The description of the attribute in
the language reference is clear, and the description of flagging behavior
for the ditaval elements is clear:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/cd03/spec/common/select-atts.html#select-atts
http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/cd03/spec/common/about-ditaval.html#ditaval
The architectural spec topic does not
make the distinction adequately, but the distinction has always been there,
and the expected behavior is described in the language spec.
I think this is an area where we need
to clear up the language in the arch spec, and also add links to the relevant
portions of the lang spec.
Michael Priestley, Senior Technical
Staff Member (STSM)
Lead IBM DITA Architect
http://dita.xml.org/blog/25
From:
Kristen James Eberlein <>
To:
Date:
07/15/2010 09:56 PM
Subject:
Re: [dita] Conditional processing with
the @rev attribute
Su-Laine, my understanding is that the
@rev attribute is used for flagging but not filtering. Both filtering and
flagging fall under the rubric of "conditional processing." Can
others confirm this?
Obviously, we need to clarify the spec around this point.
Best,
Kris
Kristen James Eberlein
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
Secretary, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Charter member, OASIS DITA Adoption
Committee
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)
On 7/15/2010 9:30 PM, Su-Laine Yeo wrote:
Hi everyone,
As far as I know, the @rev attribute has
always been included in the list of conditional processing attributes (http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.1/CD02/archspec/condproc.html).
I don’t know of anything in the DITA 1.1 spec that says that
it should
be processed differently from
the other conditional processing attributes.
However, AFAIK the Open Toolkit
ignores DITAVAL statements to exclude
content based on @rev, and a
recent statement from Michael was that “rev
cannot be used for filtering”: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/dita-users/message/17821
. It’s
not clear to me whether Michael’s statement is a statement of how the
OT currently behaves or if it’s a statement of how the OT
should behave.
The draft DITA 1.2 spec deepens my confusion.
It says, “DITA
defines five attributes that are specifically intended to enable filtering
or flagging of individual elements. Those
attributes are @audience, @platform, @product, @otherprops, and @props.”
But then a few paragraphs later under a
section titled “Conditional
processing attributes”
it lists six attributes including @rev.
So is @rev a conditional processing attribute
or not? What is
our expectation from processors?
a) Processors should
filter based on @rev if
instructed to do so by the DITAVAL file
b) Processors
may choose to filter
based on @rev if instructed
to do so by the
DITAVAL file
c) Processors must never filter
based on @rev regardless of what the
DITAVAL file says
In my opinion, the wording of the DITA 1.1
spec indicates option A or B, so we can’t change the expected behaviour
to C without breaking
backwards-compatibility.
Su-Laine
Su-Laine Yeo
Solutions Consultant
JustSystems Canada, Inc.
Office: 778-327-6356
www.justsystems.com
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