DITA Author Mode Actions

A variety of actions are available in the DITA framework that can be added to the DITA menu, the Author Custom Actions toolbar, the contextual menu, and the Content Completion Assistant.

DITA Toolbar Actions

The following default actions are readily available on the DITA (Author Custom Actions) toolbar when editing in Author mode (by default, most of them are also available in the DITA menu and in various submenus of the contextual menu):

Bold

Surrounds the selected text with a b tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.

Italic

Surrounds the selected text with an i tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.

Underline

Surrounds the selected text with a u tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.

Link Actions Drop-Down Menu

The following link actions are available from this menu:

Cross Reference: Opens the Cross Reference (xref) dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target resource at the current location within a document. The target resource can be the location of a file or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. Once the target resource has been selected, you can also target specific elements within that resource. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
File Reference: Opens the File Reference dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target file resource at the current location within a document. The target resource can be the location of a file or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
Web Link: Opens the Web Link dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target web-related resource at the current location within a document. The target resource can be a URL or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
Related Link to Topic: Opens the Cross Reference (xref) dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target resource in a related links section at the bottom of the current document. The target resource can be the location of a file or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. Once the target resource has been selected, you can also target specific elements within that resource. If a related links section does not already exist, this action creates one. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
Related Link to File: Opens the File Reference dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target file resource in a related links section at the bottom of the current document. The target resource can be the location of a file or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. If a related links section does not already exist, this action creates one. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
Related Link to Web Page: Opens the Web Link dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target web-related resource in a related links section at the bottom of the current document. The target resource can be a URL or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. If a related links section does not already exist, this action creates one. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.

Insert Image

Opens the Insert Image dialog box that allows you to configure the properties of an image to be inserted into a DITA document at the cursor position.

Insert Section Drop-Down Menu

The following insert actions are available from this menu:

Insert Section: Inserts a new section element in the document, depending on the current context.
Insert Concept: Inserts a new concept element, depending on the current context. Concepts provide background information that users must know before they can successfully work with a product or interface.
Insert Task: Inserts a new task element, depending on the current context. Tasks are the main building blocks for task-oriented user assistance. They generally provide step-by-step instructions that will enable a user to perform a task.
Insert Topic: Inserts a new topic element, depending on the current context. Topics are the basic units of DITA content and are usually organized around a single subject.
Insert Reference: Inserts a new reference element, depending on the current context. A reference is a top-level container for a reference topic.

Insert Paragraph

Inserts a new paragraph at current cursor position.

Reuse Content

This action provides a mechanism for reusing content fragments. It opens the Reuse Content dialog box that allows you to insert several types of references to reusable content at the cursor position. The types of references that you can insert using this dialog box include content references (conref), content key references (conkeyref), or key references to metadata (keyref).

Insert step or list item

Inserts a new list or step item in the current list type.

Insert Unordered List

Inserts an unordered list at the cursor position. A child list item is also automatically inserted by default. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to an unordered list.

Insert Ordered List

Inserts an ordered list at the cursor position. A child list item is also automatically inserted by default. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to an ordered list.

Sort

Sorts cells or list items in a table.

Insert Table

Opens a dialog box that allows you to configure and insert a table. You can generate a header and footer, set the number of rows and columns of the table and decide how the table is framed. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs, lists, and inline content (mixed content — text + markup — that is rendered inside a block element) into a table, with the selected content inserted in the first column, starting from the first row after the header (if a header is inserted).

Note

If the selection contains a mixture of elements that cannot be converted, you will receive an error message saying that Only lists, paragraphs, or inline content can be converted to tables.

Insert Row Below

Inserts a new table row with empty cells below the current row. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.

Delete Row(s)

Deletes the table row located at cursor position or multiple rows in a selection.

Insert Column After

Inserts a new table column with empty cells after the current column. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.

Delete Column(s)

Deletes the table column located at cursor position or multiple columns in a selection.

Table Properties

Opens the Table properties dialog box that allows you to configure properties of a table (such as frame borders).

Join Cells

Joins the content of the selected cells (both horizontally and vertically).

Split Cell

Splits the cell at the cursor location. If Oxygen XML Author plugin detects more than one option to split the cell, a dialog box will be displayed that allows you to select the number of rows or columns to split the cell into.

