stepped up to specialization you can
> probably handle this change. But I think it would be useful to put
together
> a "1.1 to 1.2 migration guide" that captures this and the few other
things
> that Information Architects will need to think about when migrating to
1.2.
>
> Cheers,
>
> E.
>
> ----
> Eliot Kimber | Senior Solutions Architect | Really Strategies, Inc.
> email:  ekimber@reallysi.com <mailto:ekimber@reallysi.com>
> office: 610.631.6770 | cell: 512.554.9368
> 2570 Boulevard of the Generals | Suite 213 | Audubon, PA 19403
> www.reallysi.com <http://www.reallysi.com>  | http://blog.reallysi.com
> <http://blog.reallysi.com> | www.rsuitecms.com <http://www.rsuitecms.com>

>
>
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