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Subject: RE: [dita] Definition of root map


I wonder if a slight tweak of the language would make for a clearer definition:

Old: The DITA map that is provided as input for a processor.
New: A DITA map that has been provided as input for a processor.

mag

-----Original Message-----
From: dita@lists.oasis-open.org [mailto:dita@lists.oasis-open.org] On Behalf Of Eliot Kimber
Sent: April 6, 2018 11:08 AM
To: dita@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [dita] Definition of root map

The things you added are all true but they don't add to the definition (in the sense that they don't make it more precise or more distinguishing relative to other kinds of maps, which is the purpose of this definition).

That is, the *only thing* that makes a map a root map is that you provided it to a processor as the initial (or only) input.

A root map is the root of a map hierarchy only when it references other maps. A map that references no other maps is not really a map hierarchy.

If the current specification doesn't make these processing implications of maps clear then it might be useful to add a general discussion of the implications of being a map. But I don't see how those implications are part of the *definition* of "root map".

The challenge here is that any map is *potentially* a root map but it only becomes a root map when you say it is one by applying some kind of processing to it.

In my D4ST link management application I attempt to identify root maps by finding all maps that are not referenced by any other maps with scope="local". But even that is just a guess because you very well might have a map that is usable both as a root map and as a submap of another map (although I would guess that it's fairly rare practice for a number of reasons).

Cheers,

Eliot
--
Eliot Kimber
http://contrext.com
 
On 4/6/18, 12:25 PM, "Jim Tivy" <dita@lists.oasis-open.org on behalf of jimt@bluestream.com> wrote:

    Hi Folks
    
    The term root map is used throughout the 1.3 DITA Spec.
    
    However, its definition near the end of section 2.1.1 is bit terse given 
    the number of times it is used in other places in the spec and given its 
    importance to DITA processing.
    
    Current definition says:
    
    root map:
    The DITA map that is provided as input for a processor.
    
    Perhaps we could have something like this :)
    
    root map:
    The topmost DITA map in a map hierarchy used as input to a processor.  
    This map hierarchy is often traversed by processors to enumerate topics 
    and to, in turn, determine the context for each topic.  In this sense, a 
    root map establishes the context of a topic.
    
    cheers
    
    Jim
    
    
    
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