DITA Menu Actions

In addition to the DITA toolbar actions, the following default actions are available in the DITA menu when editing in Author mode:

Reuse Content

Push Current Element

Opens the Push current element dialog box that allows content from a source topic to be inserted into another topic without any special coding in the topic where the content will be re-used.

Edit Content Reference

This action is available for elements with a conref or conkeyref attribute. it opens the Edit Content Reference dialog box that allows you to edit the source location (or key) and source element of a content reference (or content key reference), and the reference details (conref/conkeyref and conrefend attributes). For more information, see Reuse Content Dialog Box.

Replace Reference with content

Replaces the referenced fragment (conref or conkeyref) at the cursor position with its content. This action is useful if you want to make changes to the content in the currently edited document without changing the referenced fragment in its source location.

Remove Content Reference

Removes the content reference (conref or conkeyref) inside the element at the cursor position.

Create Reusable Component

Creates a reusable component from the selected fragment of text. For more information, see Creating a Reusable Content Component.

Insert Reusable Component

Inserts a reusable component at cursor location. For more information, see Inserting a Reusable Content Component.

Paste special submenu

This submenu includes the following special paste actions that are specific to the DITA framework:

Paste as content reference: Inserts a content reference (a DITA element with a conref attribute) to the DITA XML element from the clipboard. An entire DITA XML element with an ID attribute must be present in the clipboard when the action is invoked. The conref attribute will point to this ID value.
Paste as content key reference: Allows you to indirectly reference content using the conkeyref attribute. When the DITA content is processed, the key references are resolved using key definitions from DITA maps. To use this action, you must first do the following:

Make sure the DITA element that contains the copied content has an ID attribute assigned to it.

In the DITA Maps Manager view, make sure that the Root map combo box points to the correct map that stores the keys.

Make sure the topic that contains the content you want to reference has a key assigned to it. To assign a key, right-click the topic with its parent map opened in the DITA Maps Manager, select Edit Properties, and enter a value in the Keys field.
Paste as link: Inserts a link element or an xref (depending on the location of the paste operation) that points to the DITA XML element from the clipboard. An entire DITA XML element with an ID attribute must be present in the clipboard when the action is invoked. The href attribute of link/href will point to this ID value.
Paste as link (keyref): Inserts a link to the element that you want to reference. To use this action, you must first do the following:

Make sure the DITA element that contains the copied content has an ID attribute assigned to it.

In the DITA Maps Manager view, make sure that the Root map combo box points to the correct map that stores the keys.

Make sure the topic that contains the content you want to reference has a key assigned to it. To assign a key, right-click the topic with its parent map opened in the DITA Maps Manager, select Edit Properties, and enter a value in the Keys field.

Table submenu

In addition to the table actions available on the toolbar, the following actions are available in this submenu:

Insert Row Above: Inserts a new table row with empty cells above the current row. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
Insert Rows: Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of rows and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current row).
Insert Column Before: Inserts a column before the current one.
Insert Columns: Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of columns and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current column).
Insert Cell: Inserts a new empty cell depending on the current context. If the cursor is positioned between two cells, Oxygen XML Author plugin a new cell at cursor position. If the cursor is inside a cell, the new cell is created after the current cell.

Insert ⇒ Insert Equation

Opens the XML Fragment Editor that allows you to insert and edit MathML notations.

ID Options

Opens the ID Options dialog box that allows you to configure options for generating IDs in Author mode. The dialog box includes the following:

ID Pattern: The pattern for the ID values that will be generated. This text field can be customized using constant strings or any of the Oxygen XML Author plugin Editor Variables.
Element name or class value to generate ID for: The elements for which ID values will be generated, specified using class attribute values. To customize the list, use the Add, Edit, or Remove buttons.
Auto generate IDs for elements: If enabled, Oxygen XML Author plugin will automatically generate unique IDs for the elements listed in this dialog box when they are created in Author mode.
Remove IDs when copying content in the same document: When copying and pasting content in the same document, this option allows you to control whether or not pasted elements that are listed in this dialog box should retain their existing IDs. To retain the element IDs, disable this option.

Note

This option does not have an effect on content that is cut and pasted.

