step

The <step> element represents an action that a user must follow to accomplish a task. Each step in a task must contain a command <cmd> element which describes the particular action the user must do to accomplish the overall task. Beginning with DITA 1.2, it is possible to place a <note> element before the command in order to notify the user of dangers or other important information about the step. The <step> element can also contain additional optional information about the step, such as substeps, a list of choices, or result information.

Contains

note

These models represent only the default document types distributed by OASIS. Actual content models will differ with each new document type.

Doctype	Content model
ditabase, task, machineryTask	( (note or hazardstatement) (any number) then cmd then (choices or choicetable or info or itemgroup or stepxmp or substeps or tutorialinfo) (any number) then (stepresult) (optional) )
learningContent	( (note or lcInstructornote) (any number) then cmd then (choices or choicetable or info or itemgroup or stepxmp or substeps or tutorialinfo) (any number) then (stepresult) (optional) )

Contained by

Doctype	Content model
ditabase, task (strict), task (general), machineryTask, learningContent	steps, steps-unordered

Inheritance

- topic/li task/step

Example

<task id="sqlj">
<title>Creating an SQLJ file</title>
<taskbody>
<context>Once you have set up SQLJ, you need to create a new SQLJ file.
</context>
<steps>
<step>
 <cmd>Select <menucascade><uicontrol>File</uicontrol><uicontrol>New</uicontrol></menucascade>.</cmd>
 <info>New files are created with default values based on a standard template.</info>
</step>
</steps>
</taskbody>
</task>

Attributes

Name	Description	Data Type	Default Value	Required?
importance	Describes whether the current step or substep is optional or required. Output processors may (but need not) highlight steps that are optional or required.	optional \| required \| -dita-use-conref-target	#IMPLIED	No
props	Root attribute from which new metadata attributes can be specialized. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. If no value is specified, but the attribute is specified on an ancestor within a map or within the related-links section, the value will cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. However, when acting as a container for generalized attributes, the content model will be more complex; see Attribute generalization for more details.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
base	A generic attribute that has no specific purpose. It is intended to act as a base for specialized attributes that have a simple value syntax like the conditional processing attributes (one or more alphanumeric values separated by whitespace), but is not itself a filtering or flagging attribute. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. However, when acting as a container for generalized attributes, the content model will be more complex; see Attribute generalization for more details.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
platform	Indicates operating system and hardware. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. If no value is specified, but the attribute is specified on an ancestor within a map or within the related-links section, the value will cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
product	Contains the name of the product to which the element applies. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. If no value is specified, but the attribute is specified on an ancestor within a map or within the related-links section, the value will cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
audience	Indicates the intended audience for the element. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. If no value is specified, but the attribute is specified on an ancestor within a map or within the related-links section, the value will cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
otherprops	This attribute can be used for any other properties that might be needed to describe an audience, or to provide selection criteria for the element. Alternatively, the props attribute may be specialized to provide a new metadata attribute instead of using the general otherprops attribute. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. If no value is specified, but the attribute is specified on an ancestor within a map or within the related-links section, the value will cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
rev	Indicates a revision level of an element that identifies when the element was added or modified. It may be used to flag outputs when it matches a run-time parameter; it cannot be used for filtering. It is not sufficient to be used for version control.If no value is specified, but the attribute is specified on an ancestor within a map or within the related-links section, the value will cascade from the closest ancestor.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
status	The modification status of the current element.	new \| changed \| deleted \| unchanged \| -dita-use-conref-target	#IMPLIED	No
id-atts attribute group (id, conref, conrefend, conaction, conkeyref)	A set of related attributes, described in id-atts attribute group
localization-atts attribute group (translate, xml:lang, dir)	A set of related attributes, described in localization-atts attribute group.
global-atts attribute group (xtrf, xtrc)	A set of related attributes, described in global-atts attribute group
class, outputclass	Common attributes described in Other common DITA attributes