parameters-to-the-DITA-OT-transform

Note: this page has been moved to http://dita-ot.sourceforge.net/latest/.

Ant and XSLT Parameters to the DITA Open Toolkit

This page is a collection point for parameters in the core DITA-OT that can be set by tools or individual users running a build. Note: the main landing page for information about the toolkit is here: http://dita.xml.org/wiki/the-dita-open-toolkit

As you can see at this point, this item is just a starter page, with more information coming soon.

Most of this information would be more usable in a tabular format, but this wiki does not appear to support tables. For each parameter below, the Ant parameter is listed first, followed by valid values (if any), followed by a description. If applicable, a corresponding XSLT parameter is listed at the end. If you have an idea for a better way to store this, please comment!

General processing parameters

  •  ${args.draft} - "no" or "yes", default is "no". Indicates whether draft-comment and required-cleanup elements are included in the generated file. Corresponds to XSLT parameter DRAFT in most XSLT modules. Support for PDF added in Milestone 5 of DITA-OT 1.5.1 development; if ${publish.required.cleanup} is not set, ${args.draft} will be used.
  • ${dita.ext} - any value, defaults to ".xml". Specifies an extension to use for DITA topics; all DITA topics will use this single extension in the temp directory. Corresponds to XSLT parameter DITAEXT.
  • ${dita.input.valfile} - any value. Specifies the DITAVAL file used for processing. Corresponds to XSLT parameter FILTERFILE.
  • ${args.tablelink.style} - "NUMBER" or "TITLE" (default is "NUMBER"). Determines how cross references to tables are styled (currently for XHTML only, but may be picked up for other formats in the future). NUMBER results in "Table 5", TITLE results in the title of the table. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter TABLELINK.
  • ${args.figurelink.style} - "NUMBER" or "TITLE" (default is "NUMBER"). Determines how cross references to figures are styled (currently for XHTML only, but may be picked up for other formats in the future). NUMBER results in "Figure 5", TITLE results in the title of the figure. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter FIGURELINK.

XHTML specific parameters

  • ${args.artlbl} -"no" or "yes", defaults to "no". Indicates whether the filename of each image will appear alongside the image, typically for review purposes. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter ARTLBL.
  • ${args.css} - any value. Specifies a CSS file, expected without path
  • ${args.hdf} - any value. Specfies a file that contains an XHTML fragment to be inserted into the <head> of every generated XHTML file. NOTE: the fragment must be valid XML, with a single root element; if you need to add two peer elements, place them in a <div>, and the build will discard that wrapper. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter HDF.
  • ${args.hdr} - any value. Specfies a file that contains an XHTML fragment to be inserted at the top of the body in each generated XHTML file. NOTE: the fragment must be valid XML, with a single root element; common practice is to place all contents into <div>. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter HDR.
  • ${args.indexshow} - "no" or "yes", defaults to "no". When set to yes, index terms will appear inline in brackets, typically for review purposes. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter INDEXSHOW.
  • ${args.ftr} - any value. Specfies a file that contains an XHTML fragment to be inserted at the bottom of the body in each generated XHTML file. NOTE: the fragment must be valid XML, with a single root element; common practice is to place all contents into <div>. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter FTR.
  • ${out.ext} - any value, defaults to ".html". Specifies an output extension for XHTML topics. Corresponds to XSLT parameter OUTEXT.
  • ${args.csspath} - any value, default is the root map's directory. Specifies a path for CSS links added to XHTML output (default and user files). Corresponds to XSLT parameter CSSPATH.
  • ${args.xhtml.classattr} - "no" or "yes". Determines whether to include DITA class ancestry inside generated XHTML elements, to allow for extensive CSS styling. For example, the prereq element in a task would generate <task class="section prereq">. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter PRESERVE-DITA-CLASS.
  • ${args.xhtml.toc.class} - appears to be a String for a CSS class name attribute applied to the ToC (x)HTML output's <body> element.  Found in map2htmltoc.xsl
  • ${args.gen.task.lbl} - "NO" or "YES" (default is "NO"). Determines whether to generate locale based default headings for sections within task topics. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter GENERATE-TASK-LABELS.
  • ${args.hide.parent.link} - "no" or "yes" (default is "no"). Determines whether to hide links to parent topics in the rendered XHTML. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter NOPARENTLINK.
  • ${args.breadcrumbs} - "no" or "yes" (default is "no"). Determines whether to generate breadcrumb links. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter  BREADCRUMBS.
  • ${args.debug} - "no" or "yes" (default is "no"). Determines whether to generate extra debug information in the log. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter DBG.
  • ${args.gen.default.meta} - "no" or "yes" (default is "no"). Determines whether to generate extra metadata that targets parental control scanners (meta elements with name="security" and name="Robots"). Corresponds to the XSLT parameter genDefMeta.

PDF specific parameters

  • ${args.fo.include.rellinks} - "all", "none", or "nofamily". Determines which links are included in PDF output. All = all links; none = no links; nofamily = skip parent/child/next/previous links (reltable links and those defined in the topic remain). 

Eclipse Help specific parameters

The following parameters are used for processing Eclipse plugins and only apply to base DITA maps.The following info can also be specified in an Eclipse collection map (demo/eclipsemap).

  • ${args.eclipse.provider} - (default DITA) the name of the company providing the plugins.  The content of this parameter will be found in the plugin.properties file.
  • ${args.eclipse.version} - (default is 0.0.0) the version number for the plugin.
  • ${args.eclipse.symbolic.name} - (as of DITA OT 1.5.2M8) the symbolic name (aka plugin id) of the plugin to be produced.  This parameter will override the @id value in the map, if it exists.
The @id value from the Eclipse map or the Eclipse map collection (Eclipse help specialization) is the ID for the plugin in Eclipse.  By default, the value org.sample.help.doc.

The following values are used to create an Eclipse fragment instead of an Eclipse pluigns. The ANT code will move content to the appropriate directory structure defined in the Eclipse Help Information Center. [1]

  • ${args.eclipse.language} - the base language for the translated content.  For instance, en.
  • ${args.eclipse.counrty} - the more specifc country for the base language.  For instance, US, CA of GB.

Note: Since Eclipse Help also generates XHTML, as part of its processing pipeline, both sets of parameters apply.


[1] - http://help.eclipse.org/galileo/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/guide/product_def_nl.htm

I'm trying to do a DITA->XHTML transform on a very simple DITA document using only a standalone XSLT processor. The output however is just a bunch of span tags with some jumbled class attribute info inside. Do I need to use more parameters than those given here?

You should not need to use most of these to format a simple topic. I'm not sure what you mean by "using only a standalone XSLT processor" - that may be the issue. These are intended for use when running the full Ant based build through the toolkit. One way to test that is to run the demo build, and specify your input topic:

ant -f build_demo.xml

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