Generate IDs

Oxygen XML Author plugin generates unique IDs for the current element (or elements), depending on how the action is invoked:

When invoked on a single selection, an ID is generated for the selected element at the cursor position.
When invoked on a block of selected content, IDs are generated for all top-level elements and elements from the list in the ID Options dialog box that are found in the current selection.

Note

The Generate IDs action does not overwrite existing ID values. It only affects elements that do not already have an id attribute.

Browse DITA Style Guide

Opens the DITA Style Guide Best Practices for Authors in your browser and displays a topic that is relevant to the element at the cursor position. When editing DITA documents, this action is available in the contextual menu of the editing area (under the About Element sub-menu), in the DITA menu, and in some of the documentation tips that are displayed by the Content Completion Assistant.

Refresh References

You can use this action to manually trigger a refresh and update of all referenced resources.

Tags display mode Submenu

Full Tags with Attributes: Displays full tag names with attributes for both block level and in-line level elements.
Full Tags: Displays full tag names without attributes for both block level and in-line level elements.
Block Tags: Displays full tag names for block level elements and simple tags without names for in-line level elements.
Inline Tags: Displays full tag names for inline level elements, while block level elements are not displayed.
Partial Tags: Displays simple tags without names for in-line level elements, while block level elements are not displayed.
No Tags: No tags are displayed. This is the most compact mode and is as close as possible to a word-processor view.
Configure Tags Display Mode: Use this option to go to the Author preferences page where you can configure the Tags Display Mode options.

Profiling/Conditional Text Submenu

Edit Profiling Attributes: Allows you to configure the profiling attributes and their values.
Show Profiling Colors and Styles: Select this option to turn on conditional styling.
Show Profiling Attributes: Select this option to turn on conditional text markers. They are displayed at the end of conditional text blocks, as a list of attribute name and their currently set values.
Show Excluded Content: When this option is enabled, the content filtered by the currently applied condition set is grayed-out. To show only the content that matches the currently applied condition set, disable this option.
List of all profiling condition sets that match the current document type: You can click a listed condition set to activate it.
Profiling Settings: Opens the profiling options preferences page, where you can manage profiling attributes and profiling conditions sets. You can also configure the profiling styles and colors options from the colors/styles preferences page and the attributes rendering preferences page.

DITA Contextual Menu Actions

In addition to many of the DITA toolbar actions and the general Author mode contextual menu actions, the following DITA framework-specific actions are also available in the contextual menu when editing in Author mode:

Paste special submenu

This submenu includes the following special paste actions that are specific to the DITA framework:

Paste as content reference: Inserts a content reference (a DITA element with a conref attribute) to the DITA XML element from the clipboard. An entire DITA XML element with an ID attribute must be present in the clipboard when the action is invoked. The conref attribute will point to this ID value.
Paste as content key reference: Allows you to indirectly reference content using the conkeyref attribute. When the DITA content is processed, the key references are resolved using key definitions from DITA maps. To use this action, you must first do the following:

Make sure the DITA element that contains the copied content has an ID attribute assigned to it.

In the DITA Maps Manager view, make sure that the Root map combo box points to the correct map that stores the keys.

Make sure the topic that contains the content you want to reference has a key assigned to it. To assign a key, right-click the topic with its parent map opened in the DITA Maps Manager, select Edit Properties, and enter a value in the Keys field.
Paste as link: Inserts a link element or an xref (depending on the location of the paste operation) that points to the DITA XML element from the clipboard. An entire DITA XML element with an ID attribute must be present in the clipboard when the action is invoked. The href attribute of link/href will point to this ID value.
Paste as link (keyref): Inserts a link to the element that you want to reference. To use this action, you must first do the following:

Make sure the DITA element that contains the copied content has an ID attribute assigned to it.

In the DITA Maps Manager view, make sure that the Root map combo box points to the correct map that stores the keys.

Make sure the topic that contains the content you want to reference has a key assigned to it. To assign a key, right-click the topic with its parent map opened in the DITA Maps Manager, select Edit Properties, and enter a value in the Keys field.

Image Map Editor

This action is available in the contextual menu when it is invoked on an image. This action applies an image map to the current image (if one does not already exist) and opens the Image Map Editor dialog box. This feature allows you to create hyperlinks in specific areas of an image that will link to various destinations.

Table Actions

The following table editing actions are available in the contextual menu when it is invoked on a tabl

Insert Rows: Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of rows and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current row).
Delete Row(s): Deletes the table row located at cursor position or multiple rows in a selection.
Insert Columns: Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of columns and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current column).
Delete Column(s): Deletes the table column located at cursor position or multiple columns in a selection.
Join Cells: Joins the content of the selected cells (both horizontally and vertically).
Split Cell: Splits the cell at the cursor location. If Oxygen XML Author plugin detects more than one option to split the cell, a dialog box will be displayed that allows you to select the number of rows or columns to split the cell into.
Sort: Sorts cells or list items in a table.
Table Properties: Opens the Table properties dialog box that allows you to configure properties of a table (such as frame borders).
Other Actions submenu: This submenu give you access to all the usual contextual menu actions.

Insert ⇒ Insert Equation

Opens the XML Fragment Editor that allows you to insert and edit MathML notations.

Generate IDs

Oxygen XML Author plugin generates unique IDs for the current element (or elements), depending on how the action is invoked:

When invoked on a single selection, an ID is generated for the selected element at the cursor position.
When invoked on a block of selected content, IDs are generated for all top-level elements and elements from the list in the ID Options dialog box that are found in the current selection.

Note

The Generate IDs action does not overwrite existing ID values. It only affects elements that do not already have an id attribute.

Reuse submenu

This submenu includes the following actions in regards to reusing content in DITA:

Push Current Element: Opens the Push current element dialog box that allows content from a source topic to be inserted into another topic without any special coding in the topic where the content will be re-used.
Edit Content Reference: This action is available for elements with a conref or conkeyref attribute. it opens the Edit Content Reference dialog box that allows you to edit the source location (or key) and source element of a content reference (or content key reference), and the reference details (conref/conkeyref and conrefend attributes). For more information, see Reuse Content Dialog Box.
Replace Reference with content: Replaces the referenced fragment (conref or conkeyref) at the cursor position with its content. This action is useful if you want to make changes to the content in the currently edited document without changing the referenced fragment in its source location.
Remove Content Reference: Removes the content reference (conref or conkeyref) inside the element at the cursor position.
Create Reusable Component: Creates a reusable component from the selected fragment of text. For more information, see Creating a Reusable Content Component.
Insert Reusable Component: Inserts a reusable component at cursor location. For more information, see Inserting a Reusable Content Component.

Search References (Ctrl + Shift + G)

Finds the references to the id attribute value for the element at the current cursor position, in all the topics contained in the current DITA map (opened in the DITA Maps Manager view). If no references are found for the current element, a dialog box will be displayed that offers you the option of searching for references to its ancestor elements.

Search References to Ancestors Dialog Box

Show Key Definition

Available for elements that have a conkeyref or keyref attribute set (or elements with an ancestor element that has a conkeyref or keyref attribute). It computes the key name and opens the DITA map that contains the definition of the key with the element that defines that key selected.

About Element submenu

This submenu includes the following actions:

Style Guide: Opens the DITA Style Guide Best Practices for Authors in your browser and displays a topic that is relevant to the element at the cursor position. When editing DITA documents, this action is available in the contextual menu of the editing area (under the About Element sub-menu), in the DITA menu, and in some of the documentation tips that are displayed by the Content Completion Assistant.
Browse reference manual: Opens a reference to the documentation of the XML element closest to the cursor position in a web browser.
Show Definition: Moves the cursor to the definition of the current element.

DITA Drag/Drop Actions

Dragging a file from the Navigator view or DITA Maps Manager view and dropping it into a DITA document that is edited in Author mode, creates a link to the dragged file (the xref DITA element with the href attribute) at the drop location. Dragging an image file from the default file system application (Windows Explorer on Windows or Finder on Mac OS X, for example) and dropping it into a DITA document inserts an image element (the image DITA element with the href attribute) at the drop location.

Oxygen XML Author Eclipse Plugin 18.1

DITA Author Mode Actions

DITA Toolbar Actions

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DITA Menu Actions

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DITA Contextual Menu Actions

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Search References to Ancestors Dialog Box

DITA Drag/Drop Actions